General Add and Remove Quick Access Folders on Navigation Pane of File Explorer in Windows 11

AGTDenton · Sep 14, 2023

rsoyxihnark said:
is there a regedit version of unpinning? previous tricks no longer work with this new explorer.

I am trying to automate removal of Videos & Music pins.

Brink said:
I'm not aware of a way to unpin specific folders like that.

Yeah I used the HubMode (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer) to hide QuickAccess in Windows 10. But in Windows 11 this does not work. And what's annoying, other websites state that it does... though it's possible it worked in earlier versions. I'm only starting my work on W11 22H2

Very disappointing as I too wish to do this via reg/command/PS.
We give a kiosk user access to a specific folder only, and to have links to other areas that they could start messing around with is very irritating.
Fingers X for a solution in the future

jjkk · Nov 11, 2023

greetings,

is there a way to remove the grey pin icons next to the pinned folders on quick access?

thanks

Brink · Nov 11, 2023

jjkk said:
greetings,

is there a way to remove the grey pin icons next to the pinned folders on quick access?

thanks

Hello jkk, and welcome.

I'm afraid only by unpinning them.

Lucas North · Nov 11, 2023

You can replace them with a blank image using 'CustomizerGod'
The top screenshot indicates which icon we are replacing and the bottom image shows it
when we have replaced it with #5100.ico.
The original icon and the replacement are both enclosed in the zip file.

You just select the 'Pin' icon and then click on the 'Change' button below
and replace it with the #5100.ico

To reverse it just highlight the icon once again and click on 'Restore'
I've tested it and it seems to be working fine here.
I have noticed however that the 'Pin' does seem to appear in some other areas other than 'Explorer'
I haven't tracked them down as of yet.

Krowne · Oct 5, 2024

To delete the default pinned folders in Windows 11 as shown in the first post, instead of doing it manually, we can do it through the Windows registry.

We simply have to delete the following registry path.

Code:

Reg.exe delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\DelegateFolders\{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}" /f

To add them again, it would be done as follows:

Code:

Reg.exe add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\DelegateFolders\{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}" /ve /t REG_SZ /d "CLSID_FrequentPlacesFolder" /f

We can also create the following registry files with this code:

To add the folders:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\DelegateFolders\{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}]
@="CLSID_FrequentPlacesFolder"

To remove them:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\DelegateFolders\{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}]

AGTDenton · Oct 5, 2024

Krowne said:
To delete the default pinned folders in Windows 11 as shown in the first post, instead of doing it manually, we can do it through the Windows registry.

Lovely, I'll be sure to give these a go in the coming weeks

EDIT: Performed a quick test, had a VM available on W11 Pro 23H2.
However, the registry value didn't exist in the first place to be able to delete. So unfortunately the pinned icons remain for me.

I only had an entry related to 'Removable Drives' under a completely different GUID.

Krowne · Oct 5, 2024

AGTDenton said:
Lovely, I'll be sure to give these a go in the coming weeks

EDIT: Performed a quick test, had a VM available on W11 Pro 23H2.
However, the registry value didn't exist in the first place to be able to delete. So unfortunately the pinned icons remain for me.

I only had an entry related to 'Removable Drives' under a completely different GUID.

It's strange. I've tested it on virtual machines with version 24h2 and on a real machine with version 23h2, and it works on all of them. Can you check if this path exists and if there are any entries inside?

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\DelegateFolders

AGTDenton · Oct 5, 2024

Krowne said:
It's strange. I've tested it on virtual machines with version 24h2 and on a real machine with version 23h2, and it works on all of them. Can you check if this path exists and if there are any entries inside?

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\DelegateFolders

Ok so something interesting... mine are in slightly different locations for some reason. Deleting the following entries worked for me:
Maybe the extra _36354489 is generated during an update??? Without another PC on 23H2 I do not know whether this number is consistent across multiple devices. I think we're onto something here!!

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace_36354489\DelegateFolders\{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}]
@="CLSID_FrequentPlacesFolder"

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace_36354489\DelegateFolders\{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}]
@="CLSID_FrequentPlacesFolder"

Krowne · Oct 5, 2024

AGTDenton said:
Ok so something interesting... mine are in slightly different locations for some reason. Deleting the following entries worked for me:
Maybe the extra _36354489 is generated during an update??? Without another PC on 23H2 I do not know whether this number is consistent across multiple devices. I think we're onto something here!!

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace_36354489\DelegateFolders\{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}] @="CLSID_FrequentPlacesFolder"

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace_36354489\DelegateFolders\{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}] @="CLSID_FrequentPlacesFolder"

It's true, in previous versions the path was in NameSpace_36354489, but in the newer versions it is under NameSpace. I guess you just have to adapt it according to the version of the update.

AGTDenton · Oct 5, 2024

So further to this, you can also remove the pinned icons when you select the 'Home' button in File Explorer by deleting the following entries:

Please note that this is on 23H2 and it is unknown if an update will at some point re-write these entries, especially in a Feature update.

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HomeFolderMSGraph\NameSpace\DelegateFolders\{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}]
@="Frequent Places Folder"

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HomeFolderMSGraph\NameSpace\DelegateFolders\{3936E9E4-D92C-4EEE-A85A-BC16D5EA0819}]
@="Frequent Places Folder"

Brink · Oct 5, 2024

@Krowne and @AGTDenton

In addition:

Add or Remove Quick Access in File Explorer Home in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the Quick access section in File Explorer Home for all users in Windows 11. Starting with Windows 11 build 22593, Quick access in File Explorer (Win+E) is now called Home. The name Quick access has been repurposed for the pinned/frequent Folders...

www.elevenforum.com

Krowne · Oct 5, 2024

AGTDenton said:
So further to this, you can also remove the pinned icons when you select the 'Home' button in File Explorer by deleting the following entries:

Yes, this method removes the pinned folders from both locations.

AGTDenton said:
Please note that this is on 23H2 and it is unknown if an update will at some point re-write these entries, especially in a Feature update.

It seems to be working with the 24h2 beta as well. As always, they might change more registry entries in the future, as has happened with many updates.

Krowne · Oct 5, 2024

Brink said:
@Krowne and @AGTDenton

In addition:

Add or Remove Quick Access in File Explorer Home in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the Quick access section in File Explorer Home for all users in Windows 11. Starting with Windows 11 build 22593, Quick access in File Explorer (Win+E) is now called Home. The name Quick access has been repurposed for the pinned/frequent Folders...

www.elevenforum.com

I'm sorry, I've spent the whole week looking through this forum and doing searches on Google, and I couldn’t find how to do it, so I started testing in a virtual machine and figured it out. That's why I shared it in this thread, because I thought it would be helpful

Brink · Oct 5, 2024

Krowne said:
I'm sorry, I've spent the whole week looking through this forum and doing searches on Google, and I couldn’t find how to do it, so I started testing in a virtual machine and figured it out. That's why I shared it in this thread, because I thought it would be helpful

No worries mate. It's always welcomed. :shawn:

Krowne · Oct 5, 2024

Brink said:
No worries mate. It's always welcomed.

In any case, the path I shared is not the same as the one in the thread you posted. I suppose it has changed in the latest updates to the path I provided.

Brink · Oct 5, 2024

Krowne said:
In any case, the path I shared is not the same as the one in the thread you posted. I suppose it has changed in the latest updates to the path I provided.

Good point. This tutorial now updated to add this. :shawn:

General Add and Remove Quick Access Folders on Navigation Pane of File Explorer in Windows 11

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