Windows Explorer Navigation Pane Problems

Hello SevenForums, I am having a particularly annoying problem with my favorites shortcuts in my navigation pane. I have no idea what I actually did but I know I accidentally altered the "Links" file in C:/(Users)/(MyUser)/Links. Ever since then my "Favorites" shortcuts in the navigation pane are completely empty. I cannot add new links either.

I have tried everything from the simple "restore favorite links" option to manually editing the registry value to be sure in included the "IsShortcut" entry. I have tried the techniques from several different threads on this very website. I have tried every single option from each one of these tutorials:

Favorites Empty in Navigation Pane - Fix
Favorites - Restore Default Favorite Links in Navigation Pane
User Folders - Restore Default Location
Default File Type Associations - Restore

Nothing has fixed the problem.

In addition to this all the sections in the navigation pane that used to independent (IE - Libraries, Computer, Network, ETC) are all now contained under the "Desktop" category. This is a recent issue and not nearly as maddening as the favorites issue I described above.

So priority one for me is to fix the favorites links. If anyone can shed some light on the situation I would greatly appreciate it.

Hello brewersomething, and welcome to Seven Forums.

All of your default Favorites are there in the right pane when you have Favorites selected. It appears that you need to expand open Favorites in the navigation pane by clicking on the small white outlined triangle just to the left of Favorites.

It looks like you have your navigation pane set to "show all folders". Unchecking this option using the method in the tutorial below will have your navigation pane show in separate groups again.

Navigation Pane - Show All Folders

Hope this helps for now, :)
Shawn

Hi Shawn,

Thanks so much for the tip about the "show all folders" that solved my secondary issue but my primary issue persists. The Favorites section in the navigation pane does not have a white triangle. The right pane you are seeing in the attached image is actually the 'Links' folder (C:\Users\Brewmaster\Links) whose location is set to "C:\Users\Brewmaster\Favorites" yet the favorites in the navigation pane remain empty and will not allow me to add any new files to them. I am at a loss. Please let me know if you need more information or particular screenshots and I will happily provide them to try and fix this issue.

If you don't see the triangle to the left of Favorites in the navigation pane when you have it selected, then try OPTION TWO below again to restore the default locations for both your Favorites (Internet Explorer bookmarks) and Links (Favorites in navigation pane) folders. These are two separate unrelated folders.

User Folders - Restore Default Location

You're most welcome. I'm glad it could help. :)