Manually Opening the “My Documents Properties” Dialog Box

Question

In WinXP SP3, Is it possible to open the "My Documents Properties" dialog box from the command line? The dialog box I am referring to is the dialog box then opens when you right click on the "My Documents" folder and open the properties.

I have searched for a means of doing this without success. This file: %windir%\system32\mydocs.dll contains the dialog box, but I cannot figure out how to load it from the command line.

Answer 1

Providing you have a "My Documents" icon displayed on the Desktop, this AutoIt script should do the trick:

WinActivate("[CLASS:Progman]", "")
Send("My Documents")
Send("+{F10}")
Send("{UP}")
Send("{ENTER}")

First, it selects the desktop, then it selects the "My Documents" icon. It sends SHIFT-F10, the shortcut for "right-click". The UP key will select the last item of the menu ("Properties" item for "My Documents") and press ENTER to open it.

Tested it on Windows 7 RTM English, except that I replaced "My Documents" with "Recycle Bin" for testing, as there is no "My Documents" in Windows 7. I have no XP to test this unfortunately. I'm not 100% sure about the "CLASS:Progman" entry, although this is old legacy and should be the same for XP.

Answer 2

I just tested rundll32 on that path you provided and I had no luck.

I do not think you can do this from the command prompt. If you say what it is you are trying to achieve, I or someone else may be able to recommend an alternative way of doing it (through registry keys, or other commands etc.)

Answer 3

So far, I haven't been able to find a method for automating this task. As a guide to what I've been looking towards, to possibly help you on your search, the following command at a command prompt will open My Documents:

explorer.exe ::{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}

The path here is the CLSID, and a list of such IDs can be viewed here. Given this information, if you can find how the CLSID is referenced, you may be able to change it this way.

If you already have a registry method for changing the folder that requires a reboot, you should be able to restart explorer programmatically in order to have the same effect:

taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
explorer.exe

Answer 4

I don't know how to do a perl -e '...' with VBScript, (and no guarantees on style or idiom with the following) but you can invoke this script from the commandline:

set shell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
set app = CreateObject("Shell.Application")
app.namespace(0).parsename(shell.RegRead("HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell 

Folders\Personal")).invokeVerb("P&roperties")
MsgBox("Click OK")

The final MsgBox() keeps the script from immediately exiting and (!) killing the properties window.

Answer 5

Looking at the answers and your comments, did you know that you can just drag your folder from the old location to the new? No dialog boxes popping up or anything and Windows will automatically remap all of the required paths for your user profile to point to the new location. (In XP that'd be the My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music folders).

Also, looking at the exports for mydocs.dll, it looks to be a COM DLL with no visible entry points for you to use with rundll32. Of course, I could be wrong about that.

Answer 6

Reading your comment on Wil's solution, you can move the target of My Documents like so:

• Right-click My Documents and go to properties:

  

• Click "Move" and select the new location to store documents:

  

• Apply & OK