How do I open the “My Documents” and “My Computer” folders from C#?

Question

I have used two GUIDs to open the folders My Computer and My Documents.

Process.Start(\"iexplore.exe\", \"::{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b         


        

Answer 1

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("...");

I know it looks doubtful but just run it. It'll work. This is the code for my computer. I don't know what it should be for My Documents.

On Windows 7 this results in opening the folder from where your executable is running, i.e. the "current" folder.

Answer 2

This does not work for my Vista:

string myComputerPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyComputer);
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("explorer", myComputerPath);

as Environment.SpecialFolder.MyComputer returns "" and Process.Start("explorer", "") opens My Documents.

The GUID seems to do it, though:

Process.Start("explorer.exe", "::{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d}");

Answer 3

Using those hard coded Guid values doesn't look like the best way of achieving this.

You could use the Environment.GetFolderPath function to get the path of any of the system special folders. It accepts an Environment.SpecialFolder enum.

This way it'd be more robust, because you wouldn't have any "magic" hardcoded values.

Here's how you'd use it:

//get the folder paths
string myComputerPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyComputer);
string myDocumentsPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
//open explorer and point it at the paths
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("explorer", myComputerPath);
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("explorer", myDocumentsPath);

Important note for Windows 7 users

It seems that trying to use this code to open My Computer on Windows 7 incorrectly results in the Libraries folder being opened instead. This is because the default behaviour of running explorer with an empty path has changed in Windows 7.

I've filed the following bug report over at connect, go and give it an upvote if you think that this is important!

https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/757291/environment-getfolderpath-not-working-correctly-in-windows-7#details

(Thanks to JeremyK in the comments for pointing this out)