Guide to Changing the Startup Page in File Explorer on Windows 11

• To modify the default page of File Explorer on Windows 11, access the “See more” menu, click on “Options,” choose “This PC,” hit “Apply,” and then select “OK.”

Windows 11 allows you to customize the “Folder Options” in File Explorer, enabling the application to launch directly to the “This PC” page instead of the default “Home” page. While the Home page shows your recent files and pinned folders, switching this setting will provide faster access to your drives and network locations.

In this article, I will guide you through the steps to set File Explorer to open on This PC by default in Windows 11.

• Set File Explorer to open This PC instead of Home
• Change File Explorer to open This PC using Registry Editor

Set File Explorer to open This PC instead of Home

To configure File Explorer to start at This PC, follow these steps:

1. Launch File Explorer on your Windows 11 device.
2. Click the See more (three-dot) menu, then select Options.

   

3. Select the General tab.
4. From the “Open File Explorer to” dropdown, choose the This PC option.

   

5. Press the Apply button.
6. Hit the OK button.

Once these steps are completed, every time you open File Explorer, it will launch directly to “This PC,” instead of the Home page. Remember, you can also set it to open the OneDrive folder by default if you prefer.

Change File Explorer to open This PC using Registry Editor

To adjust the default startup page in File Explorer via the Registry, use the following steps:

1. Open the Start menu.
2. Type regedit into the search bar and select the top result to access the Registry Editor.
3. Navigate to this path:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

4. Right-click on the LaunchTo DWORD and choose the Modify option.
5. Change the value from 2 to 1.

   

6. Finally, click the OK button.

After completing these steps, you may need to restart File Explorer or your computer for the adjustments to take effect.

If you prefer using Command Prompt (admin), you can execute the command reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced /v LaunchTo /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f (thanks to DroniX7 for this tip).

To revert the changes, simply repeat the above steps, but in step 5, change the LaunchTo DWORD value back to 2.