Today I would like to share a trick which will allow you to have a Libraries icon right inside the This PC folder. It is applicable to Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 8. I guess it should work in Windows 7 too, but I have not checked it yet. Having Libraries in This PC is very time saving for people who use the Libraries feature frequently, as it will provide just one click access to Libraries from the old Open/Save Windows dialogs which do not have the folder pane.
This can be done via a simple Registry trick. Do the following:
- Open Registry Editor.
- Go to the following Registry key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}
Tip: See how to jump to the desired Registry key with one click.
- Take ownership of that key as described HERE.
- Now at the above mentioned Registry key, create a new 32-bit DWORD value named DescriptionID and set it to 3. This value will be used to show Libraries in the "Folders" category inside This PC.
- If you are running a 64-bit version of Windows (see How to determine if you are running 32-bit Windows or 64-bit), take ownership and full access to the following Registry key too:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}
Again, create the same DescriptionID parameter here as well.
- Now go to the following Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace
Create here a new subkey named {031e4825-7b94-4dc3-b131-e946b44c8dd5}:
In case of 64-bit OS, create the same subkey under the following key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace
- Sign out and log in back to your Windows account. Alternatively, you can just restart the Explorer shell.
You can also our own fastastic tool, RegOwnershipEx, to easily take ownership of Registry keys. RegOwnershipEx can be downloaded HERE
Now, when you open This PC, you will see Libraries inside it. Here is a screenshot from my Windows 10 TP:
You are done. To revert back all the changes, it is enough to delete the {031e4825-7b94-4dc3-b131-e946b44c8dd5} subkey from
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace keys and delete the above mentioned DescriptionID parameter.
Support us
Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options:
Hey Sergey!
I would like to connect with you because there is one other tweak I would like to make. Instead of including Libraries, include a specific library I created. I would very much appreciate your help, please get back to me as soon as you can
(I know a little bit about how regedit and permissions work, so it should not be too difficult)