Windows 7 - Homegroup link

UPDATED INFORMATION: PROBLEM SOLVED (for me at least)

The specific keys to be removed are these: under

HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/Desktop/Namespace

The key for the Libraries Icon is

{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}

and for Homegroups it is

{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}

Edit: These work to remove the links from the sidebar as well. Another one removes network, but I haven't bothered to figure out which one exactly, because I use that sometimes and it's at the bottom anyways. Two keys cannot be removed, not even in safe mode with command prompt. They may correspond to 'computer' and the home folder on the desktop, or to the favorites and the 'computer' tree in the sidebar, as those are never removed by removing all others.

You're a freaking genius.... It worked flawlessly.
I exported the keys to my desktop... If I just add them to the registry do they find their way back (if I need to) or do I have to manually add them to their respective location?
Thanks
and many more thanks for the tweak... now I can actually bear my navigation pane
Aphis

Well, some one else found the particular chain, i gleaned this info from some Vista forum, then it was just a matter removing the individual keys one by one until i found the one's that did the magic.

I think it's really odd that Microsoft imposed these on the users like this, it sort of reminds me more of earlier versions of windows. I thought one of the big advantages of 7 was to give the user more control of which features they did or did not want on their system.

Look for MS to change the relevant key numbers in an update, or even create a new tree in a more obscure location and ruin our tweak until we figure it out again.

If you don't want home group the better solution would be to disable the service. this will also remove the icon from the nav. a lot better and easier than messing with registry keys

Actually, I tried that and at least on this machine, running RTM, disabling the services no longer has the desired effect. I certainly would have rathered it work in that more gracefull manner, as I fully expect to have to chase these keys down again once in a while due to updates that may add them back, rename them, or even move them to another place in the registry.

How to Hide and Remove HomeGroup Folders by Disable and Turn Off Home Group Sercives

1. Go to Control Panel-> Network and Internet -> HomeGroup, and click on Leave the homegroup link to unjoin from any existing home group.
   
   
   Note: If the home group are shared and hosted from the PC, all HomeGroup connections will be disconnected.
2. Click on Leave the homegroup to confirm leaving from the home group.
3. Click on Finish when done.
4. Go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools, and double click on Services. Alternatively, type services.msc in Start Search.
5. For each of the following two services: HomeGroup Listener
   HomeGroup Provider
   Do the following:
   Stop the service, and then double click on the service to open Properties dialog, and set its Startup type to Disabled. Click OK when done.
6. Under Service Status click Stop and the icon on the desktop should be removed