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This morning we had a request for adding a "High Priority Folder".

This would be a top level folder that shows up on your Windows desktop and in My Computer. Didn't think you could do that? Well read on...

The folder we will be creating can not be removed - just like My Computer or My Documents. Easy accessibility for your most used folder.

You can assign the folder to be anywhere you have access to and use your own icon file for it. It will be the first view you see in any Open File box.

We found the step by step from PcTools talking about windows 2000. With a few slight mods we got it working on XP and it should work on Vista as well.

Now you can create your own custom system folder, like "My Documents", that can not be deleted or renamed and place it on the desktop and My Computer. All you need to do is add a handful of registry entries. The last two steps add the shortcut to My Computer and The Desktop. You can do one or the other.

Editing the registry can be dangerous so be careful and make a backup before you begin!

1. Create the following series of keys and values in the registry at [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID] or [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID]. The GUID, globally unique identifier, can be a random number, in this example "FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345" is used. See this article for more GUID examples.
2. Create a new key called [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}] and set (Default) to equal the name of the folder e.g. "My Folder".
3. Create a new sub-key under the main key called "DefaultIcon" (i.e. [HKEY_CLASSES...ABCD1DE12345}\DefaultIcon]) and set (Default) to equal the filename for the icon you want to display e.g. "c:\windows\myicon.ico".
4. Create a new sub-key under the main key called "InProcServer32" (i.e. [HKEY_CLASSES...ABCD1DE12345}\InProcServer32]) and set (Default) to equal "shell32.dll", also create a new String value called "ThreadingModel" and set it to "Apartment".
5. Create a set of sub-keys starting at the main key "Shell\Open My Menu\Command" (i.e. [HKEY_CLASSES...ABCD1DE12345}\Shell\Open My Folder\Command]) and set (Default) to equal the command to execute when clicked, in this case explorer, e.g. "explorer /root,c:\MyFolder".
   
6. Create a set of sub-keys starting at the main key "ShellEx\PropertySheetHandlers\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}"
   (i.e. [HKEY_CLASSES...ABCD1DE12345}\ShellEx\PropertySheetHandlers
   \{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}])
7. Create a new sub-key under the main key called "ShellFolder" (i.e. [HKEY_CLASSES...ABCD1DE12345}\ShellFolder]) and create a new Binary value called "Attributes" and set it to "00 00 00 00".
   
8. (Optional) To place the folder on the desktop add the following key:
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
   Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}]
   
9. (Optional) To place the folder in My Computer add the following key:
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
   Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{FD4DF9E0-E3DE-11CE-BFCF-ABCD1DE12345}]