How to Remove “Favorites” from Windows 7 Explorer Navigation Pane?

This tutorial will help you in removing “Favorites” item from the Navigation pane in Windows 7 as shown in following screenshot:

No_Favorites_in_Win_7_Explorer_Nav_.png

Simply follow these simple steps:

Advertisement

1. Type regedit in RUN or Start Menu search box and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder

3. Now you’ll need to change value of “Attributes” DWORD value present in the right-side section. But Windows will not allow you to change its value as you won’t have proper permissions. So take ownership of ShellFolder key with the help of this guide.

4. Now double-click on “Attributes” DWORD value given in right-side section and change its value to a9400100

5. That’s it. Log off or restart your system and “Favorites” will no longer present in Explorer window.

If you want to restore “Favorites” in Navigation pane, simply change value of “Attributes” DWORD to a0900100 using step 4.

Advertisement

NOTE: If you are using 64-bit edition of Windows, you may notice that Favorites icon is still present in “Browse” dialog box such as Save, Save as or Open in some 3rd party 32-bit programs. To remove Favorites icon from there, you’ll need to perform the same steps in following key as well:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder

Just go to above mentioned key, take ownership of the key and in right-side pane, change value of Attributes DWORD to a9400100 to remove Favorites icon.

PS: For Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 users:

[Did You Know] Windows 8 Allows You to Remove “Favorites” from Windows Explorer Navigation Pane

Published in: Windows 7

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. It worked, but I got a strange display bug whenever I scroll up and down using middle scroll mouse on the left pane.. I had removed Libraries and Homegroup also without problem. so I had to keep this Favorites to avoid that bug..

  2. I have a master Excel file with links to a master folder which has a separate folder for each client which has a folder for each year that they have been with me.

    When executed the link used to cleanly open the the correct file but a few weeks back it started opening the correct file but always showing the navigation pane and now it is every excel worksheet I have.

    I have tried everything I could find on-line but nothing works. What can I do to remove the navigate pane from the windows 8.1 OS permanently . Also, I have multiple dozens of folders some of which open with detail view, some with icons and so on. Each is exactly as I want it to be. But Excel won’t listen.

    Not sure if it something that I am doing or not do but I need help. This getting very annoying.

    Thanks,
    Jack

  3. Hi VG,

    Removing Libraries, etc. worked fine, but then:
    I tried to remove Favorites from Windows 7 using the website.

    Opened CMD PROMPT with ADMIN PRIV for each of the two following cmds and pasted/ran each one:

    SetACL -on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder -ot reg -actn setowner -ownr “n:Administrators”

    SetACL.exe -on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}\ShellFolder -ot reg -actn ace -ace “n:Administrators;p:full”

    (Both successful)

    Opened Regedit and went to Registry key:
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}\ShellFolder
    In ShellFolder: Clicked “Attributes” REG_DWORD and Modified value (from b084010c) to a9400100 (hexadecimal) (failed – see bottom of this post)

    Opened CMD PROMPT with ADMIN PRIV & pasted/ran the following:

    SetACL.exe -on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder -ot reg -actn ace -ace “n:Administrators;p:full”

    (Successful)

    Opened Regedit and went to key:
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}\ShellFolder
    In ShellFolder: Clicked “Attributes” REG_DWORD and Modifed value (from b084010c) to a9400100 (hexadecimal) (failed – see below)

    All SetACLs said: “SetACL finished successfully.”
    However, every regedit attempt to change the “Attributes” REG_DWORD to “a9400100” (rightclick or leftclick & using modify & hexadecimal) failed with the message:
    “Cannot edit Attributes: Error writing the value’s new contents”

    What did I do wrong?

    Thanks,
    Anne

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

NOTE: Your comment may not appear immediately. It'll become visible once we approve it.