Hello GrayGhost,
The /N switch is just to open it in a new process instead. It doesn't affect the navigation pane.
The navigation pane is a universal setting to be open or closed in all Windows Explorer windows.
Sorry.
Not true, Brink.
Prior to Windows 7, the
/n switch would open an Explorer window without the navigation pane. In Windows 7, 8, and 10, the
/n switch does nothing.
Microsoft has never been forthcoming in how to find certain useful information, because they believe - for our own good, of course - that we don't need to know. The
Microsoft KB article detailing the command line switches for Explorer.exe is from Windows 2000, so it doesn't show a few switches that have been added since then. So
/n may not even be a valid switch any more - it's hard to tell. I have tried other switches that I know are invalid, just as a test, and Explorer.exe simply ignores them. Which is all quite annoying, because like the OP, I would like to be able to open an Explorer window without the navigation pane, but without changing the global setting, that is no longer possible.
The switch to open an Explorer window in a new process is
/separate (which is not shown in the KB article).
You are correct, however, that the navigation pane is now a global setting. If you turn off the navigation pane in one Explorer window, all Explorer windows opened after that (until you turn it back on) will open without it. It won't disappear on windows that are already open, but if you want to have some windows open with the navigation pane, and others open without it, you have to go through a lot of hassle enabling and disabling the pane each time you want to set up your array of open windows.
