Windows 7 Libraries were designed to help us organize our files more efficiently by putting them in groups -- like music or pictures.
But many people already do this within their system's directory structure, and they would rather not mess with another superfluous layer of file management.
I was ask if there was a way to remove the Libraries entry from Windows Explorer's navigation pane -- that area on the left containing Favorites,
Libraries, Homegroup, Computer, and Network.
Luckily, there is a registry edit that will do just that.
NOTE: Just remember that improperly editing the Windows Registry can damage your Windows installation, including making Windows unbootable.
You should always make a backup of the registry before making any edits.
Also, even though this tip will remove Libraries from Windows Explorer, they will still be available and will show up in various places such as in the Open and Save dialog boxes of your applications.
Click the
Start Orb button, type
Regedit in the Start Search box, and press [
Enter].
When the
UAC dialog box appears, respond appropriately.
When the Registry Editor appears,
Navigate to the following folder:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}\ShellFolder
When you get there, right-click on
ShellFolder and select the
Permissions command.
When you see the
[Permissions for ShellFolder dialog box, select
Administrators in the Group or User Names panel and then
select the Full Control check box in the Permissions for Administrators panel.
Click
OK to continue.
Now, right-click on the
Attributes value and select the
Modify command.
When the
Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value dialog box appears, you'll see that the default Value data setting is:
b080010d
Now, press
◄-- Backspace to remove the value
and type the
new value:
b090010d
Now click
OK,
close the Registry Editor, and then
log off your session. When you log back on, you'll see the Libraries no longer show up in Windows Explorer.
If you ever want Libraries to reappear, open the registry editor again, and change the ShellFolder Permissions value back to b080010d and save the change.
