Changing default path of File/Open/Browse

[Austin]

The file browser in Internet Explorer 6 (File/Open/Browse) uses by default
the path C:\My Documents. How do I change this to make the browser return
to the last directory accessed on each browse ?

Thanks in advance for any responses.
Austin

[degsy]

Welcome :)

It should stick.
i.e. i'm using WinME + IE6 and mine is currently set to Desktop of my account.


What OS?

[Austin]

Hi Degsy,
Wow ! That was fast.
My OS is Win 98.
Austin

[renegade600]

usually the browser will remember the last path used. So the next time you download something, go to the folder you want to download to and download. Then the next time you need to download something, you should automatically go to that folder.

[Austin]

Hi Dan,
Downloading from URLs isn't a problem. IE adjusts that correctly and the download screen
opens at the previous path. I'ts just in the local file access File/Open/Browse that the
browser always returns to C:\My Documents after each file access no matter where
the last file was accessed.
Austin

[degsy]

I'm not sure of your options for Win98.

TweakUI has an option for Places, but it may not be supported in 98.
http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/powertoys/networking/nttweakui.asp


You could also try a Registry Hack.
Open Regedit and use the Find feature to look for "c:\my documents" (without the quotes).

Don't change anything, but keep looking through to see if you can find relevant entries.

[Austin]

I tried TweakUI but it didn't seem to address this problem.

I took your advice on investigating the registry.
These are the registry hives/keys/values which seem to affect the default
path used by the browser function in File/Open/Browse.
;+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
;In all keys the suspicious value is "Personal" and was set to "C":\My Documents" ;
;+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer
\Shell Folders\[Personal]
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer
\User Shell Folders\[Personal]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer
\Shell Folders\[Personal]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer
\User Shell Folders\[Personal]

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\Explorer
\Shell Folders\[Personal]
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Cur rentVersion\Explorer
\User Shell Folders\[Personal]

But I didn't take your advice about not changing it ;-)

I changed all six [Personal] values to C:\ and the browse path defaulted to C:\ and then I deleted all six [Personal] values and the path defaulted to Desktop.
Restoring [Personal] to "C:\My Documents" has me back where I started but a little
bit smarter.
Austin

[degsy]

thanks for the update :)