List of shell commands in Windows 10

There are lots of shell commands in Windows 10, that you can access by typing shell:<SomeFriendlyName> into the "Run" dialog or the Start menu search box. In most cases, these shell commands open some system folder or Control panel applet. For example, you can access the Startup folder quickly, if you type the following in the Run dialog:

shell:Startup

These commands can also show some hidden secret features like the two so called "God Mode" folders - All Tasks and All Settings. Today I would like to share with you the exclusive list of the shell commands in Windows 10. It is the most complete list and includes every single command that exists in Microsoft's latest OS.


Shell Dump
Shell Command Purpose
shell:AccountPictures Account Pictures
shell:AddNewProgramsFolder AddNewProgramsFolder
shell:Administrative Tools Administrative Tools
shell:AppData AppData
shell:Application Shortcuts Application Shortcuts
shell:AppsFolder AppsFolder
shell:AppUpdatesFolder AppUpdatesFolder
shell:Cache Cache
shell:Camera Roll Camera Roll
shell:CD Burning Temporary Burn Folder
shell:ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder
shell:Common Administrative Tools Administrative Tools
shell:Common AppData Common AppData
shell:Common Desktop Public Desktop
shell:Common Documents Public Documents
shell:Common Programs Programs
shell:Common Start Menu Start Menu
shell:Common Startup Startup
shell:Common Templates Common Templates
shell:CommonDownloads Public Downloads
shell:CommonMusic Public Music
shell:CommonPictures Public Pictures
shell:CommonRingtones CommonRingtones
shell:CommonVideo Public Videos
shell:ConflictFolder ConflictFolder
shell:ConnectionsFolder ConnectionsFolder
shell:Contacts Contacts
shell:ControlPanelFolder ControlPanelFolder
shell:Cookies Cookies
shell:CredentialManager CredentialManager
shell:CryptoKeys CryptoKeys
shell:CSCFolder CSCFolder
shell:Desktop Desktop
shell:Device Metadata Store Device Metadata Store
shell:DocumentsLibrary Documents
shell:Downloads Downloads
shell:DpapiKeys DpapiKeys
shell:Favorites Favorites
shell:Fonts Fonts
shell:Games Games
shell:GameTasks GameTasks
shell:History History
shell:HomeGroupCurrentUserFolder HomeGroupCurrentUserFolder
shell:HomeGroupFolder HomeGroupFolder
shell:ImplicitAppShortcuts ImplicitAppShortcuts
shell:InternetFolder InternetFolder
shell:Libraries Libraries
shell:Links Links
shell:Local AppData Local AppData
shell:LocalAppDataLow LocalAppDataLow
shell:LocalizedResourcesDir LocalizedResourcesDir
shell:MAPIFolder MAPIFolder
shell:MusicLibrary Music
shell:My Music Music
shell:My Pictures Pictures
shell:My Video Videos
shell:MyComputerFolder MyComputerFolder
shell:NetHood NetHood
shell:NetworkPlacesFolder NetworkPlacesFolder
shell:OEM Links OEM Links
shell:OneDrive OneDrive
shell:Original Images Original Images
shell:Personal Documents
shell:PhotoAlbums Slide Shows
shell:PicturesLibrary Pictures
shell:Playlists Playlists
shell:PrintersFolder PrintersFolder
shell:PrintHood PrintHood
shell:Profile Profile
shell:ProgramFiles Program Files
shell:ProgramFilesCommon ProgramFilesCommon
shell:ProgramFilesCommonX64 ProgramFilesCommonX64
shell:ProgramFilesCommonX86 ProgramFilesCommonX86
shell:ProgramFilesX64 ProgramFilesX64
shell:ProgramFilesX86 Program Files (x86)
shell:Programs Programs
shell:Public Public
shell:PublicAccountPictures Public Account Pictures
shell:PublicGameTasks PublicGameTasks
shell:PublicLibraries PublicLibraries
shell:Quick Launch Quick Launch
shell:Recent Recent Items
shell:RecordedTVLibrary Recorded TV
shell:RecycleBinFolder RecycleBinFolder
shell:ResourceDir ResourceDir
shell:Retail Demo Retail Demo
shell:Ringtones Ringtones
shell:Roamed Tile Images Roamed Tile Images
shell:Roaming Tiles Roaming Tiles
shell:SavedGames Saved Games
shell:Screenshots Screenshots
shell:Searches Searches
shell:SearchHistoryFolder SearchHistoryFolder
shell:SearchHomeFolder SearchHomeFolder
shell:SearchTemplatesFolder SearchTemplatesFolder
shell:SendTo SendTo
shell:SkyDriveCameraRoll SkyDriveCameraRoll
shell:SkyDriveDocuments SkyDriveDocuments
shell:SkyDriveMusic SkyDriveMusic
shell:SkyDrivePictures SkyDrivePictures
shell:Start Menu Start Menu
shell:StartMenuAllPrograms StartMenuAllPrograms
shell:Startup Startup
shell:SyncCenterFolder SyncCenterFolder
shell:SyncResultsFolder SyncResultsFolder
shell:SyncSetupFolder SyncSetupFolder
shell:System System
shell:SystemCertificates SystemCertificates
shell:SystemX86 SystemX86
shell:Templates Templates
shell:ThisPCDesktopFolder ThisPCDesktopFolder
shell:User Pinned User Pinned
shell:UserProfiles Users
shell:UserProgramFiles UserProgramFiles
shell:UserProgramFilesCommon UserProgramFilesCommon
shell:UsersFilesFolder UsersFilesFolder
shell:UsersLibrariesFolder UsersLibrariesFolder
shell:VideosLibrary Videos
shell:Windows Windows


That's it. Please let me know if I missed anything.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

8 thoughts on “List of shell commands in Windows 10”

  1. Hey, alternatively you can run it using CMD too. Just type “start (and the list of shell commands above)” then enter. Without quotes of course. :)

  2. I recently invoked SHELL:RECENT to add recent items list in Explorer win 10. HOw do I undo this?
    Thank you.

  3. Hi, great list – thanks for compiling and sharing!

    I did notice that a few of the shell folders did not seem to work/exist when I tried (list included below), and wondered if there was any further info (e.g. if some of the folders are optional, or only apply if you have perticular options set, etc)?
    ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    List of shell folders I could not run:
    – shell:CSCFolder
    – shell:Games
    – shell:InternetFolder
    – shell:MAPIFolder
    – shell:OEM Links
    – shell:Original Images
    – shell:Retail Demo
    – shell:Roamed Tile Images
    – shell:Screenshots
    – shell:SearchHistoryFolder
    – shell:SearchTemplatesFolder

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