Homegroup link

[starhannes]

Windows 7 build 7057 64bit.

Hey guys!

How do i remove the stupid homegroup AND NETWORK AND LIBRARY links that are present on the left side when i open "my computer"?

thanks!

 

[myzr7]

starhannes Hello welcome. You can click on organize ( top left corner) of my computer then select layout then navigation pane. this will remove your anoyance.
Hope this helps..

 

[starhannes]

hey buddy! thanks for your quick reply.. thing is i like the navigation because of FAVOURITES.. :S i just find HOMEGROUP and networks a waste of space :S

anyway to keep navigation but remove those?

 

[myzr7]

starhannes See what you mean now. Sorry can't help with that. Maybe a reg tweek or some such thing. Good luck with that. Hope you have a good stay here on SevenForums. lm

 

[limneos]

Hello Starhannes.

Try this:

Right click on the empty space of the Navigation Pane and choose "Show all folders"

Now click on the arrow next to the Desktop Icon and it will collapse.

I guess this is what you need

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/853-navigation-pane-show-all-folders.html

 

[myzr7]

Hello Starhannes.

Try this:

Right click on the empty space of the Navigation Pane and choose "Show all folders"

Now click on the arrow next to the Desktop Icon and it will collapse.

I guess this is what you need

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/853-navigation-pane-show-all-folders.html

wow! That looks nice and clean. I like that. thanks limneos for your input.

 

[PhoneyVirus]

I had 20 Windows 7 Tweaks & Tips – Every Secret Uncovered to Date what happen to it MaximumPC

 

[macksgarage]

That last link worked well to give me more control over what was shown in the sidebar, but I still can't get rid of the homegroup icon on the desktop.

I've tried the oft-circulated tip to disable both homegroup services in the services.msc, but MS seems to have disabled the connection between the services and the icon, so desperate are they for us to use the new feature whether we want it or not. It can't be removed from the Desktop icons settings either, we can disable everything else on the desktop, including far more useful icons.

The libraries and the homegroup are just stuck there, permanently, on this RTM system with whatever updates have been pushed to date. Uck... this seems like such a return to typical microsofty behavior of forcing unwanted features, after all the gains in offering fine-grained control of what features I do and don't use.

Sorry for the rant, I'm hoping a bump might get some new information, and maybe that someone who has control of this might fix it in an update.

 

[zigzag3143]

That last link worked well to give me more control over what was shown in the sidebar, but I still can't get rid of the homegroup icon on the desktop.

I've tried the oft-circulated tip to disable both homegroup services in the services.msc, but MS seems to have disabled the connection between the services and the icon, so desperate are they for us to use the new feature whether we want it or not. It can't be removed from the Desktop icons settings either, we can disable everything else on the desktop, including far more useful icons.

The libraries and the homegroup are just stuck there, permanently, on this RTM system with whatever updates have been pushed to date. Uck... this seems like such a return to typical microsofty behavior of forcing unwanted features, after all the gains in offering fine-grained control of what features I do and don't use.

Sorry for the rant, I'm hoping a bump might get some new information, and maybe that someone who has control of this might fix it in an update.

re-boot in safe mode (w/o networking) and delete the desktop icon

just a guess

ken

 

[macksgarage]

I did finally find a way to get rid of the Desktop icons for Homegroup and libraries. the following hack is kinda brutal, a little more research is needed to refine it, but here it is, raw and risky:

using trusty old regedit, navigate to:

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

Back up this tree for safekeeping. All of the entries that used to be human readable in earlier versions have been turned into gibberish. None the less, I simply deleted everything I could from under this tree (two entires refused to die). F5 refreshed the desktop. Homegroup and Libraries are gone.

This is a dumb way to do things but it works. Later I would like to figure out which key was the magic that got rid of Homegroup. I actually use the new Libraries feature quite extensively, and would like that back. But I just created a short cut, anyways. Some other hack I've forgotten takes away the indicator arrow for shortcuts, and it looks factory anyways.

No luck on figuring any more fine grained control of the sidebar yet. The desktop was easy, it's really just an old XP/vista hack. sidebar is all new, so harder to track down.

NOTE: better information on how to handle this is in my later post within this thread, use those directions, not these!

 

[macksgarage]

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.

 

[Aphis]

yes!!!

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

 

[macksgarage]

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.

 

[BFG]

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

 

[macksgarage]

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.

 

[rawr]

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