AskVG

How to Move / Show “Navigation Pane” at Right in Windows 7 Explorer?

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Here is another interesting stuff for Windows customization lovers. We have told you in past how to move “Details Pane” at top in Windows Vista and Windows 7 Explorer:

How to Move / Show “Details Pane” at Top in Windows Vista and 7 Explorer?

Today its turn of “Navigation Pane“! Navigation Pane is shown at left in Windows Explorer and helps you in switching to drives and directories with the help of a single mouse click.

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This article will help you in moving Navigation Pane to right in Windows 7 Explorer. Following is a preview of the output:

Navigation_Pane_Right_Windows_Explorer.png

Believe me it looks great and I found it quite easy to use. If you also want to move Navigation Pane to right-side area of Windows 7 Explorer, simply follow these simple steps:

1. To move the Navigation Pane to right-side, you’ll need to edit “%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll” in Resource Hacker and replace lots of occurrence of “Left” test string with “Right“. You’ll need to replace it in following sections of the file while editing it in Resource Hacker:

UIFILE -> 3, 4, 5, 6, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 31, 46, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58

It’ll require expertise and a small mistake will make your system not bootable.

For your convenience, we are sharing ready-made Shell32.dll file. This file is available for both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) Windows 7 editions.

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Download Shell32.dll File for Windows 7 (No longer available)

2. Once you download the file, extract it using 7-Zip or WinRAR and you’ll get the required Shell32.dll file.

3. Now you’ll need to replace existing Shell32.dll file present in “Windows\System32” folder with this new downloaded one. To replace the file, first you’ll need to take ownership of the default Shell32.dll file using following tutorial:

Add Take Ownership Option in File / Folder Context Menu in Windows Vista and 7

4. Once you take ownership, rename original “Shell32.dll” file present in “System32” folder to “Shell32_backup.dll“.

5. Now copy your new downloaded “Shell32.dll” file to “System32” folder.

6. Restart your system and after restart Windows will start using your new Shell32.dll file and you’ll get Navigation Pane at right-side of Windows Explorer.

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.

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Comments

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  1. It does not make much sense regarding to ergonomics (the list on the right side is something weird) but is a neat trick.

  2. @SCBright: It is weird because we are already used to Left Nav Pane from most used OS (XP) till Win 8.
    Though, it takes a little to get used to 😀

  3. hmm, looks like everything can be moved…
    maybe the titlebar can be at the bottom or so.

  4. After this process , windows wont allow us to install WinZip 16 which depends on the context menu

  5. How about making a version with Navigation Pane on the right AND Folderband on the bottom for SP1 6.1.7601.17859 ? Now THAT would be cool =)

  7. What I meant was this i.imgur.com/sqYzm.png
    I´ve seen people use either navigation pane to the right OR folder band on bottom, but never both together.
    Me wantzit. =)

  9. I knew I could count on VG =)
    A ready made .dll for 32-Bit SP1 6.1.7601.17859 would be much appreciated, since I don´t trust myself with editing text with Reshacker, hehe.

  10. Sorry to bother you again, but after moving the folderband to the bottom is there any way to remove unnecessary items from it and move the two items on the right all the way to the right corner ? Example: i.imgur.com/8yCSR.png

  11. ^^ I’ll also post a tutorial to remove Help button from command bar which will move the 2 buttons to extreme right.

  12. Now that microsoft updated shell32.dll to version 6.1.7601.18103 (Windows updates May 14th) those ready-made Shell32.dll files are very outdated. Maybe VG or someone with skills could update them? I already had some issues with these old ones and I really don´t have the courage to use them anymore =) And when I tried to do the modifications myself, I found so many “Left” and “Right” that my head was spinning haha, it was overwhelming and scaaaaary. So I ditched the idea and decided to come here and BEG on my knees instead.

  13. How to move details pane at right like in windows 8?

    Thanks in advance.
    Windows 7 64 bit

    6:19 PM
    7/4/2014
    I.S.T.

  15. I tried, but in vain, got many errors in login screen & desktop & Then I choosed restore to factory mode to fix.

  16. Friday the 13th.

    How do I get to move those ‘ bloody’ popUps videos that keep coming
    along and annoying me. A thousand times a day I have to click
    on this nonsense to get get rid of it.
    There must be a better way…Yes…!!!
    Can you tell me the secret….Huh…

  19. had to change permissions for administrators and system. The take ownership script did not update permissions for system to allow me to copy the file in, but good to go now.

  20. Can someone upload the changed Shell32.dll File for Windows 7 on some file hosting website? It is no longer available here …

  21. Bit late to the party, no d/l. I considered manually hacking, but not sure how many values to edit.
    (I thought preview would be on right, but first element in UIFILE with pos=left is
    PreviewThumbnail

    Does anyone still have the modded shelldll, for win7 x64 (Ultimate, en-US, ‘SP’)?

    If not, can anyone confirm which elements layoutpos (eg in UIFILE>3,4,5…) need to be modded for navpane >rightside, or maybe any reference to inferring the elementid (spy+ style analysis of components yields handles and classes… how to make ‘the jump’ to the ref’d resources)

    THANKS in advance y’all …

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