Trate winshell (hecho precisamente para este propósito):
import winshell
print 'Desktop =>', winshell.desktop()
print 'Common Desktop =>', winshell.desktop (1)
print 'Application Data =>', winshell.application_data()
print 'Common Application Data =>', winshell.application_data (1)
print 'Bookmarks =>', winshell.bookmarks()
print 'Common Bookmarks =>', winshell.bookmarks (1)
print 'Start Menu =>', winshell.start_menu()
print 'Common Start Menu =>', winshell.start_menu (1)
print 'Programs =>', winshell.programs()
print 'Common Programs =>', winshell.programs (1)
print 'Startup =>', winshell.startup()
print 'Common Startup =>', winshell.startup (1)
print 'My Documents =>', winshell.my_documents()
print 'Recent =>', winshell.recent()
print 'SendTo =>', winshell.sendto()
relacionados: [Encontrar ubicaciones de las carpetas del sistema en Python] (http://stackoverflow.com/q/2063508/4279) – jfs