diff --git a/openide.filesystems/apichanges.xml b/openide.filesystems/apichanges.xml
--- a/openide.filesystems/apichanges.xml
+++ b/openide.filesystems/apichanges.xml
@@ -46,6 +46,24 @@
         <apidef name="filesystems">Filesystems API</apidef>
     </apidefs>
     <changes>
+         <change id="FileUtil.getConfigFileObject">
+            <api name="filesystems"/>
+            <summary>Added FileUtil.getConfigFileObject for simpler access of default filesystem</summary>
+            <version major="7" minor="18"/>
+            <date day="19" month="12" year="2008"/>
+            <author login="jskrivanek"/>
+            <compatibility addition="yes"/>
+            <description>
+                <p>
+                    Rather than having to call
+                    <code>Respository.getDefault().getDefaultFileSystem().getRoot().getFileObject(&quot;foo/bar&quot;)</code>,
+                    you can simply call
+                    <a href="@TOP@/org/openide/filesystems/FileUtil.html#getConfigFileObject(java.lang.String)">FileUtil.getConfigFileObject(&quot;foo/bar&quot;)</a>.
+                </p>
+            </description>
+            <class package="org.openide.filesystems" name="FileUtil"/>
+            <issue number="91534"/>
+        </change>
         <change id="FileChooserBuilder">
             <api name="filesystems"/>
             <summary>FileChooserBuilder added</summary>
diff --git a/openide.filesystems/nbproject/project.properties b/openide.filesystems/nbproject/project.properties
--- a/openide.filesystems/nbproject/project.properties
+++ b/openide.filesystems/nbproject/project.properties
@@ -44,4 +44,4 @@
 javadoc.main.page=org/openide/filesystems/doc-files/api.html
 javadoc.arch=${basedir}/arch.xml
 javadoc.apichanges=${basedir}/apichanges.xml
-spec.version.base=7.17.0
+spec.version.base=7.18.0
diff --git a/openide.filesystems/src/org/openide/filesystems/FileUtil.java b/openide.filesystems/src/org/openide/filesystems/FileUtil.java
--- a/openide.filesystems/src/org/openide/filesystems/FileUtil.java
+++ b/openide.filesystems/src/org/openide/filesystems/FileUtil.java
@@ -1771,6 +1771,21 @@
         return Ordering.affectsOrder(event);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns {@code FileObject} from the NetBeans default (system, configuration)
+     * filesystems or {@code null} if does not exist. Throws {@code NullPointerException}
+     * if the path is {@code null}.
+     * @param path the path from the root of the NetBeans default (system, configuration)
+     * filesystem delimited by '/' or empty string to get root folder.
+     * @return a {@code FileObject} for given path in the NetBeans default (system, configuration)
+     * filesystem or {@code null} if does not exist
+     * @since 7.18
+     */
+    public static FileObject getConfigFileObject(String path) {
+        Parameters.notNull("path", path);  //NOI18N
+        return Repository.getDefault().getDefaultFileSystem().getRoot().getFileObject(path);
+    }
+
     private static File wrapFileNoCanonicalize(File f) {
         if (f instanceof NonCanonicalizingFile) {
             return f;
diff --git a/openide.filesystems/src/org/openide/filesystems/Repository.java b/openide.filesystems/src/org/openide/filesystems/Repository.java
--- a/openide.filesystems/src/org/openide/filesystems/Repository.java
+++ b/openide.filesystems/src/org/openide/filesystems/Repository.java
@@ -60,12 +60,13 @@
 import org.openide.util.io.NbMarshalledObject;
 
 /**
- * Holder for system filesystem, used for most of NetBeans' runtime configuration.
- * There is only one useful thing to do with this class:
+ * Holder for NetBeans default (system, configuration) filesystem, used for most
+ * of NetBeans' runtime configuration. The default implementation is a merge
+ * of all of the XML layer files provided by enabled modules, and
+ * the {@code config} subfolder of the userdir on the user's disk.
+ * If you just want to modify configuration data use e.g.
  * <pre>
- * FileSystem sfs = Repository.getDefault().getDefaultFileSystem();
- * // now use somehow, e.g.
- * FileObject menus = sfs.findResource("Menu");
+ * FileObject menus = FileUtil.getConfigFileObject("Menu");
  * // ...
  * </pre>
  * Formerly (NB 3.x) contained a list of mounted filesystems. This functionality
@@ -168,6 +169,11 @@
 
     /**
      * Gets the NetBeans default (system, configuration) filesystem.
+     * The default implementation is a merge of
+     * all of the XML layer files provided by enabled modules, and the
+     * {@code config} subfolder of the userdir on the user's disk.
+     * If you want to simply get a file or folder from this filesystem,
+     * it is simpler to call {@link FileUtil#getConfigFileObject(java.lang.String)}.
      * @return the default filesystem
      */
     public final FileSystem getDefaultFileSystem() {
diff --git a/openide.filesystems/test/unit/src/org/openide/filesystems/FileUtilTest.java b/openide.filesystems/test/unit/src/org/openide/filesystems/FileUtilTest.java
--- a/openide.filesystems/test/unit/src/org/openide/filesystems/FileUtilTest.java
+++ b/openide.filesystems/test/unit/src/org/openide/filesystems/FileUtilTest.java
@@ -319,4 +319,19 @@
             logger.removeHandler(handler);
         }
     }
+
+    /** Tests getConfigFileObject method (see #91534). */
+    public void testGetConfigFileObject() throws IOException {
+        FileObject rootDFS = Repository.getDefault().getDefaultFileSystem().getRoot();
+        assertNotNull("Sample FileObject not created.", rootDFS.createFolder("folder1").createFolder("folder2").createData("file.ext"));
+        assertNotNull("Existing FileObject not found.", FileUtil.getConfigFileObject("folder1/folder2/file.ext"));
+        assertNull("Path with backslashes is not valid.", FileUtil.getConfigFileObject("folder1\\folder2\\file.ext"));
+        assertEquals("Root should be returned for empty path.", rootDFS, FileUtil.getConfigFileObject(""));
+        try {
+            FileUtil.getConfigFileObject(null);
+            fail("NullPointerException should be thrown for null path.");
+        } catch (NullPointerException npe) {
+            // OK
+        }
+    }
 }