File Explorer wont expand to folder

trumpy81 said:

@johnlgalt

Opening via the Run box cannot be achieved by clicking on an icon on the taskbar. That kind of defeats the purpose of the taskbar icon, but you are correct in that it will expand to the folder you designate.

Also, the issue with the custom shortcut on the taskbar in the VM, is that when clicking on the icon, it will open a second icon on the taskbar and make the second icon the active icon.

That is not how the default icon operates and it is not how I would like the custom icon to behave either. As I stated, this all worked before the latest batch of Windows updates were installed.

I could possibly uninstall the latest updates, but that is more work and it may remove important changes?

@hdmi

Thanks for the tip.

Click to expand...

But I don't have the custom icon you're using to test, thus I cannot replicate your exact procedure. So I used the start menu to illustrate what is actually happening.

As I understood your problem, the parent folder of location you open is not fully populating.

• For you, that is H:\.
• For me, that is H:\Storage.

We are both experiencing the same behavior, it seems, and I showed that it happens even without any special custom icon or shortcut.

IOW, it's a bug in Windows Explorer that we can report with accuracy.

Now, as to your special icon and shortcut - I'm not sure what you mean, and as you didn't share what the shortcut is or how it works, I have no way of ascertaining this is actually the case or not. But, that is a different issue, and not really germane to this bug you discovered and we've confirmed exists.

johnlgalt said:

As I understood your problem, the parent folder of location you open is not fully populating.

Click to expand...

That is incorrect. The issue is that now the drive and the designated folder do not expand at all, as is shown in my second image.

To use the custom icon that I use, you must create a new shortcut on the desktop and add 'C:\Windows\explorer.exe /n, /e, H:\Downloads' to the target box. Rename the shortcut to File Explorer.

You may change the actual target address to another address other than H:\Downloads if you wish to.

Then go to "C:\Users\*YUN*\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar" and make sure you replace/overwrite the default shortcut there with the custom shortcut you created on the desktop.

Deleting the default shortcut and then replacing it will not work correctly. Also, you can on some occasions, end up with two identical shortcuts in the same location. How that happens I do not know, but it can and does happen.

Note: *YUN* = Your User Name

To revert to the default shortcut, right click on the taskbar and select 'unpin from taskbar' then go to Start > All Apps and right click on File Explorer and 'Pin to taskbar'.

trumpy81 said:

, this all worked before the latest batch of Windows updates were installed.

Click to expand...

There is a reason why it's called Botch Tuesday.

@hdmi

I know ... lmfao

hdmi said:

There is a reason why it's called Botch Tuesday.

Click to expand...

Maybe we should call the following day “Welfare Wednesday” due to all the support needed?

I just retried replacing the taskbar shortcut in a VM while in safe mode and it worked as expected this time.

After rebooting the VM and opening File Explorer, it expanded to the correct drive/folder also.

I then installed Windows update KB5031455 in the VM, now the custom shortcut opens File Explorer, but does not expand to the designated drive/folder at all.

I also noticed that we now have Home and Gallery at the top of the folder tree.

Good grief, when are Microsoft going to stop forcing this crap on us?

Fortunately, I already have a reg edit to remove the unneeded, unwanted Gallery nonsense, thanks to Brink.

But no joy in removing OneDrive from the same area.

@antspants

Thanks for the links. I had already removed Home and Gallery from the main OS, but I had not done that in the VM, until now that is ... lol

To remove OneDrive from the folder tree you must uninstall OneDrive, as far as I am aware.

The first thing I do when installing Windows these days is uninstall OneDrive ... lol

trumpy81 said:

To remove OneDrive from the folder tree you must uninstall OneDrive, as far as I am aware.

The first thing I do when installing Windows these days is uninstall OneDrive ... lol

Click to expand...

I also uninstall OneDrive before anythging else I do on an install. But regardless… there it is. Clicking on it says there is a problem, so obviously uninstalled. Seems pointless for it to be there if it isn’t running. Everything i’ve read in here says there’s no way to remove it?

Have you tried to simply delete the folder and/or unpin the folder?

I seem to recall that I did something similar once before.

trumpy81 said:

Have you tried to simply delete the folder and/or unpin the folder?

I seem to recall that I did something similar once before.

Click to expand...

I’ll check it out, cheers mate.

trumpy81 said:

To use the custom icon that I use, you must create a new shortcut on the desktop and add 'C:\Windows\explorer.exe /n, /e, H:\Downloads' to the target box. Rename the shortcut to File Explorer.

Click to expand...

Now it makes sense.

I've tried with numerous CL switches for Explorer from a cmd window. The various commandline switches I found for Explorer did not assist in expanding my Downloads folder, located at d:\Users\{myuser}\Downloads, but it does expand everything in the parent structure to \Downloads.

Using /select put you in the parent folder with the object selected ready to enter. Using /root, intertingly enough, actually puts it on the pinned \Downloads folder in a new entry directly under Desktop lol.

But I did some more digging, and found this:

If /e or /n are followed by a comma and folder path then explorer will open and display the folder, the /e or /n have no effect, this provides backwards compatibility with older versions of Windows. If the object is given as a filename rather than a folder, the file will be opened using the default application, like START.

Click to expand...

So, I tried with and without /e, with and without /n, and with and without both. Exactly the same results.

However, with that being an expected system icon, the switches may, in fact, be required. My tests were only from the cmd interface as I don't plan to replace the stock Explorer icon for any reason - I use a 3rd party FM to begin with.

trumpy81 said:

I just retried replacing the taskbar shortcut in a VM while in safe mode and it worked as expected this time.

After rebooting the VM and opening File Explorer, it expanded to the correct drive/folder also.

I then installed Windows update KB5031455 in the VM, now the custom shortcut opens File Explorer, but does not expand to the designated drive/folder at all.

Click to expand...

Well, that is safe confirmation that the updates are breaking the process. If you report it I'm sure most of us here in this thread will be more than willing to upvote the report. If you care to report it that is lol.

@johnlgalt

Thanks for that. My shortcut is derived from my old Windows 7 shortcut, hence the deprecated switches etc. I retain them 'just in case' ... lol

I have submitted feedback via Feedback Hub in Win11. If you would like to upvote it, then search for 'Expand to folder fails'

And thanks for all the help and suggestions to all of you, it is very much appreciated

trumpy81 said:

Have you tried to simply delete the folder and/or unpin the folder?

I seem to recall that I did something similar once before.

Click to expand...

Revo Uninstaller.. Uninstalled all registry entries for onedrive, it removed the entry in explorer. No diverse results as yet. There were sooo many reg entries.

@antspants

Yes, I use Revo Uninstaller all the time, would be lost without it, and to think I used to do that manually once upon a time ... lol

The majority of my apps are now portable including Revo, so I don't need it as much. That makes re-installing Windows a breeze too ... lol

I am glad you were able to sort out OneDrive

trumpy81 said:

I am glad you were able to sort out OneDrive

Click to expand...

Yeah, I right clicked on the explorer entry and to my surprise it had an “Uninstall with Revo” option. Laugh’n..

trumpy81 said:

@johnlgalt

Thanks for that. My shortcut is derived from my old Windows 7 shortcut, hence the deprecated switches etc. I retain them 'just in case' ... lol

I have submitted feedback via Feedback Hub in Win11. If you would like to upvote it, then search for 'Expand to folder fails'

And thanks for all the help and suggestions to all of you, it is very much appreciated

Click to expand...

Lol - I found yours - and several others too (total of 5 including yours), so upvoting them all.

@johnlgalt

Yeah I found a few after I posted too ... lol

I up voted all of them, let's hope Microsoft take notice

And Thanks for the up vote, much appreciated.

trumpy81 said:

@antspants

Yes, I use Revo Uninstaller all the time, would be lost without it, and to think I used to do that manually once upon a time ... lol

The majority of my apps are now portable including Revo, so I don't need it as much. That makes re-installing Windows a breeze too ... lol

I am glad you were able to sort out OneDrive

Click to expand...

A. You’re posting at 6.30 in the morning.. did you go fishing at the Shorncliffe Pier?
B. The OneDrive link came back in Explorer, at the top where Home would normally sit.

Do you have it at the top left of your explorer?

@antspants

Since you uninstalled OneDrive using Revo, there should be very few traces of it left on your system.

Are you syncing with a Microsoft account perhaps? That might explain why it's back.

Open RegEdit and navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Then make sure you relocate any OneDrive folders listed there. Point them to some other location on your system. You may also relocate any default folders while you are there, if you wish to.

Open Control Panel > Programs and Features and make sure OneDrive has not been reinstalled. If it has, nuke it!

Then go to C:\Users\*YUN* and delete the OneDrive folder there.

Note: *YUN* = Your User Name

Note: you may find that the OneDrive > Desktop folder contains links that are on your desktop. If it does, then move the Desktop folder to another location and make sure you reassign it's address in the registry, using the link I gave above.

When all of the above is done, make sure you sync with your Microsoft account so that it registers the changes.

Then reboot and double check that all is well.

Fingers crossed, that should take care of it.

And No, I do not have OneDrive anywhere on my system.