If your Windows File Explorer does not display Quick access or Favorites in the navigation pane, or you want to remove or hide them, then this guide will help you. You will need to use the Registry Editor can do the job for you.
Quick Access and Favorites help users to access frequently used files and folders quickly from the sidebar panel in File Explorer. Quick Access opens by default when you click on the Explorer icon – but you can make This PC open instead of Quick Access. As you are going to use the Registry Editor to make changes, it is recommended to create a System Restore point.
Add or remove Quick Access from the navigation pane
To add or remove Quick access from the navigation pane of Windows 11/10 Explorer, follow these steps-
- Press Win+R to open the Run prompt.
- Type regedit and hit the Enter button.
- Select Yes in the UAC prompt.
- Navigate to Explorer in HKLM.
- Double-click on HubMode.
- Set the value as 1 to remove and 0 to add.
- Restart File Explorer.
First, you need to open Registry Editor on your computer. For that, press Win+R keys together, type regedit and hit the Enter button. Click on the Yes button if you find the UAC prompt. After that, navigate to this path-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
On your right-hand side, you can see a REG_DWORD value called HubMode. Double-click on it, and set the value as 1.
If the Quick access option is already hidden and you want to make it visible, you need to set the value as 0. After that, restart Windows Explorer to find the change.
To hide Quick Access from File Explorer, you can also do this, instead:
Open Command Prompt with admin rights and run the following command in an elevated Command Prompt:
REG ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer /v HubMode /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
To get Quick Access back, execute the following command:
REG ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer /v HubMode /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
Add Favorites in File Explorer navigation pane
To Favorites in File Explorer navigation pane, follow these steps-
- Open Notepad on your PC.
- Paste the following Registry code.
- Click the File > Save As.
- Select a location to save the file.
- Give your file a name with .reg extension.
- Select All Files from Save as type drop-down list.
- Click the Save button.
- Double-click on the .reg file.
- Click Yes in the UAC prompt.
- Click Yes in the confirmation window.
- Restart Windows Explorer.
You need to create a Registry file. For that, open up the Notepad on your PC and paste the following Registry code.
If you have 32-bit Windows, paste this:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}]
@="Favorites"
"FolderValueFlags"=dword:00000028
"SortOrderIndex"=dword:00000004
"System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\DefaultIcon]
@="%SystemRoot%\\system32\\imageres.dll,-185"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=dword:70010000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
"{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}"=dword:00000001
If you have 64-bit Windows, paste this:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}]
@="Favorites"
"FolderValueFlags"=dword:00000028
"SortOrderIndex"=dword:00000004
"System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\DefaultIcon]
@="%SystemRoot%\\system32\\imageres.dll,-185"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=dword:70010000
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
"{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}]
@="Favorites"
"System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree"=dword:00000001
"FolderValueFlags"=dword:00000028
"SortOrderIndex"=dword:00000004
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\DefaultIcon]
@="%SystemRoot%\\system32\\imageres.dll,-185"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder]
"Attributes"=dword:70010000
After that, click the File > Save As button to save the file. Now, you need to select a location where you want to save the file. Then, give your file a name. Please note that it must contain .reg extensions (e.g. myregistryfile.reg). Following that, select All Files from Save as type drop-down list, and click the Save button.
Now, double-click on the .reg file and click the Yes button in the UAC prompt. After that, click the Yes button in the confirmation window.
Finally, you need to restart Windows Explorer.
How to remove Favorites from the navigation pane in File Explorer
To remove Favorites from the navigation pane, follow these steps-
- Search for regedit in the Taskbar search box.
- Click on the result to open Registry Editor.
- Navigate to this key in HKCU and delete it.
- Restart Windows Explorer.
To get started, you need to open Registry Editor. For that, search for regedit in the Taskbar search box and click on the corresponding result. After that, you need to navigate to the following paths one after one and delete this key:
{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}
From-
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel
After that, restart Windows Explorer and check the File Explorer for the icon.
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