Computer - Add or Remove from Navigation Pane in Windows 8 Explorer

Add or Remove "Computer" or "This PC" from Navigation Pane in Windows 8 or Windows 8.1​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove Computer (Windows 8) or This PC (Windows 8.1) from the navigation pane of File Explorer for all users.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

   Note

This will also add or remove the default Computer or This PC desktop icon as well even if checked there.

If you like, you could create a shortcut for Computer using the location below that will still open directly to "Computer" in File Explorer even if you removed Computer. The Computer icon is located in the imageres.dll file if you wanted to change the shortcut's icon.

explorer.exe /e,::{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d}

EXAMPLE: "Computer" in Navigation Pane of Windows 8
NOTE: This is the Computer group added (default) (left screenshot below) and removed (right screenshot below) from the Navigation Pane.

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Here's How:

1. From the Start or Apps screen, start and finish typing regedit, and press Enter.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below, then do step 4 or 5 below for what you would like to do. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\ShellFolder

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4. To Add "Computer" or "This PC" to Navigation Pane in Windows 8 or Windows 8.1
NOTE: This is the default setting.

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A) Do step 4B or 4C below.​

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B) In the right pane of ShellFolder, right click or press and hold on Attributes (if there), click/tap on Delete and Yes, and go to step 4D below. (see screenshot below step 3 or 6A)​

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OR​

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C) In the right pane of ShellFolder, double click/tap on Attributes (if there) to modify it, type in b084010c, click/tap on OK, and go to step 4D below. (see screenshot below)​

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D) If you have a 64-bit Windows 8/8.1 installed go to step 6 below.​

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E) If you have a 32-bit Windows 8/8.1 installed go to step 7 below.​

5. To Remove "Computer" or "This PC" from Navigation Pane in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

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A) If you have not already, then in the left pane of regedit, take ownership of and set permissions to "Allow" the Administrators group "Full control" of the ShellFolder registry key. (see screenshot below step 3 or 6A)​

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B) In the right pane of ShellFolder, right click or press and hold on a empty space and click/tap on New and DWORD (32-bit) Value. Type Attributes and press Enter. (see screenshot below step 3 or 6A)​

NOTE: If Attributes is already here, then you can skip this step and go to step 5C below instead.​

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C) In the right pane of ShellFolder, double click/tap on Attributes to modify it, type in b094010c, click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​

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D) If you have a 64-bit Windows 8/8.1 installed go to step 6 below.​

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E) If you have a 32-bit Windows 8/8.1 installed go to step 7 below.​

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6. If you have 64-bit Windows 8/8.1 Installed

   Note

If you have 64-bit Windows 8/8.1 installed, then you will need to do this step to also add or remove Computer or This PC from the "Open" and "Save as" type dialog windows.

This step is not available or needed if you have 32-bit Windows 8/8.1 installed.

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A) In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)​

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\ShellFolder

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B) Repeat step 4 or 5 above.​

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C) When finished go to step 7 below.​

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7. Close regedit, then either restart explorer, sign out and in, or restart the computer to apply.


That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Show or Hide Navigation Pane in File Explorer in Windows 8 and 8.1
• Add or Remove "Libraries" from Navigation Pane in Windows 8 and 8.1
• Add or Remove "Favorites" from Navigation Pane in Windows 8 and 8.1
• Add or Remove "Network" from Navigation Pane in Windows 8 and 8.1
• Add or Remove "SkyDrive" from Navigation Pane of File Explorer in 8.1
• How to Turn Navigation Pane "Show all folders" On or Off in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Turn Navigation Pane "Expand to Current Folder" On or Off in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Change "Computer" Folder Name in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How Add or Remove Default "Folders" from This PC in Windows 8.1
• How to Move Libraries above This PC in Navigation Pane in Windows 8.1
• How to Add or Remove OneDrive in This PC in Windows 8.1
• How to Add or Remove DLNA Media Servers from This PC in Windows 8 and 8.1

 

[sbdresner]

No "Attributes" key under "ShellFolder." How do I add it?

I've run regedit as Administrator but still don't have permission to add key.

Thanks

 

[Brink]

Hello Steve,

Step 5B can help show you how to, but you will need to step 5A first to be able to.

 

[sbdresner]

Thanks, Brink.

Problem is more basic. I can do 4 or 5 easily, but when I try to change permissions for 6, I get the message: "Unable to save permission changes on ShellFolder. Access is denied."

 

[Brink]

That usually indicates that you have not taken ownership of the ShellFolder key first. Double check using step 3 in OPTION THREE of the tutorial below to verify.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...le-folder-drive-registry-key-windows-8-a.html

 

[sbdresner]

It worked.

Many thanks!

Steve

 

[Brink]

Great news Steve. You're most welcome.

 

[ElectricHuman]

Thanks for tweak. But after it I can not enable Computer shortcut on Desktop. Can you help me?

 

[Brink]

Hello ElectricHuman, and welcome to Eight Forums.

That's correct. When you remove "Computer" from the navigation pane, it will also disable the Computer desktop icon.

However, you could manually create a Computer shortcut on your desktop using the location below that will still open to Computer in File Explorer. The Computer icon is located in the imageres.dll file if you wanted to change the icon of the shortcut.

explorer.exe /e,::{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d}

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ElectricHuman]

Hello ElectricHuman, and welcome to Eight Forums.
Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[jbui]

This doesn't seem to work anymore is there another way to remove This PC from the navigation pane?

 

[Brink]

This doesn't seem to work anymore is there another way to remove This PC from the navigation pane?

Hello Jbui, and welcome to Eight Forums.

It still works. Please double check to make sure that you didn't miss a step or possibly made a mistake.

 

[jbui]

This doesn't seem to work anymore is there another way to remove This PC from the navigation pane?

Hello Jbui, and welcome to Eight Forums.

It still works. Please double check to make sure that you didn't miss a step or possibly made a mistake.

So it does! I forgot to do a step. Thank you for posting this, it helped a lot

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[jbui]

Will this work for windows 10?

 

[Brink]

Hello jbui,

For Windows 10, you should use this below instead.

This PC in Navigation Pane - Add or Remove in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

[Ikessauro]

Great tutorial, it is very detailed, I managed to do it with no problem.:thumb:

One thing though is not working really well.
The "computer" shortcut appears in the navigation pane in the "save" or "open" windows of my browser (Google Chrome). If I click "open" in other softwares (i.e. photoshop), the shortcut does not appear, but appears in the browser.

It seems that the second part of the tutorial which was meant to prevent this worked only partially. Could anyone help me solve this?

 

[Brink]

Hello lkessauro, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Since you have a 64-bit Windows 8.1, double check to make sure that you did step 6.

If it checks out, then see if restarting the PC may help.

 

[Ikessauro]

Hello lkessauro, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Since you have a 64-bit Windows 8.1, double check to make sure that you did step 6.

If it checks out, then see if restarting the PC may help.

Hi, thanks for replying so fast. I double checked every step, actually, did it all over again to make sure I wasn't making a mistake. The result was the same.