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If Microsoft's intent with the new folder structure is that a user does everything under their user directory...
(and this has been true for quite some time now (Vista, I believe, after WinXP).
...then why is it that the default behavior of File Explorer is to open the user up to the [This PC] area?
why doesn't Windows File Explorer default to the %userprofile% folder?
It makes no sense at all!!
I actually create folders under %userprofile% (c:\users\>username>) but every time I open File Explorer it opens me up to [This PC] and I have to click down into my user folder. 
Yes, there is probably a registry key I can hack to do this, but why not set this to the default?
Microsoft is probably working diligently on this and it'll be in Win13 release. They're busy working on a new set of icons so all their dev resoures are unavaiable.
EDIT
Look you can choose where File Explore opens up to, but only two choices!!!
This PC or quick access. Ridiculous!!
https://i.stack.imgur.com/M5Kx9.png[^]
CRISIS AVERTED
Here's what I did:
1. Created a new Shortcut which points to Explorer.exe with command-lin argument of %userprofile%
2. Added shortcut to my quicklaunch bar
3. Added shortcut to desktop
4. Added system-wide hotkey Ctrl-Shift-Alt-F which will open File Explorer and navigate to %userprofile% instantly.
modified 24-Jun-22 15:23pm.
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If you open "Documents" it opens to the default documents folder, which for unmanaged systems is %userprofile%\documents. Managed systems may be elsewhere.
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Hmmm? Windows 10 defaults to Quick Access which seems like a good choice. Does it change in Win 11?
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I switched to Quick Access but that still isn't correct.
The challenge is that the fastest way to get to explorer is:
1. Right-click Start
2. click File Explorer
I can create a new shortcut to file Explorer & pass in %userprofile% and that will do it.
However, there is no way to alter the Start...File Explorer so it will go to %userprofile%
even with QuickAccess, getting to %userprofile% is a few clicks. It's just silly to me.
thanks for your idea though.
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Quickest way is just Win-E
When (and why) did Windows Explorer revert to being called "File Explorer" (a term I'm seeing increasingly frequently here and elsewhere?)
For me, the rot set into Windows when instead of having "File Manager" in Win 3.x, they switched to "Windows Explorer" in Win 95. No longer was the user in charge, "managing" their system, but instead they were an explorer trying to find their way through an undocumented jungle. At that time I'd just started freelancing, providing general Windows system support. With the explosion in the number of files involved, and the complexity, of Windows it's when I decided that one person was never going to be able to keep on top of Windows, and I moved across to application development.
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I appreciate the help and discussion very much.
However, I am curious how the Quick Access gets me any closer to %userprofile%?
here's what I see[^] with Default set to QuickAccess & [Win]+E.
that's a lot of clicks away from c:\users\<username> (%userprofile%).
Thanks again for discussing.
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Navigate to "c:\users\<username>" (or any folder) in Explorer and then click "Pin to Quick access" (upper left). Then when you [Win]+E you're one click away.
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I tried it out. That is another good solution for this. Thanks very much.
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I still remember those first few days after updating my home PC from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95. Everything was shiny and new but after perusing the folder structure and system files for a while I said to myself "You just lost control of your PC!" To this day I feel the same way, I've just learned to accept it. 
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I solved it but it is a custom solution.
CRISIS AVERTED
Here's what I did:
1. Created a new Shortcut which points to Explorer.exe with command-lin argument of %userprofile%
2. Added shortcut to my quicklaunch bar
3. Added shortcut to desktop
4. Added system-wide hotkey Ctrl-Shift-Alt-F which will open File Explorer and navigate to %userprofile% instantly.
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FWIW, Win+E on the keyboard opens Explorer to the Quick Access folder, both in Win10 and Win11.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Thanks for the help.
Just FYI [Win]+E actually opens it to the Default value you have set in File Explorer options (can be [This PC] also).
Also, quick access doesn't help me a lot because I still need to drill down into the %userprofile% folder.
thanks again for discussing this with me. Always appreciate the input. 
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Add the %userprofile% folder to quick access, easy peasy.
Software Zen: delete this;
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I think it would make sense to default to %userprofile% as you suggest...if only drive letters were completely abstracted away.
If I have a D: drive where I put a crapload of data, then Explorer defaulting to %userprofile% would mean I'd constantly have to backtrack to go back up (users), up again (C: ) and once more (This PC) to then be able to see the other drives.
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First, we started putting our stuff in the "My Documents" folder, and all was good.
Then, applications started dumping their stuff in the "My Documents" folder. (Of 33 folders in mine, I created 5.)
So we started putting stuff in our profile folder, and all was good.
Then, other applications started dumping their stuff directly in the profile folder. (30 folders, 1 created by me.)
I've given up on the profile folder. It's fine for user-specific app settings, but any files I want to manage have to go somewhere else to avoid being hidden in a deluge of crap created by applications which should know better.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Message Closed
modified 15-May-23 19:06pm.
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I find this pretty disheartening. Here in the UK I'm increasingly seeing kids coming out of school with ID lanyards.
WHY? Back in my day (I was in senior school from late 60s to mid 70s) the teachers knew our names (well, our surnames anyway) and we all knew everyone in our class. Forename + Surname + nickname (usually multiple versions of the last). We wore uniform so anyone in the neighbourhood knew which school we were from. I can't envisage any situation where I would have needed, as a schoolkid, to carry "ID".
I also know that - at my school at least - carrying anything "important" would result in older/bigger/stupider kids immediately "relieving" anyone of it and it ending up down the loo / up the flagpole / in the forge. You didn't even take your lunch in a lunchbox - just a paper bag, as there was zero chance of it lasting more than a few minutes!
What's the purpose of these IDs? I'm seeing them on younger and younger kids - seems to be just another way to rob children of their childhoods.  And then we (even in the UK, though not to the extent the USA does I understand) teach our kids how to cower in terror under the table if the school goes into "lockdown"...    (So much for "land of the free")
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How sad. My school didn't have IDs, or fences. Nor did we need them.
Will Rogers never met me.
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Same for me. But that was a different time and different world.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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Ours had fences, so balls wouldn't roll into the road.
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Fair enough. IIRC, the athletic fields had fences - probably for the same reason - but the front of the school was wide open. Heck, in my neighborhood the grade schools were all we had for parks, and the public was welcome anytime. Where did we go wrong?
Will Rogers never met me.
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Wait...
With all the laws centered around privacy nowadays - especially when it comes to children - you have kids going about with their names on display for all to see?
(Or am I misunderstanding what this "ID" consists of...an ID number? A barcode? A QR code? Photo ID?)
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Why would these kids need IDs? 
I wouldn't wear it either, especially in high school.
I know how to wear it, I just choose not to, no matter how hard the lady yells.
Let's turn it around, would you wear it at work?
Your boss comes in and wants to tag you, like cattle.
I'd tell him where to stick it and look for another job.
Wearing an ID makes sense in a lot of scenarios, but at school or at work are not any of these scenarios.
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There are certain workplace scenarios I will tolerate it. I did some work for an aluminum smelting plant at one point, writing monitors for their "potlines" that zapped the aluminum ore.
The installation I worked at used the same amount of power as .. oh the city of Seattle.
You would walk through parts of it, and your hair would stand on end.
You had to have clearance to be in certain sections, so they made the engineers and other necessaries wear badges.
Another place where I appreciated them was Microsoft.
There were so many contractors from so many different agencies, sometimes you'd see a whole new set of faces every month and it was hard to remember everyone's names all the time. Plus the badges opened doors for you (physically, not allegorically)
The other thing about having them at Microsoft, is they were like flash cards for Indian names for me. Sundeep, Sumit, Vijaay, etc. I started picking them up because of all the H1Bs from India we would work with. It makes easier for me these days to spell and pronounce those names when I encounter Indian folks these days.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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Yeah, I get that.
I've been in companies where I got a card (that I didn't have to wear around my neck though) that gave me access to floor A, but not floor B.
Also companies (clients) that made me wear a "guest" batch, so people can identify me as guest.
Or workplace gatherings where you get a name batch so people know your name.
For the average small to mid-sized company it's absolutely unnecessary though.
And for schools it's madness (unless it's some special day and you get a batch with your name and/or class or even school or something like that).
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