How to Remove “Homegroup” from Windows 7 Explorer Navigation Pane

If you enable „Navigation Pane“ in Windows 7 Explorer, it shows following 5 items in the pane:

  Favorites
  Libraries
  Homegroup
  Computer
  Network

This tutorial will help you in removing „Homegroup“ item from the Navigation pane 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\{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}\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.

To get permissions, first right-click on „ShellFolder“ key and select „Permissions“.

It'll open a new window. Select „Administrators“ in user list and check „Allow“ box given for „Full Control“ permission.

Click on OK button to apply the changes.

4. Now double-click on „Attributes“ DWORD value given in right-side section and change its value to b094010c

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

NOTE: If you want to restore „Homegroup“ in Navigation pane, simply change value of „Attributes“ DWORD to b084010c using step 4.

PS: If you want to completely disable „Homegroup“ feature, you can visit following tutorial:

How to Disable „HomeGroup“ Feature in Windows 7?