Hide or Show User Profile's Personal Folders in Navigation Pane

TechGuy737 · 11 Apr 2018

Thank you in advance to everyone for your help and time. Hopefully this write-up is succinct. :)
I believe there has to be additional registry modifications to solve this issue.
TechGuy737

Problem:
In the Navigation Pane, specifically regarding the Current User folder tree, a Personal Folder (i.e. 3D Objects, Contacts, Desktop, etc... ) continues to show even after making active the Hidden property for that Personal Folder.

Expected Results:
Any Personal Folder that is marked "Hidden" in the File/Folder Listings Area should also be hidden in the Navigation Pane specifically within the Current User folder tree.

Steps to recreate the issue: (the following steps assume that the option is deactivated to see hidden folders.)

Open File Explorer
Within Navigation Pane, Right-click over any blank area
Select menu-option "Show All Folders"
Select and Expand the Current User folder tree which is listed as a child object to the "Desktop" folder
Within the File/Folder Listings Area, Right-click on a Personal Folder
Select menu-option "Properties"
Within the new Dialogue window, Select the "General" tab, Select to Activate the Attribute "Hidden", Select the "OK" button
Close File Explorer and then Open File Explorer
Select the Current User folder in the Navigation Pane
Notice the recently-hidden folder is still showing in the Navigation Pane even though it is hidden in the File/Folder Listings Area.

System Specs:

Edition: Windows 10 Home 64bit
Version: 1709
OS Build: 16299.371
Hard Drives: 2 (SSD & Mechanical)
C:\ = SSD
D:\ = Mechanical

Current Modifications of System:

The %UserProfile% system folder was successfully transferred to D:\ by using Sysprep during Windows Setup. This is the only system folder moved to another drive.

Current Modifications of File Explorer in Navigation Pane: (using Regedit)

Hidden = Quick Access
Hidden = Libraries
Hidden = OneDrive
Hidden = Homegroup
Hidden = This PC user personal folders

Current Modifications of File Explorer in Folder/File Listing Area:

Each unwanted Personal Folder was changed to "Hidden" by Right-clicking the folder and Checking the Attribute checkbox marked "Hidden".

3rd-Party Software Installed:

Classic Shell
Mozilla Firefox
IObit Driver Booster
Macrium Reflect

Brink · 12 Apr 2018

Hello TechGuy737, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

You might see if the tutorial below may be able to help.

Add or Remove User Folder from Navigation Pane in Windows 10 Windows 10 Tutorials

TechGuy737 · 12 Apr 2018

Hello Brink and thank you. This website is a very helpful resource. :)

Your suggested answer will hide the User Profile folder in the Navigation Pane.

Instead, this scenario involves not hiding the User Profile folder but hiding specific Personal Folders in the Navigation Pane that are marked "Hidden" in the Files/Folders Listing Area.

My suspicion is that there are more "PinToNamespace" registry entries for me to toggle the DWORD value.

TechGuy737 · 12 Apr 2018

Brink · 12 Apr 2018

Option Two may be a good workaround for this if you like. It will also remove them from "This PC", but you could pin any you still want to "Quick Access".

Add or Remove Folders from This PC in Windows 10 Windows 10 Tutorials

TechGuy737 · 12 Apr 2018

Thank you Brink! I was looking for those Registry modifications. They were the solution! :)

The solution was incomplete. I still need the appropriate Registry Keys for the following folders:
Contacts
Favorites
Links
Saved Games
Searches

If I knew how to discover the appropriate Key that matches each of these folders then I could make my own REG files.

Also, the tutorial you pointed at only appeared to be about This PC so I didn't pay much attention to it when searching on the User Profile folder. It may be helpful for future searches if you created another Tutorial post that talks specifically about the User Profile folder modifications with similar-named REG files.

Brink · 12 Apr 2018

TechGuy737 · 12 Apr 2018

I know you are super busy so I did some detective work in the Registry and found the following areas for the five remaining folders I mentioned: Contacts, Favorites, Links, Saved Games, Searches

I've already made my changes and found them to be successful. Here is the Registry code. Please verify when possible.

Thanks,
TechGuy737

Code:

; Contacts
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{56784854-C6CB-462B-8169-88E350ACB882}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{56784854-C6CB-462B-8169-88E350ACB882}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"



; Favorites
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{1777F761-68AD-4D8A-87BD-30B759FA33DD}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{7CFBEFBC-DE1F-45AA-B843-A542AC536CC9}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"



; Links
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{bfb9d5e0-c6a9-404c-b2b2-ae6db6af4968}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"



; Saved Games
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{4C5C32FF-BB9D-43b0-B5B4-2D72E54EAAA4}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"



; Searches
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{7d1d3a04-debb-4115-95cf-2f29da2920da}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"

Brink · 13 Apr 2018

New tutorial all finished. :)

Hide or Show User Profile Personal Folders in Windows 10 File Explorer Windows 10 Tutorials