from win32com.shell import shell, shellcon
import win32con

def ExplorePIDL():
    pidl = shell.SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(0, shellcon.CSIDL_DESKTOP)
    print "The desktop is at", shell.SHGetPathFromIDList(pidl)
    shell.ShellExecuteEx(fMask=shellcon.SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS,
                         nShow=win32con.SW_NORMAL,
                         lpClass="folder", 
                         lpVerb="explore", 
                         lpIDList=pidl)
    print "Done!"

if __name__=='__main__':
    ExplorePIDL()