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Managing your files and folders is an essential skill everyone should know how to do whether you are running Microsoft Windows or any other operating system. When it comes to doing things such as copying, moving, deleting or even searching for files and folders, File Management is the tool most of us use.
The Windows File Management app is pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it and is broken down into a tree type structure with folders and subfolders. And if you have more than one hard drive installed in your computer, it will show up there with its own drive letter. Within the left pane of File Explorer, you will see your default Windows folders as well as your physical drives listed under This PC.
One thing you might not see is your C drive listed with your DVD or other drives at the lower left side of File Explorer. Sure, you can expand This PC and see it, but it makes sense that it should be shown in the same way as your other drives. In this article, we will be showing you how to add the Windows C drive under This PC in the navigation pane of File Explorer.
As you can see in the image below, you need to expand This PC in order to see the Local Disk (C:) drive on the computer while the E drive is accessible without having to expand This PC.
To add the Windows C drive under This PC in the navigation pane of File Explorer we will be making a change to the Windows registry. You should always be careful when doing this type of thing and you may also want to consider making a system restore point before doing so.
We will be using a registry file to make this change and there is also another registry file you can use to reverse the process if you want things back to the way they were. You can download both registry files here.
The text below shows the contents of the registry file we will be using to add the C drive under this PC in File Explorer. You can also right click the registry files and choose Edit in Notepad to see this information on your computer.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{445a2e0d-9142-4458-a84a-66dee0196d3c}]
@=”C: Drive”
“System.IsPinnedToNamespaceTree”=dword:00000001
“SortOrderIndex”=dword:00000050
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{445a2e0d-9142-4458-a84a-66dee0196d3c}\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):69,00,6d,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,72,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,2c,00,2d,00,33,00,36,00,00,00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{445a2e0d-9142-4458-a84a-66dee0196d3c}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,49,00,4e,00,44,00,4f,00,57,00,53,00,5c,00,73,\
00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,\
6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{445a2e0d-9142-4458-a84a-66dee0196d3c}\Instance]
“CLSID”=”{0E5AAE11-A475-4c5b-AB00-C66DE400274E}”
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{445a2e0d-9142-4458-a84a-66dee0196d3c}\Instance\InitPropertyBag]
“Attributes”=dword:00000011
“TargetFolderPath”=hex(2):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,00,00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{445a2e0d-9142-4458-a84a-66dee0196d3c}\ShellFolder]
“FolderValueFlags”=dword:00000028
“Attributes”=dword:f080004d
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel]
“{445a2e0d-9142-4458-a84a-66dee0196d3c}”=dword:00000001
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{445a2e0d-9142-4458-a84a-66dee0196d3c}]
@=”C: Drive”
To import the registry changes into your computer, you can simply double click the Add C Drive.reg file and click the Run button on the next screen.
You will then receive a UAC prompt asking you to approve the changes. You can click the Yes button to continue.
Next, you will need to approve adding the information into the Windows registry by clicking the Yes button again.
Finally, you will be notified that the changes have been made successfully and you can then click the OK button.
Now when you open File Explorer, you will see that the C drive is listed with your other drives in the navigation pane.
To reverse the process, simply double click the Remove C Drive.reg file and go through the same process.
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