diff --git a/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/OpenProjectListSettings.java b/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/OpenProjectListSettings.java
index 2032e89c83e1..fa602d15f00f 100644
--- a/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/OpenProjectListSettings.java
+++ b/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/OpenProjectListSettings.java
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
  */
 public class OpenProjectListSettings {
 
-    private static OpenProjectListSettings INSTANCE = new OpenProjectListSettings();
+    private static final OpenProjectListSettings INSTANCE = new OpenProjectListSettings();
     
     private static final String RECENT_PROJECTS_DISPLAY_NAMES = "RecentProjectsDisplayNames"; //NOI18N
     private static final String RECENT_PROJECTS_DISPLAY_ICONS = "RecentProjectsIcons"; //NOI18N
@@ -310,8 +310,11 @@ public File getProjectsFolder(boolean create) {
         if (result == null || !(new File(result)).exists()) {
             // property for overriding default projects dir location
             String userPrjDir = System.getProperty("netbeans.projects.dir"); // NOI18N
-            if (userPrjDir != null) {
+            if (userPrjDir != null && !userPrjDir.isBlank()) {
                 File f = new File(userPrjDir);
+                if (create && !f.exists()) {
+                    f.mkdirs();
+                }
                 if (f.exists() && f.isDirectory()) {
                     return FileUtil.normalizeFile(f);
                 }
diff --git a/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/ProjectUtilities.java b/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/ProjectUtilities.java
index 388524766847..5f992c213160 100644
--- a/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/ProjectUtilities.java
+++ b/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/ProjectUtilities.java
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@
 import org.netbeans.api.actions.Openable;
 import org.netbeans.api.project.Project;
 import org.netbeans.api.project.ProjectUtils;
-import static org.netbeans.modules.project.ui.Bundle.*;
 import org.netbeans.modules.project.ui.groups.Group;
 import org.netbeans.spi.project.AuxiliaryConfiguration;
 import org.netbeans.spi.project.ui.support.ProjectConvertors;
@@ -60,6 +59,7 @@
 import org.openide.util.Exceptions;
 import org.openide.util.Mutex;
 import org.openide.util.NbBundle.Messages;
+import org.openide.util.Utilities;
 import org.openide.windows.Mode;
 import org.openide.windows.TopComponent;
 import org.openide.windows.WindowManager;
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@
 import org.w3c.dom.Element;
 import org.w3c.dom.NodeList;
 
+import static org.netbeans.modules.project.ui.Bundle.*;
+
 /** The util methods for projectui module.
  *
  * @author  Jiri Rechtacek
@@ -601,6 +603,12 @@ private static List<String> getOpenFilesUrls(Project p, String groupName) {
         }    
         return new ArrayList<>(set);
     }
+    
+    // called from layer.xml on Favorites tab open
+    public static URL getProjectsFolder() throws MalformedURLException {
+        File projectsFolder = OpenProjectListSettings.getInstance().getProjectsFolder(true);
+        return Utilities.toURI(projectsFolder).toURL();
+    }
 
     // interface for handling project's documents stored in project private.xml
     // it serves for a unit test of OpenProjectList
diff --git a/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/resources/layer.xml b/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/resources/layer.xml
index cfcb8b01328f..2ee5b5b059c4 100644
--- a/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/resources/layer.xml
+++ b/ide/projectui/src/org/netbeans/modules/project/ui/resources/layer.xml
@@ -130,6 +130,14 @@
         </folder>
     </folder>
 
+    <folder name="Favorites">
+        <file name="NetBeansProjects.shadow">
+            <attr name="originalFile" methodvalue="org.netbeans.modules.project.ui.ProjectUtilities.getProjectsFolder"/>
+            <attr name="originalFileSystem" stringvalue="org.netbeans.modules.masterfs.MasterFileSystem"/>
+            <attr name="position" intvalue="110"/>
+        </file>
+    </folder>
+
     <folder name="QuickSearch">
         <folder name="Projects">
             <attr name="SystemFileSystem.localizingBundle" stringvalue="org.netbeans.modules.project.ui.quicksearch.Bundle"/>