This article shows how to remove Home in the File Explorer Navigation Pane of Windows 11. The Home tab in the File Explorer Navigation Pane includes the Quick Access menu, Favorites, and your recent activity. In Windows 11 versions earlier than 22H2, the Home tab was Quick Access. Microsoft renamed Quick Access to Home in Windows 11, version 22H2. Hence, all Windows 11 versions after 22H2 will have this Home tab. However, you can remove this Home tab in the Navigation Pane if you do not want to see it.
How to remove Home in File Explorer Navigation Pane of Windows 11
If you want to remove Home in the File Explorer Navigation Pane of Windows 11, you need to modify Registry. I have explained all the steps below. Modifying the Registry incorrectly can cause various issues on your Windows 11 computer and make it unstable. Therefore, I suggest you follow all these instructions carefully.
Before proceeding, create a System Restore Point. This will help you restore your system to its previous working state if you make a mistake while modifying the Registry and start experiencing issues.
Press the Win + R keys to launch the run command box. Type regedit and click OK. Click Yes in the UAC prompt. This will launch the Registry Editor. Now, copy the following path, paste it into the address bar of the Registry Editor, and hit Enter.
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace
First, take a backup of the NameSpace key. Right-click on the NameSpace key and select Export. Now, name the Registry key and save it on your hard drive. Expand the NameSpace key and locate the following key.
{f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}
Right-click on the above-mentioned key and select Rename. Change the name of this key. You can try adding a special character, like a hyphen before its name as shown below:
--{f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}
Alternatively, you can also delete the {f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903} key. After renaming or deleting the above-mentioned key in the Registry Editor, open File Explorer. You will find that the Home tab has disappeared from the Navigation Pane. If not, restart your computer.
How to restore Home in File Explorer Navigation Pane
If you want to restore the Home tab in the File Explorer Navigation Pane, change the name of the required key back to {f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903}. If you have deleted the {f874310e-b6b7-47dc-bc84-b9e6b38f5903} key, double-click on the Registry backup file you created before deleting that key. Click Yes in the UAC prompt. This will merge the registry backup key to your Registry and restore the deleted key. Now, open the File Explorer. You will see the Home tab back in the Navigation Pane. If not, restart your computer.
What is the Home tab in File Explorer?
Microsoft renamed the Quick Access tab in the Navigation Pane of File Explorer to Home for Windows 11 version 22H2 and later. It has three sections: Quick Access, Favorites, and Recent. The Quick Access section has default and pinned folders. The Favorites section shows your favorites. The Recent section shows your recent activity.
How do I remove items from the navigation pane in Windows 11?
To remove an item you added to the Navigation Pane in File Explorer, right-click on it and select Remove from Quick Access. If an item is pinned to the Navigation Pane and you want to remove it, you must first unpin it from there.
Read next: How to remove Gallery from File Explorer in Windows 11.
