A List Of Windows Shell Commands [duplicate]

Question

I would love a list of Shell commands for Windows. Not to be confused with commands that you would run in Windows DOS. Over time I have come across these commands here and there. Like for example if you need to access the users startup folder in Windows 8, you go to run (Windows Key + R) and then type shell:startup then you would get your startup folder so you could load programs on startup upon Windows logon. This commands also works in Windows 7 as well. Can some please tell me were I can find a list all of the shell: that you can run?

Answer 1

Your question is somewhat lazy. I am sure you could Google this by yourself, but in any case here is the first example I found for Windows 8:

Shell Command                       Description
shell:AccountPictures               Account Pictures
shell:AddNewProgramsFolder          The "Get Programs" Control panel item
shell:Administrative Tools          Administrative Tools
shell:AppData                       Same as %appdata%, the c:\user\<username>\appdata\roaming folder
shell:Application Shortcuts         Opens the folder which stores all Modern apps shortcuts
shell:AppsFolder                    The virtual folder which stores all installed Modern apps
shell:AppUpdatesFolder              The "Installed Updates" Control panel item
shell:Cache                         IE's cache folder (Temporary Internet Files)
shell:CD Burning                    Temporary Burn Folder
shell:ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder    The "Uninstall a program" Control panel item
shell:Common Administrative Tools   The Administrative Tools folder for all users
shell:Common AppData                The C:\ProgramData folder (%ProgramData%)
shell:Common Desktop                Public Desktop
shell:Common Documents              Public Documents
shell:Common Programs               All Users Programs, which are part of Start menu. Still used by the Start screen
shell:Common Start Menu             All Users Start Menu folder, same as above
shell:Common Startup                The Startup folder, used for all users
shell:Common Templates              Same as above, but used for new documents templates, e.g. by Microsoft Office
shell:CommonDownloads               Public Downloads
shell:CommonMusic                   Public Music
shell:CommonPictures                Public Pictures
shell:CommonRingtones               Public Ringtones folder
shell:CommonVideo                   Public Videos
shell:ConflictFolder                The Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Sync Center\Conflicts item
shell:ConnectionsFolder            The Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network Connections item
shell:Contacts                      Contacts folder (Address book)
shell:ControlPanelFolder           Control Panel
shell:Cookies                       The folder with IE's cookies
shell:CredentialManager            C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Credentials
shell:CryptoKeys                   C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Crypto
shell:CSCFolder                    This folder is broken in Windows 8/7, provides access to the Offline files item
shell:Desktop                       Desktop
shell:Device Metadata Store         C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore
shell:DocumentsLibrary              Documents Library
shell:Downloads                    Downloads folder
shell:DpapiKeys                    C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Protect
shell:Favorites                    Favorites
shell:Fonts                         C:\Windows\Fonts
shell:Games                         The Games Explorer item
shell:GameTasks                    C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\GameExplorer
shell:History                       C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History, IE's browsing history
shell:HomeGroupCurrentUserFolder    The Home Group folder for the current user
shell:HomeGroupFolder               The Home Group root folder
shell:ImplicitAppShortcuts         C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\ImplicitAppShortcuts
shell:InternetFolder                This shell command will start Internet Explorer
shell:Libraries                    Libraries
shell:Links                         The "Favorites" folder from the Explorer navigation pane.
shell:Local AppData                 C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local
shell:LocalAppDataLow               C:\Users\<username>\AppData\LocalLow
shell:LocalizedResourcesDir         This shell folder is broken in Windows 8
shell:MAPIFolder                   Represents the Microsoft Outlook folder
shell:MusicLibrary                 Music Library
shell:My Music                      The "My Music" folder (not the Library)
shell:My Pictures                  The "My Pictures" folder (not the Library)
shell:My Video                      The "My Videos" folder (not the Library)
shell:MyComputerFolder              Computer/Drives view
shell:NetHood                       C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
shell:NetworkPlacesFolder          The Network Places folder which shows computers and devices on your network
shell:OEM Links                    This shell command does nothing on my Windows 8 Retail edition. Maybe it works with OEM Windows 8 editions.
shell:Original Images               Not functional on Windows 8
shell:Personal                      The "My Documents" folder (not the Library)
shell:PhotoAlbums                  Saved slideshows, seems to have not been implemented yet
shell:PicturesLibrary               Pictures Library
shell:Playlists                    Stores WMP Playlists.
shell:PrintersFolder                The classic "Printers" folder (not 'Devices and Printers')
shell:PrintHood                    C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
shell:Profile                       The User profile folder
shell:ProgramFiles                 Program Files
shell:ProgramFilesCommon           C:\Program Files\Common Files
shell:ProgramFilesCommonX86         C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files - for Windows x64
shell:ProgramFilesX86               C:\Program Files (x86) - for Windows x64
shell:Programs                      C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs (Per-user Start Menu Programs folder)
shell:Public                        C:\Users\Public
shell:PublicAccountPictures         C:\Users\Public\AccountPictures
shell:PublicGameTasks               C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\GameExplorer
shell:PublicLibraries               C:\Users\Public\Libraries
shell:Quick Launch                 C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
shell:Recent                        The "Recent Items" folder (Recent Documents)
shell:RecordedTVLibrary            The "Recorded TV" Library
shell:RecycleBinFolder              Recycle Bin
shell:ResourceDir                  C:\Windows\Resources where visual styles are stored
shell:Ringtones                    C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Ringtones
shell:Roamed Tile Images           Is not implemented yet. Reserved for future.
shell:Roaming Tiles                 C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\RoamingTiles
shell:SavedGames                   Saved Games
shell:Screenshots                  The folder for Win+Print Screen screenshots
shell:Searches                      Saved Searches
shell:SearchHomeFolder              Windows Search UI
shell:SendTo                        The folder with items that you can see in the "Send to" menu
shell:Start Menu                   C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu (Per-user Start Menu folder)
shell:Startup                       Per-user Startup folder
shell:SyncCenterFolder             Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Sync Center
shell:SyncResultsFolder            Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Sync Center\Sync Results
shell:SyncSetupFolder               Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Sync Center\Sync Setup
shell:System                        C:\Windows\System32
shell:SystemCertificates           C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SystemCertificates
shell:SystemX86                    C:\Windows\SysWOW64 -Windows x64 only
shell:Templates                    C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
shell:User Pinned                  Pinned items for Taskbar and Start screen, C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned
shell:UserProfiles                 C:\Users, the users folder where the user profiles are stored
shell:UserProgramFiles              Not implemented yet. Reserved for future.
shell:UserProgramFilesCommon        same as above
shell:UsersFilesFolder              The current user profile
shell:UsersLibrariesFolder         Libraries
shell:VideosLibrary                 Videos Library
shell:Windows                       C:\Windows

Source - winaero.com.

I don't know how comprehensive this list is as I don't use this command set, but you can judge it for yourself. At the very least it looks to be a good starting point for you.