How to add Downloads folder to Vista Start Menu

[Mr.James]

It's really been annoying me for some time now that Vista has a link to your profile, pictures, music, games and favourites but no link to downloads. There are a couple of guides on the net that tell you how to swap the download folder for the pictures or music folders but i want to keep them. I have managed to change the games folder (as I don't user them on my work pc) to point to my downloads folder instead and here's how to do it for anyone else that's interested.

Go to the following key in the registry:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83b1-96b02CFE0D52}

right click it, select export, type backup and click save (just in case).

right click and go to permissions, click advanced, then the owner tab, tick "replace owner on subcontainer and objects" check box and click ok. now click on Administrators and select full control, click ok.

Now right click on the defaulticon sub folder and select permissions, select administrators, tick full control ok. repeat this for inprocserver32 and progid

now copy and paste the bold text into a notepad file called downloads.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83B1-96B02CFE0D52}]
@="Downloads"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83b1-96b02CFE0D52}]
@="@C:\\Windows\\System32\\shell32.dll,-21798"
"InfoTip"="Store Downloads from the Internet."
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83b1-96b02CFE0D52}\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Windows\\System32\\imageres.dll,-184"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83b1-96b02CFE0D52}\InprocServer32]
@="C:\\Windows\\System32\\shell32.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83b1-96b02CFE0D52}\ProgID]
@=-
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83b1-96b02CFE0D52}\Shell]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83b1-96b02CFE0D52}\Shell\Open]
@="&Open"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83b1-96b02CFE0D52}\Shell\Open\Command]
@="explorer.exe c:\\users\\mrjames\\downloads"

change the bit in red to your profile's download folder and delete and re-type the @ symbols as sometime they don't copy correctly from web pages (although it looks correct). If you have multiple people that use the computer i'd suggest changing it to a shared downloads folder. eg c:\\users\\public\\Downloads as it isn't customizable for different users.

now double click the reg file to enter it into the registry. log off, back on and it should be working

to restore the backup, edit the file in notepad and add the line:

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{ED228FDF-9EA8-4870-83b1-96b02CFE0D52}\Shell\Open]

save it and then double click it to change things back... and don't forget to log off and back on again...

I've not manged to find a way of changing the pop up that says "Play and manage games" but i can live with that...

[Shifty]

I have the same gripe however, I simply created a shortcut on the left side. A default one available upon install would be nice though for sure. Thx for the info, I'll have to give that a try.