Restore Previous Folder Windows at Logon in Windows 10

It is possible to make Windows remember your currently open folders in Explorer, so the next time you sign-in after a restart or logoff, the OS will restore opened folders automatically. In this article, we will see how it can be done.

The feature described below is not new to Windows 10. It is supported by many previous Windows versions, so it is possible to enable it in Windows 7 or Windows 8. The changes affect only the current user account.

To restore previous folder windows at logon in Windows 10, do the following.

1. Open This PC in File Explorer.
2. In the Ribbon user interface of Explorer, click File -> Change folder and search options.If you have disabled the Ribbon using a tool like Winaero Ribbon Disabler, press F10 -> click Tools menu - Folder Options.
   Tip: you can add the Folder Options button to Quick Access Toolbar. See the following article: How to add any Ribbon command to the Quick Access toolbar of File Explorer.
3. Switch to the View tab of the folder options window.
4. In the list of Advanced settings, find the option Restore previous folder windows at logon and enable (tick) it.

Click OK and you are done.

This option can also be configured with a Registry tweak. Here is how.

Enable "Restore previous folder windows at logon" with a Registry tweak

1. Open the Registry Editor app.
2. Go to the following Registry key.

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

   See how to go to a Registry key with one click.

3. On the right, modify or create a new 32-Bit DWORD value "PersistBrowsers". Set it to 1.Note: Even if you are running 64-bit Windows you must still create a 32-bit DWORD value.
4. To make the changes done by the Registry tweak take effect, you need to sign out and sign in to your user account.

Here you can download ready-to-use Registry files:

Download Registry Files

That's it.