Last Updated on December 24, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake

The File Explorer icon in the taskbar opens to Quick Access by default. The icon for File Explorer in the Start menu opens to the Documents folder.

If you prefer, you can set File Explorer to open to This PC by default instead. This’ll give you direct access to all parent category folder and drives on the one location.

People who frequently visit more than one drive or folder may find their time with File Explorer more efficient if they have it opening to the This PC area by default. You could, of course, change it back to opening to the Quick Access section anytime you like. As for the Start menu entry, there’s no way of changing that from the Documents icon yet.

The following tutorial demonstrates how to open File Explorer to This PC or Quick Access by default.

How to Set This PC or Quick Access as the Default in File Explorer Using File Explorer Options

1. Open the Folder Options, or the File Explorer Options if you’re coming from Control Panel.

2. From the General tab, click on the drop-down menu next to the Open File Explorer to: heading and select Quick access or This PC and then click on OK at the bottom of the dialog to save the changes.

You can now close the Folder Options dialog and continue using your computer if you like.

That’s all.