Last Updated on April 17, 2026
Even though there have been several versions of Microsoft Windows throughout the years, the basic functionality has remained fairly consistent, especially when it comes to managing your files and folders.
As you probably know, File Explorer will have the Windows default folders pinned in the Quick Access area for easy access. And you can also pin other folders there as needed and Windows itself will pin folders there that you use most often whether you like it or not. Of course, this option can be disabled if needed.
While Quick Access works well for frequently used locations, it doesn’t always offer the level of organization or visibility that power users want, especially when it comes to navigating their personal user directory. Windows treats the user profile folder differently from standard folders, which is why simply pinning it doesn’t give you the expandable tree structure you might expect. Instead, File Explorer collapses it into a single shortcut, forcing you to click through the right pane every time you want to reach a deeper folder. For anyone who relies on fast navigation or manages multiple subfolders regularly, this limitation can quickly become an annoyance.
But what if you wanted to have your user profile folder pinned to the Quick Access area of File Explorer and have the ability to expand the folders within your user folder? If you were to navigate to C:\Users\username and right click your user folder and choose Pin to Quick Access, it would look similar to the image below. And when you clicked on it, you would see its subfolders over on the right pane of File Explorer and that’s it. In this article, we will be showing you how to add your user profile folders to the navigation pane in File Explorer so they can then be expanded within the navigation pane itself.
To add your user profile folders to the navigation pane in File Explorer, we will be performing a simple registry edit. We have made this easy by providing the registry files to add your user profile folders to File Explorer as well as remove them. You can download these files here.
Once you extract the zip file, you will have two registry files called Add User Account Folder to Explorer.reg and Remove User Account Folder from Explorer.reg.
Here are the contents of the Add User Account Folder to Explorer.reg file
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}]
“System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree”=dword:00000001
Here are the contents of the Remove User Account Folder from Explorer.reg file
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}]
“System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree”=dword:00000000
To import the information into the registry, all you need to do is double click the Add User Account Folder to Explorer.reg file and then click on the Run button to start the process.
Then you will need to click the Yes button at the UAC prompt. Your Windows user account will need to have administrator access, or you will need to know the username and password for an account that does.
Then you will need to click the Yes button when prompted to add the values to the registry.
Finally, click the OK button to complete the process.
Now when you open File Explorer, you will see your user profile folders in the navigation pane and you can expand them to view their subfolders as well.
If you want to remove your user profile folders from the navigation pane in File Explorer, you can perform the same process with the Remove User Account Folder from Explorer.reg file.
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