Occasionally, your script needs to know the path to the users’ desktop, or to the start menu, etc. These paths can vary, especially when users use OneDrive. To find the current system path, use this line:
PS> [Environment]::GetFolderPath('Desktop')
C:\Users\tobia\OneDrive\Desktop
You can use all constants defined in the [System.Environment+SpecialFolder] type:
PS> [Enum]::GetNames([System.Environment+SpecialFolder]) Desktop Programs MyDocuments Personal Favorites Startup Recent SendTo StartMenu MyMusic MyVideos DesktopDirectory MyComputer NetworkShortcuts Fonts Templates CommonStartMenu CommonPrograms CommonStartup CommonDesktopDirectory ApplicationData PrinterShortcuts LocalApplicationData InternetCache Cookies History CommonApplicationData Windows System ProgramFiles MyPictures UserProfile SystemX86 ProgramFilesX86 CommonProgramFiles CommonProgramFilesX86 CommonTemplates CommonDocuments CommonAdminTools AdminTools CommonMusic CommonPictures CommonVideos Resources LocalizedResources CommonOemLinks CDBurning
If you know the path and would like to know if there’s a registered system path for it that you could use, try the opposite and dump all folder constants and their associated paths:
[Enum]::GetNames([System.Environment+SpecialFolder]) | ForEach-Object { # ...for each, create a new object with the constant, the associated path # and the code required to get that path [PSCustomObject]@{ Name = $_ Path = [Environment]::GetFolderPath($_) } }
The result looks like this:
Name Path ---- ---- Desktop C:\Users\tobia\OneDrive\Desktop Programs C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Pr... MyDocuments C:\Users\tobia\OneDrive\Dokumente Personal C:\Users\tobia\OneDrive\Dokumente Favorites C:\Users\tobia\Favorites Startup C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Pr... Recent C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent SendTo C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo StartMenu C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu MyMusic C:\Users\tobia\Music MyVideos C:\Users\tobia\Videos DesktopDirectory C:\Users\tobia\OneDrive\Desktop MyComputer NetworkShortcuts C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Short... Fonts C:\WINDOWS\Fonts Templates C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates CommonStartMenu C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu CommonPrograms C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs CommonStartup C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup CommonDesktopDirectory C:\Users\Public\Desktop ApplicationData C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Roaming PrinterShortcuts C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Short... LocalApplicationData C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Local InternetCache C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache Cookies C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies History C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History CommonApplicationData C:\ProgramData Windows C:\WINDOWS System C:\WINDOWS\system32 ProgramFiles C:\Program Files MyPictures C:\Users\tobia\OneDrive\Bilder UserProfile C:\Users\tobia SystemX86 C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64 ProgramFilesX86 C:\Program Files (x86) CommonProgramFiles C:\Program Files\Common Files CommonProgramFilesX86 C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files CommonTemplates C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates CommonDocuments C:\Users\Public\Documents CommonAdminTools C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administr... AdminTools C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Pr... CommonMusic C:\Users\Public\Music CommonPictures C:\Users\Public\Pictures CommonVideos C:\Users\Public\Videos Resources C:\WINDOWS\resources LocalizedResources CommonOemLinks CDBurning C:\Users\tobia\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Burn\Burn #
