In Windows 11’s File Explorer, you will see a new option called “Home” on the left navigation page. When you open the File Explorer or click on it, you are taken to the Quick Access, Favorites, and Recent Files pages. While this is fine, most of us seldom use this option to navigate. In fact, if you changed File Explorer to open with This PC page, you almost even click on this option again. In those cases, it’s just a waste of space in the left navigation bar. Thankfully, if you don’t use it, you can easily remove Home in the File Explorer navigation pane with just a couple of clicks using the Registry Editor.
In this tutorial, I will show you the exact steps you can follow to remove the Home option in File Explorer in Windows 11. Let’s get started.
Before You Begin
- You need administrator rights to remove the Home option from the File Explorer’s navigation page in Windows 11.
- Please back up your registry before making changes to it. The backup helps you restore the registry if something goes wrong or you make a mistake.
Remove Home in File Explorer Navigation Pane in Windows 11
- Press the Start button on your keyboard.
- Search for “Registry Editor” in the Start menu search bar.
- Select the “Run as Administrator” option.
- Go to the following folder in the Registry Editor.
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer - Right-click on the “Explorer” folder.
- Select the “New” > “DWORD (32-bit) Value” option.
- Use “HubMode” as the value name.
- Double-click on the “HubMode” value.
- Change Value Data from “0” to “1” and click “OK“.
- Go to the following folder in the Registry Editor. Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace_36354489{f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}
- Right-click on the “{f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}” folder.
- Select the “Delete” option.
- Click “Yes” in the warning window.
- Close the Registry window.
- Restart your computer.
Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)
First, open the Registry Editor application. To do that, open the Start menu by pressing the Start button on your keyboard. Next, type “Registry Editor” in the Start menu’s search bar and click the “Run as Administrator” option.
Go to the following folder in the registry window. To make things simpler, copy the path, paste it into the Registry Editor’s address bar, and press Enter on your keyboard.
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Now, right-click the “Explorer” folder on the left navigation pane and select “New” and then the “DWORD (32-bit) Value” option.
Set the name of the new DWORD value as “HubMode“.
After creating the value, double-click on it. Next, change the “Value Data” from “0” to “1” and click “OK” to save the change.
After that, go to the following folder in the registry.
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace_36354489{f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}
Here, right-click on the “{f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}” folder and select the “Delete” option.
Click the “Yes” button in the confirmation window to delete the folder.
Once done, close the registry window by clicking the “X” button on the title bar. After that, restart your computer to apply the registry change.
After restarting, the Home option is removed in File Explorer and you will no longer see it.
Wrapping Up — Removing the “Home” Option in Windows 11 File Explorer
As you can see, removing the Home option from the File Explorer is fairly simple. While it requires editing the registry manually, as long as you follow the steps as shown, it’s all good. Remember to back up the registry before making changes to it.
To restore the Home option in File Explorer, simply delete the “HubMode” value. Next, go to the “Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace_36354489” folder, right-click on “NameSpace_36354489” folder, and select “New” > “Key”. After that, name the new folder as “{f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}”. Now, double-click on the “Default” value, set the Value Data to “CLSID_MSGraphHomeFolder” and click OK.
If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.
