Favorites Empty in Navigation Pane - Fix

Fix Empty Favorites in Navigation Pane in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to fix Favorites when it is empty under it without any favorite links in the Windows Explorer navigation pane in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

   Tip

Double check to make sure that the Favorites links are not just hidden by mistake, and needed to be unhidden.

If you only deleted the Favorites links, then you could use the tutorial below to restore them instead:

How to Restore the Default Favorite Links in Windows 7 Navigation Pane

EXAMPLE: Favorites - Default and Empty
NOTE: If Favorites is completety empty in the Navigation Pane and in the main window pane in Windows Explorer, then you will need to also do what is in the TIP box below.

OPTION ONE

To Fix Empty Favorites with a REG File

1. Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below.
Fix_Empty_Favorites.reg

Download


2. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

3. Double click/tap the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

4. If prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC Windows 7/8) or Continue (UAC Vista), Yes, and OK when prompted.

5. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply.

6. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

   Tip

If Favorites is still empty afterwards, then download and merge the lnk (LNK) option in the tutorial below to restore all of the default association for shortcuts (lnk).

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

AND

Double check to make sure that your C:\Users\(user-name)\Links folder is set to the default location.

OPTION TWO

To Manually Fix Empty Favorites in Registry Editor

1. Open the Start Menu, and type regedit in the search box and press enter.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes (UAC Windows 7/8) or Continue (UAC Vista).

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile
4. In the right pane of lnkfile, right click or press and hold on an empty space, and click/tap on New and String Value. (see screenshot below)

5. Type in IsShortcut for the name, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

6. Close regedit.

   Tip

If Favorites is still empty afterwards, then download and merge the lnk (LNK) option in the tutorial below to restore all of the default association for shortcuts (lnk).

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

AND

Double check to make sure that the C:\Users\(user-name)\Links folder is set to the default location.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• Restore Default Favorite Links in Navigation Pane of Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Fix Manage "File does not have a program associated with it" Error
• How to Create a "Favorites" Shortcut in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Change Default Icon of Favorites in Navigation Pane in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Add or Remove Favorites from Navigation Pane in Windows 7
• How to Add or Remove "Favorites" from Navigation Pane in Windows 8 or Windows 8.1
• How to Rename "Favorites" in Navigation Pane in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• Restore Missing "Pin to Taskbar" and "Pin to Start Menu" Context Menu Items in Windows 7 Shortcuts
• Add or Remove "Favorites" Links in Navigation Pane of Windows 7 and Windows 8

 

[lastbreath]

Hi ,

I deleted the links folder by mistake and recreated it manually but nothing worked ??

 

[Brink]

Thank ... but I mange to solve it by myself ..

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[BBluminou]

Hum... hum... And what if ?...

Hi

So...
What if I have no entry at all called : HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile ? :sarc:
Obviously : nomore IsShortcut within...

Please help me... :banghead:
I can't stand any more having my Links' folder not expanding in the navigation pane

You'll be so kind...

 

[Brink]

Hello BBluminou, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You should have lnkfile by default. You'll have to scroll down past all the short file extension keys listed at first at the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry location until you come down to where the alphabet starts over for the longer key names. You'll then just scroll down to lnkfile.

If you like, you could use OPTION ONE to have the REG file fix this for you instead of trying to do it manually in OPTION TWO.

Hope this helps for now,

Shawn

 

[BBluminou]

Hi

Thank you for answering but... for I've tried using the Search Box (CTRL+F) and I don't even have an entry called Inkfile ! :shock:

Does W7 x64 works the same way than x86's one ?

I did post a screencopy to show what I have in the registry at that place...

 

[Brink]

That's a L and not a I for LNKFILE/lnkfile.

 

[BBluminou]

A Miracle...
God bless you, Brink !
You're just a genius to me who was hanging around from forums to forums for the past 18 months...
Thank you so much !

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome.

 

[nikolaev]

Neither option works on my computer

and I don't have a C:\Users\(user-name)\Links folder nor HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile. How can I fix this problem?

 

[Brink]

and I don't have a C:\Users\(user-name)\Links folder nor HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile. How can I fix this problem?

Hello Nikolaev,

Double check the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial to see if your C:\Users\(user-name)\Links folder may just be hidden (faded) once you set all hidden files to show.

lnkfile (Lnkfile) should be there. You will need to scroll down past the other file extenstions until the alphabet starts over.

 

[nikolaev]

thanks for getting back so quickly Brink
there's nothing between Favorites and My Documents under my username, not even a grayed out box, and all my folder views are set to display hidden files (and do)
I copied the key name and pasted into regedit's find box and it found nothing

 

[Brink]

In that case, you can use OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to restore the Links folder.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18583-user-folders-restore-default-location.html

 

[nikolaev]

Brilliant. Got all the defaults back in Favorites now. Thanks a bunch Brink.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Nikolaev.

 

[Ivan Padilla]

Fixed

I followed the 2 steps and it did not work, so I created a folder named

"my links"

in

C:\users\(my-user-name)\

and it became automatically a folder called "Links" with the special icon with a blue arrow, and now it works. The only difference is that now the links have at the end the legend "(NAME)-shortcut", but it works the same.

I am not sure if this would have worked alone or if I actually needed to add the .reg files, but it only started working when I did this.

Thank you very much!!!

 

[Brink]

Hello Ivan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It sounds like your "Links" folder may have has it's location changed??

If you like double check using OPTION TWO below to see if your "Links" folder is at it's default location and name in the registry.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18583-user-folders-restore-default-location.html

 

[Usef1]

Win Explorer Favorites empty and unresponsive

Hi everyone

I had the same problem for several days and none of the above worked for me and after a lot of googling I got very frustrated not to find anywhere with a solution. So I had to find the answer for myself.

The reason my Windows Explorer Favorites went blank and unresponsive was that I had inadvertently moved my user “Links” (C:\Users\”Username” \Links) folder to a remote inaccessible location such as an external drive (or in your case could have been a Network or a Flash drive etc.) and that location had been engraved in the registry hence the registry was looking at the wrong place for it each time. It took some time to work out where in registry I had to make the correction. The following is for Win7 Professional but for other OS it may be similar:

1) Delete all occurrences of the subfolder “Links” in the user folder of the user with the problem (i.e. under the path C:\Users\”Username”).

2) Run RegEdit as administrator. Export the whole Registry into a .reg file just in case you make any errors.

3) Go to Reg entry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders. In the RH pane look for the string with a path ending with “Links” and correct it to: C:\Users\”Username”\Links where “Username” is the actual name of the user account with the problem.

4) Go to Reg entry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders. Again in the RH pane look for the string with a path ending with “Links” and correct it to: %USERPROFILE%\Links.

5) Go to Reg entry: HKEY_USERS\xyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxxyzx\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders. Where the xyz are any sequence of numbers and characters that may be your specific case. Again in the RH pane look for the string with a path ending with “Links” and correct it to: C:\Users\”Username”\Links.

6) Go to Reg entry: HKEY_USERS\xyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxyzxxyzx\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders. Again in the RH pane look for the string with a path ending with “Links” and correct it to: %USERPROFILE%\Links.

7) Exit the RegEdit. Make a new “Links” folder under the path C:\Users\”Username”\. Close all and reboot you PC.

If this works for you Happy Computing! and please say thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello Usef1,

If you like, you could also do this below from the Tip box at the bottom of the tutorial to restore the default location of your Links folder.


Double check to make sure that the C:\Users\(user-name)\Links folder is set to the default location.

 

[Usef1]

Hi Brink

Thanks for your reply. It may be useful to know. The problem though was not "changing folder default locations", it was why "Win Expl Favorites" was DEAD. And after dozens of unsolved open threads about this problem, some in this very site dating back to 3 years or more, suddenly you have realised that it was related to "Folder Default Location". The solution to a hard problem always sounds easy after someone else comes up with it and many suggest different versions of getting the same solution.