A clutter of folders appears in the navigation pane in Windows 10 or 8.1. Most of them are shortcuts and are not necessary. Currently using Windows 8 still. Good! You are on the better side. Less confusion about items in the File Explorer.

But once you have made the choice to update to Windows 8.1 or 10, there is no other way to go. You need to apply some tweaks to hide the default folders from “This PC” in Windows 10. Worried about what “This PC” is? It’s just that “My Computer” was replaced with this new term.

Anytime you want to locate files, you want the drives to appear. Not all those silly items that make your eyes dizzy and blind! First, look at the appearance of how the default folders look in the navigation pane in Windows 8.1.

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Why You Need to Remove Folders from “This PC”

You may be intrigued by why all this headache. First of all, let the default settings be in place. But it just makes navigation more confusing and difficult. As you can see in the above image, there are a lot of items in “This PC.”

For example, if you want to locate a file in your C: drive, first of all, identifying that drive among those blurring items is really difficult. You want something simple like the Google homepage. Also, if you observe the Windows 8 File Explorer navigation pane, it’s more simple.

It just lists the drives—both removable and non-removable.

So it all comes to aesthetics, appearance and simplicity in navigation.

How to Hide or Remove Folders from “This PC” in Windows 10

There are two methods to remove or hide built-in folders under “This PC.” The first method uses software, and the other method uses manual registry tweaks.

remove hide inbuilt folder from this pc windows 10

How to Use Ultimate Windows Tweaker to remove folders from “This PC” in Navigation Pane

The registry method is tiresome and is prone to errors. A better way is to use tweaking software from “thewindowsclub.”

hide folders from this pc windows 10 using software

The recent version is Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4.

On the left-hand side you see “Customization”.
Select the tab “This PC” on the right-hand side.
Below that you see “Customize Inbuilt Folders”.
The following folders are listed here.
1. Desktop
2. Documents
3. Downloads
4. Music
5. Pictures
6. Videos
7. 3D Objects

All are checked by default. When you uncheck them, they will be removed from “This PC” in File Explorer > Navigation pane.

Manual Method: Registry Tweaks to Hide Folders under “This PC” in Windows 8.1 or 10

To hide the default folders in Windows 10, you can do some registry tweaks. You just need to change the value from “Show” to “Hide” to prevent the folders in “This PC” from appearing in File Explorer.

Open the Registry Editor by pressing Win + R (just those two keys). Type “regedit”.
There are certain “keys” which indicate the Documents, Pictures, Videos, Downloads, Music, Desktop folders.
For each of this key, there is a string called “ThisPCPolicy“.
To remove or hide the above folders, you just have to set the value to “Hide“.

Just copy and paste the following key paths in Registry Editor.

registry keys advanced appearance settings windows 8

Warning: Take a backup of the registry before you make any changes. Otherwise, deleting wrong entries can disable your system startup.

Documents Folder:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{f42ee2d3-909f-4907-8871-4c22fc0bf756}\PropertyBag

Pictures Folder:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{0ddd015d-b06c-45d5-8c4c-f59713854639}\PropertyBag

Videos Folder:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{35286a68-3c57-41a1-bbb1-0eae73d76c95}\PropertyBag

Downloads Folder:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{7d83ee9b-2244-4e70-b1f5-5393042af1e4}\PropertyBag

Music Folder:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{a0c69a99-21c8-4671-8703-7934162fcf1d}\PropertyBag

Desktop Folder:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{B4BFCC3A-DB2C-424C-B029-7FE99A87C641}\PropertyBag

After the release of the 1709 version, there is also a 3D Objects folder under “This PC.” To remove it, you can use the following keys.

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

Under this finding,

{0DB7E03F-FC29-4DC6-9020-FF41B59E513A}

Right-click it and select “Delete.”

In Windows 10 64-bit, you can also select the following path.

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

Then locate the following key.

{0DB7E03F-FC29-4DC6-9020-FF41B59E513A}

and use the “Delete” process.

How to Remove Folders from “This PC” in Windows 8.1

The crux of the problem is now at hand. A simple solution. You just need to download a registry file and run it.

The steps include.

Download the .zip file
Unzip the file.
Run the .reg file.
If any permissions like UAC are asked, allow them.
Restart the PC.

Download

But before we go ahead, first lets congratulate “eightforums.com” for providing these .reg files. I downloaded them from their website and zipped them for easy downloading.

The look of “This PC” is somewhat like a normal PC after you make the registry changes.

remove default folders My computer windows 8.1 after

There are actually 6 default folders in “This PC.”

Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Music
Pictures
Videos

So to remove each folder, you can apply each .reg file. But in case you want to save time and remove all folders, just apply the . reg file that says “Remove_All_Folders_in_This_PC.”

How to Restore Default Folders in “This PC” in Windows 8.1?

Sometimes, you feel that these folders are necessary if you are saving files to these locations. In such cases, you can just run another. reg file that says “Restore_Folders_in_This_PC.”

Conclusion

It’s a mixed feeling regarding the default folders in “This PC.” Some may like it, and some may dislike it. Regarding the concept of these files, we are changing only some registry values in the Registry Editor when you apply these tweaks. So you need not worry about any unwanted changes.

Caution: It’s better to back up your registry before you apply these registry tweaks, in case any problems come up.

Windows 10 or 8.1 : How to Remove or Restore Built-in Folders from “This PC”