System.Environment+SpecialFolder (enum)

Querying the values of SpecialFolder in PowerShell

[System.Enum]::GetValues('System.Environment+SpecialFolder') | foreach-object  {
  '{0,2} {1,-30} {2}' -f $_.value__, $_.ToString(), [Environment]::GetFolderPath($_)
}

			Comment
0	Desktop	C:\Users\Rene\Desktop	Note: the Desktop special folder is not the same thing as the Desktop virtual folder (the latter being the Windows Shell namespace).
2	Programs	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
5	MyDocuments	C:\Users\Rene\Documents	appears twice in code snippet above. The MyDocuments special folder is different from the MyDocument virtual folder which appears under the Desktop virtual folder in the Windows Shell namespace. `Personal` seems to be an alias(?) for `MyDocuments`.
6	Favorites	C:\Users\Rene\Favorites
7	Startup	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup	Compare with `CommonStartup`
8	Recent	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
9	SendTo	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
11	StartMenu	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
13	MyMusic	C:\Users\Rene\Music
14	MyVideos	C:\Users\Rene\Videos
16	DesktopDirectory	C:\Users\Rene\Desktop
17	MyComputer
19	NetworkShortcuts	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Network Shortcuts
20	Fonts	C:\Windows\Fonts
21	Templates	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
22	CommonStartMenu	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu
23	CommonPrograms	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
24	CommonStartup	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup	Compare with `Startup`
25	CommonDesktopDirectory	C:\Users\Public\Desktop
26	ApplicationData	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Roaming
27	PrinterShortcuts	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Printer Shortcuts
28	LocalApplicationData	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Local
32	InternetCache	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache
33	Cookies	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCookies
34	History	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History
35	CommonApplicationData	C:\ProgramData
36	Windows	C:\Windows
37	System	C:\Windows\system32
38	ProgramFiles	C:\Program Files
39	MyPictures	C:\Users\Rene\Pictures
40	UserProfile	C:\Users\Rene
41	SystemX86	C:\Windows\SysWOW64
42	ProgramFilesX86	C:\Program Files (x86)
43	CommonProgramFiles	C:\Program Files\Common Files
44	CommonProgramFilesX86	C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files
45	CommonTemplates	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates
46	CommonDocuments	C:\Users\Public\Documents
47	CommonAdminTools	C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
48	AdminTools	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
53	CommonMusic	C:\Users\Public\Music
54	CommonPictures	C:\Users\Public\Pictures
55	CommonVideos	C:\Users\Public\Videos
56	Resources	C:\Windows\resources
57	LocalizedResources
58	CommonOemLinks
59	CDBurning	C:\Users\Rene\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Burn\Burn	? Burn\Burn ?

Querying for a specific value in PowerShell

In PowerShell, the path for a specific value, such as UserProfile, can be queried using the GetFolderPath() method of System.Environment:

PS C:\> [System.Environment]::GetFolderPath([System.Environment+SpecialFolder]::UserProfile)
C:\Users\Rene

System.Environment+SpecialFolder (enum)

Querying the values of SpecialFolder in PowerShell

Querying for a specific value in PowerShell

See also