Windows 8.1 x64 – Removing the Folders from File Explorer

In Windows 8.1 the File Explorer now has a panel called “Folders” that contains shortcuts to six of the most common user folders:

To remove these folders we need to edit the registry.

From the desktop press the Windows + R keys together to open the Run dialogue box. Type regedit and then press the Enter key. Navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\

As we can see the NameSpace subkey contains six GUIDs which are mapped to the user folders as follows:

{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE} - Music Folder

{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B} - Downloads Folder

{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA} - Pictures Folder

{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C} - Videos Folder

{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0} - Documents Folder

{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641} - Desktop Folder

Deleting all of these GUIDs from the NameSpace folder will remove these folders from Windows File Explorer:

On Windows 8.1 x64 this will still leave the user folders visible in the save / open dialogue boxes:

To remove the user folders from the save / open dialogue box we need to delete the same GUIDs from the following subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\

This process is easily automated by exporting the required keys and saving them as .reg files.

Remove Folders From File Explorer in Windows 8.1 x64:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; ####################################################
; Remove Folders from File Explorer in Windows 8.1 x64
; ####################################################

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}]
; Music Folder

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}]
; Downloads Folder

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}]
; Pictures Folder

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}]
; Videos Folder

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}]
; Documents Folder

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}]
; Desktop Folder

Restore Folders From File Explorer in Windows 8.1 x64:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; ####################################################
; Restore Folders from File Explorer in Windows 8.1 x64
; ####################################################

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}]
; Music Folder

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}]
; Downloads Folder

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}]
; Pictures Folder

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}]
; Videos Folder

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}]
; Documents Folder

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}]
; Desktop Folder

Sources: http://www.howtogeek.com/168081/how-to-remove-the-folders-from-my-computer-in-windows-8.1/

9 thoughts on “Windows 8.1 x64 – Removing the Folders from File Explorer”

blah says:

December 21, 2013 at 5:10 pm

Thank you! This was seriously starting to annoy me.

ISOHaven says:

February 4, 2014 at 8:45 am

Is there a way to just remove the FOLDERS group on the right hand side without removing the folders from the left hand side?

griddark says:

March 16, 2014 at 7:27 pm

This is great, but when I save a file (using Photoshop or Chrome etc) they are all still there. Is the save file box different to explorer, and how do you remove them?

1. Mike Lane says:
  
  March 16, 2014 at 9:16 pm
  
  I covered this in the blog post – just delete the same GUIDs from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\ 🙂
  
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Ralph Alot says:

September 12, 2014 at 7:24 am

how do you make this permanent???
After every update they just keep coming back …

1. Mike Lane says:
  
  September 12, 2014 at 9:20 am
  
  The simplest way would be to create a .reg file and then schedule it to run at every log in.
  
JL LEFEBURE-SEMBE says:

May 20, 2016 at 2:47 pm

Very interesting subject,
but I would be create a new folder like “programs” and keep all : how make this ?
Regards

1. Mike Lane says:
  
  May 21, 2016 at 11:08 pm
  
  Not sure how to do that but you can add folders to the Quick Access section to the left by browsing to the location and then clicking the Pin to Quick Access button.