Windows 7 Removing/Hiding Libraries from Explorer

Hi, we have a Windows Server 2008 R2 FRD and Windows 7 Clients. One of the noticeable problems with Windows 7 on a domain is the annoying library options which show on the left hand side of an explorer window. It causes chaos for users as they are able to save work in local libraries rather than their shared network drives.

I made the necessary changes via Group Policy to get shot of the libraries. - See below..

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...sr/rm/gpol.png

When a system which has the policy applied, is logged in, this is what they see in their explorer window....

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...rm/folders.png



Perfect! But, the head is not happy with the way she now has to browse her folders.
The management team would rather they are able to browse at least their my documents (network share N:\) from the old fashioned windows xp'ish tree view which would also be in the same area on the left as the now blank libraries area.

Is there a way to add this just for their N:\ drive?
Any info/help would be really great :D

Whats the GPO config for the navigation pane etc?

Hi,
I dont know if this is any good. Remove the library icon from the navigation pane
Might be worth having a play ..... i think you have have to remove the network icon manually as well. The webiste has that in there too.

i found this helpful



How to Remove “Favorites” from Windows 7 Explorer’s Navigation Pane? - Tweaking with Vishalthere links to remove the items separatly. i removed all except computer. so users can see there home drives etc

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I made the necessary changes via Group Policy to get shot of the libraries.

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@talksr; Did you author those ADMX files yourself. How did you get them to reference each other as it looks like the registry key needs a lot of tweaking to change all of those settings in a different way (apart from the network one which I have managed to make a template for so it can be used per user for students only)

@cromertech to be honest, it has been such a while I don't know if I authored the admx files or not. I remember using a couple of guidance sites. I am going to take a look today and see what my notes say... if anything!

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Originally Posted by cromertech

@talksr; Did you author those ADMX files yourself. How did you get them to reference each other as it looks like the registry key needs a lot of tweaking to change all of those settings in a different way (apart from the network one which I have managed to make a template for so it can be used per user for students only)

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Originally Posted by talksr

Hi, we have a Windows Server 2008 R2 FRD and Windows 7 Clients. One of the noticeable problems with Windows 7 on a domain is the annoying library options which show on the left hand side of an explorer window. It causes chaos for users as they are able to save work in local libraries rather than their shared network drives.

I made the necessary changes via Group Policy to get shot of the libraries. - See below..

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...sr/rm/gpol.png

When a system which has the policy applied, is logged in, this is what they see in their explorer window....

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...rm/folders.png



Perfect! But, the head is not happy with the way she now has to browse her folders.
The management team would rather they are able to browse at least their my documents (network share N:\) from the old fashioned windows xp'ish tree view which would also be in the same area on the left as the now blank libraries area.

Is there a way to add this just for their N:\ drive?
Any info/help would be really great :D

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If you leave "Hide Computer" disabled this should show expanded, mapped network shares on the left

We also set this registry key so that it displays the drive letter before the drive name
Path: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Name: ShowDriveLettersFirst (REG_DWORD)
Value: 1

And if you want the auto expand...
Path: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer \Advanced
Name: NavPaneExpandToCurrentFolder (REG_DWORD)
Value: 1

@AlexB, thank you that did the trick. I left it disabled and they all appeared. Perfect!

Thanks again!
@Chunks_ the link you provided was very useful. I have bookmarked that.

Thanks to everyone else who posted. Problem now solved.

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Originally Posted by AlexB

If you leave "Hide Computer" disabled this should show expanded, mapped network shares on the left

We also set this registry key so that it displays the drive letter before the drive name
Path: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Name: ShowDriveLettersFirst (REG_DWORD)
Value: 1

And if you want the auto expand...
Path: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer \Advanced
Name: NavPaneExpandToCurrentFolder (REG_DWORD)
Value: 1

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