Objects Supported:

These are the Explorer objects explicitly supported in the target parameter to the MKSC command:

<Desktop>the desktop
<Computer>the list of drives
<Printers>the list of printers
<Network>Network Neighborhood; LAN locations
<Connections>network interfaces
<Recycle Bin>deleted-but-recoverable files
<Control Panel>Windows configuration utilities
<Desktop Directory>the user’s desktop directory
<Documents>the default save location for many applications
<Music>the suggested save location for music files
<Pictures>the suggested save location for graphics files
<Video>the suggested save location for video files
<Start Menu>the root of the user’s Start menu
<Programs>the “Programs” folder in the user’s Start menu
<Startup>the “Startup” folder in the user’s Start menu
<Templates>the user’s document templates directory
<Profile>the user’s profile directory
<NetHood>the user’s “Network Shortcuts” folder
<Common Desktop Directory>the common desktop directory
<Common Documents>the suggested location for shared documents
<Common Music>the suggested location for shared music files
<Common Pictures>the suggested location for shared graphics files
<Common Video>the suggested location for shared video files
<Common Start Menu>the root of the common Start menu
<Common Programs>the “Programs” folder in the common Start menu
<Common Startup>the “Startup” folder in the common Start menu
<Common Templates>the common document templates directory
<Recent>list of shortcuts to recently-opened files
<SendTo>Explorer’s list of send-to locations
<Windows>the root Windows directory, %WINDIR%
<System>the Windows system directory, %WINDIR%\System32
<System x86>the Windows SysWOW64 directory, %WINDIR%\SysWOW64
<Fonts>the Windows fonts directory
<Program Files>the default location for installed programs
<Program Files x86>the default location for WoW64 programs

Note that all of the above must be quoted to protect the angle brackets.

If you supply a name in angle brackets and it doesn’t match any of the above, MKSC will search for an object with a matching display name in: (1) Control Panel, (2) Administrative Tools, (3) Printers, and (4) Windows’s “Constant Special Item ID List”, in that order.


Many of the objects listed in the table above — the ones marked with a bullet in the left column — resolve to directories in the file system. These may be used at the start of linkfile, directory, or iconfile. For example, you can use <Desktop> to create a shortcut on the desktop:

mksc "<Desktop>Printers.lnk" "<Printers>"