If you enable "Navigation Pane" in Windows 7 Explorer, it shows following 5 items in the pane:
- Favorites
- Libraries
- Homegroup
- Computer
- Network
This tutorial will help you in removing "Libraries" item from the Navigation pane as shown in following screenshot:
Simply follow these simple steps:
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\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}\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.
To get permissions, first right-click on "ShellFolder" key and select "Permissions".
It'll open a new window. Select "Administrators" in user list and check "Allow" box given for "Full Control" permission.
Click on OK button to apply the changes.
4. Now double-click on "Attributes" DWORD value given in right-side section and change its value to b090010d
5. That's it. Log off or restart your system and "Libraries" will no longer present in Explorer window.
NOTE: If you want to restore "Libraries" in Navigation pane, simply change value of "Attributes" DWORD to b080010d using step 4.
PS: If you want to completely disable "Libraries" feature, you can visit following tutorial:
How to Disable "Libraries" Feature in Windows 7?
Posted by: Vishal Gupta | Categories: Windows 7
eladkse
I am finding that this particular reg change crashes the open dialog on some applications. For example, the move function for the Shell User Folders. Any way to fix this?
Mehdi
Thanks a lot. I think this library thing is useless if you already have your files correctly organised. And also it does not always refresh automatically, which is sometimes a pain in the neck.
One remark thought, for me, the correct key adress is : " HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}\ShellFolder " .
Maybe that's because I have a 64bit version of Windows 7
Mehdi
Please ignore my last remark.
Actually the key adress is the same for Windows 7 64bit
Jack
as of 2013 this approach no longer works
Libraries and Network are still visible
even though keys are changed and changes persist
maybe an update has changed the behavior?