In VBscript, there existed a concept known as Special Folders, for example, My Documents which could be accessed using the Shell. Application object and passing in a constant that applied to a certain folder. This is also possible using PowerShell.
$a = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
Get-ChildItem $a.NameSpace(0x21).Self.Path
The prior two lines of code can also be written as follows:
Below is the list of special folders and its hex number, please do comment on
this post if any of them is/are wrong:
You can also use the .NET way in PowerShell:
| Hex Number | Folder Name |
|---|---|
| 0x1 | Internet Explorer |
| 0x2 | Programs |
| 0x3 | Control Panel |
| 0x4 | Printers and Faxes |
| 0x5 | My Documents |
| 0x6 | Favorites |
| 0x7 | Startup |
| 0x8 | My Recent Documents |
| 0x9 | SendTo |
| 0xa | Recycle Bin |
| 0xb | Start Menu |
| 0xd | My Music |
| 0xe | My Videos |
| 0x10 | Desktop |
| 0x11 | My Computer |
| 0x12 | My Network Places |
| 0x13 | NetHood |
| 0x14 | Fonts |
| 0x15 | Templates |
| 0x16 | All Users Start Menu |
| 0x17 | All Users Programs |
| 0x18 | All Users Startup |
| 0x18 | All Users Startup |
| 0x19 | All Users Desktop |
| 0x1a | Application Data |
| 0x1b | PrintHood |
| 0x1c | Local Settings Application Data |
| 0x20 | Local Settings Temporary Internet Files |
| 0x21 | Cookies |
| 0x22 | Local Settings History |
| 0x23 | All Users Application Data |
| 0x24 | Windows |
| 0x25 | System32 |
| 0x26 | Program Files |
| 0x27 | My Pictures |
| 0x28 | User Profile |
| 0x2b | Common Files |
| 0x2e | All Users Templates |
| 0x2f | Administrative Tools |
| 0x31 | Network Connections |
You can also use the .NET way in PowerShell:
[System.Environment]::GetFolderPath("<SpecialFolder>")
- Desktop
- Programs
- Personal
- MyDocuments
- Favorites
- Startup
- Recent
- SendTo
- StartMenu
- MyMusic
- DesktopDirectory
- MyComputer
- Templates
- ApplicationData
- LocalApplicationData
- InternetCache
- Cookies
- History
- CommonApplicationData
- System
- ProgramFiles
- MyPictures
- CommonProgramFiles
Between the following are the possible Enumeration values and their
associated numeric values, the VBScript version appears to have more
alternatives than the .NET version:
- 0 Desktop
- 2 Programs
- 5 Personal
- 6 Favourites
- 7 Startup
- 8 Recent
- 9 SendTo
- 11 StartMenu
- 13 MyMusic
- 16 DesktopDirectory
- 17 MyComputer
- 21 Templates
- 26 ApplicationData
- 28 LocalApplicationData
- 32 InternetCache
- 33 Cookies
- 34 History
- 35 CommonApplicationData
- 37 System
- 38 ProgramFiles
- 39 MyPictures
- 43 CommonProgramFiles
