Drives in navigation pane automatically expanding


Spartan

Spartan

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Location
Dubai
OS
Windows 11 Education
This has been a problem for me in Windows 10, and now Windows 11 21H2 or 22H2. It happens randomly, like I would be in a sub folder for example on my external SSD and suddenly "This PC" in the navigation pane expands and shows everything and so does the external USB drive that I'm on.

Yes the option to automatically expand in File Explorer options is off. I have recently tried this batch file as well:

Code: 
@echo off


REG Add HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced /V NavPaneExpandToCurrentFolder /T REG_DWORD /D 00000000 /F

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe

It doesn't happen all the time but randomly and is very annoying.

Is there a way to completely disable this expansion of drives in the left pane forever? I just want the list of drives on the left and the quick access items that I've added never to auto expand.

I must note that I have always been using ExplorerPatcher and have now switched to Start11 if that matters since ExplorerPatcher is the buggiest piece of software I have ever used.
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware m16 R1
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX
    Motherboard
    Alienware
    Memory
    G.SKILL Ripjaws F5-5600S4040A32GX2-RS 5200 MHz DDR5 64GB RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce RTX 4090 16 GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AUO B160QAN02.Z 16" QHD+ (2560 x 1600) 240Hz Screen + ASUS ROG Strix OLED XG27AQDMG 27" Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    QHD (2560x 1440)
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 990 PRO 4TB SSDs (RAID 0) + WD_BLACK SN770M 2TB SSD
    PSU
    330W AC Power Adapter
    Cooling
    Noctua NT-H2 + Fujipoly Extreme Thermal Pads + IETS GT300 Cooling Pad
    Keyboard
    Alienware CherryMX mechanical keyboard (Laptop) + SteelSeries Apex 7 TKL - Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (external)
    Mouse
    Alienware Tri-Mode Wireless Gaming Mouse AW720M
    Internet Speed
    1 GBPS Down / 350 MBPS Up
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    McAfee AntiVirus
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 15 9500
    CPU
    Intel i7-10875H
    Memory
    Kingston FURY Impact 64 GB 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q w/ 4 GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6 UHD+ Touch, InfinityEdge, 500-nits, Anti-Reflecitve
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2400
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 990 PRO 2TB + 4TB SSDs
    PSU
    Dell 130W Laptop Charger USB C Type C AC Adapter
    Cooling
    Noctua NT-H2 Thermal Paste on CPU + GPU
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Anywhere 3
    Internet Speed
    1 GBPS Down / 350 MBPS Up
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast Free Antivirus
I'm also having this issue.
It is very annoying because there's no pattern when is this happening (in majority of the cases it is mostly my external hard drive that expands, but not always). And mee to have this option OFF.
I see @Spartan that you mention Start11 and ExplorerPatcher. I have StartAllBack installed.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-13700
    Browser
    Firefox
Hi,
Probably tied to explorer jumping in front of other windows randomly
More focus on emoji's and AI which will bring even more bugs than wanted features.
I'm just glad I have office 2016 pro plus and is incompatible I hope from AI integration crap :crossed
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win-7-10-11Pro's
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer 17" Nitro 7840sn/ 2x16gb 5600c40/ 4060/ stock 1tb-os/ 4tb sn850x
    CPU
    10900k & 9940x & 5930k
    Motherboard
    z490-Apex & x299-Apex & x99-Sabertooth
    Memory
    Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb & Trident-Z 3600c16 4x8gb & 3200c14 4x8gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Titan Xp & 1080ti FTW3 & evga 980ti gaming
    Sound Card
    Onboard Realtek x3
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
    Screen Resolution
    1920-1080 not sure what the t.v is besides 43" class scales from 1920-1080 perfectly
    Hard Drives
    2-WD-sn850x 4tb/ 970evo+500gb/ 980 pro 2tb.
    PSU
    1000p2 & 1200p2 & 850p2
    Case
    D450 x2 & 1 Test bench in cherry Entertainment center
    Cooling
    Custom water loops x3 with 2x mora 360mm rads only 980ti gaming air cooled
    Keyboard
    G710+x3
    Mouse
    Redragon x3
    Internet Speed
    xfinity gigabyte
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    mbam pro
bembemb said:
I'm also having this issue.
It is very annoying because there's no pattern when is this happening (in majority of the cases it is mostly my external hard drive that expands, but not always). And mee to have this option OFF.
I see @Spartan that you mention Start11 and ExplorerPatcher. I have StartAllBack installed.
Click to expand...
Still haven't a solution to this it's driving me nuts, my external SSD drive keeps expanding every time I enter a new folder!
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware m16 R1
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX
    Motherboard
    Alienware
    Memory
    G.SKILL Ripjaws F5-5600S4040A32GX2-RS 5200 MHz DDR5 64GB RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce RTX 4090 16 GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AUO B160QAN02.Z 16" QHD+ (2560 x 1600) 240Hz Screen + ASUS ROG Strix OLED XG27AQDMG 27" Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    QHD (2560x 1440)
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 990 PRO 4TB SSDs (RAID 0) + WD_BLACK SN770M 2TB SSD
    PSU
    330W AC Power Adapter
    Cooling
    Noctua NT-H2 + Fujipoly Extreme Thermal Pads + IETS GT300 Cooling Pad
    Keyboard
    Alienware CherryMX mechanical keyboard (Laptop) + SteelSeries Apex 7 TKL - Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (external)
    Mouse
    Alienware Tri-Mode Wireless Gaming Mouse AW720M
    Internet Speed
    1 GBPS Down / 350 MBPS Up
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    McAfee AntiVirus
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 15 9500
    CPU
    Intel i7-10875H
    Memory
    Kingston FURY Impact 64 GB 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q w/ 4 GB GDDR6
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6 UHD+ Touch, InfinityEdge, 500-nits, Anti-Reflecitve
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2400
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 990 PRO 2TB + 4TB SSDs
    PSU
    Dell 130W Laptop Charger USB C Type C AC Adapter
    Cooling
    Noctua NT-H2 Thermal Paste on CPU + GPU
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Anywhere 3
    Internet Speed
    1 GBPS Down / 350 MBPS Up
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avast Free Antivirus
OK, so we narrowed it down - it mostly happens with external drives (although this happens with internal too, but quite less frequent).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-13700
    Browser
    Firefox
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