How to Remove “Favorites” from Windows 7 Explorer Navigation Pane?

This tutorial will help you in removing "Favorites" item from the Navigation pane in Windows 7 as shown in following screenshot:

Simply follow these simple steps:

1. Type regedit in RUN or Start Menu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder

3. Now you'll need to change value of "Attributes" DWORD value present in the right-side section. But Windows will not allow you to change its value as you won't have proper permissions. So take ownership of ShellFolder key .

4. Now double-click on "Attributes" DWORD value given in right-side section and change its value to a9400100

5. That's it. Log off or restart your system and "Favorites" will no longer present in Explorer window.

If you want to restore "Favorites" in Navigation pane, simply change value of "Attributes" DWORD to a0900100 using step 4.

NOTE: If you are using 64-bit edition of Windows, you may notice that Favorites icon is still present in "Browse" dialog box such as Save, Save as or Open in some 3rd party 32-bit programs. To remove Favorites icon from there, you'll need to perform the same steps in following key as well:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}\ShellFolder

Just go to above mentioned key, take ownership of the key and in right-side pane, change value of Attributes DWORD to a9400100 to remove Favorites icon.