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I am searching how to remove the "Libraries" folder from the desktop directory (see picture)

If possible, I would love to remove the user folder as well as the "This PC" folder

Thanks in advance

the folder

Also I have a blank folder (with no name) and I don't know how to remove it from this directory.

And none of these folders is simply located in %userprofile%\desktop\ nor in %public%\desktop\

Thanks

EDIT : The blank folder was just a leftover on HKCU\Softwares\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\ . Nothing much, in short

Chuck Lennon
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3 Answers3

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The items you're interested in removing are virtual folders in the Shell Namespace.

To hide them, you need to know the CLSID of each item:

Name CLSID
Libraries {031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}
UserFiles {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}
This PC {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

Depending on whether you want to hide these items for all users or a single user, you use the CLSID to create entries under one of these registry keys:

  • All Users:

     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\NonEnum

  • Single User:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\NonEnum
    • The entries should be of type REG_DWORD
    • A value of 1 hides the folder: enter image description here
  • After creating the entries, you need to either restart the shell or sign out and back in for the changes to take effect.

Note that hiding This PC also removes it from the Navigation Pane and, if Explorer is set to open to This PC, you'll see the rather scary...

enter image description here

So you have to access drives by typing in the Address bar or via shortcuts pinned to Quick Access.

Keith Miller
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3

After a lot of research and not having found any solution to hide unnecessary folders, both from the navigation panel and from This PC, I ended up finding this tip from our colleague @Keith Miller, whom I want to thank for his attitude of sharing this information and method to "clean up" the mess that Microsoft made in Navigation Pane of Windows 10 with a skin of 11, duplicating icons unnecessarily just to get in the way of the user's view. After all, everyone knows that this system was never rewritten from the scratch as they said, but just been modified with new "skins" and features since Windows 1.0.

Below is my registry file to clean up this Unhappy visual, just merge it and then restart explorer.exe, no user logoff and login required.

Below is the file code to merge into the registry, which will do this for all users, and also the command to run in Prompt or PowerShell both as Admin.

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\NonEnum]
"{BDEADF00-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}"=dword:00000001
"{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}"=dword:00000001
"{088e3905-0323-4b02-9826-5d99428e115f}"=dword:00000001
"{374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}"=dword:00000001
"{1CF1260C-4DD0-4ebb-811F-33C572699FDE}"=dword:00000001
"{3dfdf296-dbec-4fb4-81d1-6a3438bcf4de}"=dword:00000001
"{24ad3ad4-a569-4530-98e1-ab02f9417aa8}"=dword:00000001
"{3ADD1653-EB32-4cb0-BBD7-DFA0ABB5ACCA}"=dword:00000001
"{A0953C92-50DC-43bf-BE83-3742FED03C9C}"=dword:00000001
"{f86fa3ab-70d2-4fc7-9c99-fcbf05467f3a}"=dword:00000001
"{A8CDFF1C-4878-43be-B5FD-F8091C1C60D0}"=dword:00000001
"{d3162b92-9365-467a-956b-92703aca08af}"=dword:00000001
"{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}"=dword:00000001

Restart Explorer:

cmd.exe /c taskkill /f /im explorer.exe  & start explorer.exe

Libraries

I hope this is useful for anyone who is having trouble finding GUIDs.

Here you will find the complete list of them.

JeepWillys58
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For Windows 10:

For Libraries:

Open File Explorer, then top left, click the down arrow under Navigation Pane and uncheck Show Libraries.

On a properly set up vanilla Windows 10 Machine, that works fine. Tested.

For User Folder:

See if the following works: It may or may not (but I ALWAYS show my User Folder).

Start, Settings, Personalization, Themes, and then look for Desktop Icon Settings. Uncheck Users Folder.

Note: Windows 11 (if you intend to upgrade and fresh install) does not appear to use Libraries. Libraries did not prove to be very useful because it is nothing special - just a folder of folders.