How To Re-Open Folders At Login On Windows 10
Windows 10 has a feature called Pick up where I left off. It’s integrated with Cortana and when you restart your system, or boot to your desktop after a system initiated restart (after installing an update), the apps you had open last time re-open for you. For some reason, this doesn’t include folders however, there is a way to re-open folders from the previous session when you log in again. This feature isn’t baked in with the Pick up where I left off feature so you aren’t forced to use it if you don’t want to. Here’s how you can re-open folders at login.
Re-Open Folders At Login
Open File Explorer and go to the View tab on the ribbon. Click the dropdown arrow under the Options button and select the ‘Change folder and search options’ option.
On the Folder Options window, go to the View tab. Scroll down the list of options under Advanced Settings and look for the ‘Restore previous folder windows at logon’ option. Click the Apply button.
That’s all you need to do. The next time you restart your system, any folders that you had open will open again at login. The folders must be open when you shut down your system, or restart it. If you close a folder, and then restart or shut down your system the next time you log on, the folders will not open.
This feature isn’t tied down to the Pick up where I left off feature. This means that if you aren’t using the feature, you can still have your folders open at login. If you do have the feature enabled, this will only compliment it. It won’t sync across devices like other settings that sync across Windows 10 systems. This means that you will need to enable this feature on all your systems individually and of course, your folder history will not sync across devices unless you have Timeline enabled.
If you have an old system, one that takes a particularly long time to start, this may slow it down further. It will add a second or two to the start up time but on a slow system that can seem like ages. On a fast or moderately fast system, you won’t see much of difference. It does matter how many folders have to open when you reboot your system. A lot of folders means more system resources will be used. If the folders have images in them, it might take longer since thumbnails have to be generated.
