The places bar which appears in the left side of the Open and Save As dialog boxes in Windows XP, contains shortcuts to the following folders by default:

  • Recent
  • Desktop
  • My Documents
  • My Computer
  • My Network Places

The default places can be customized by editing the registry. After adding/removing custom places using a third-party tool, you may experience a problem where the places bar is completely empty.

This happens if the following key is leftover in the registry, with no valid values present underneath it.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ comdlg32 \ Placesbar

If the above key exists with no valid values (Place0, Place1, Place2, Place3 & Place 4), the list of places in the Common Dialog boxes will be empty. Removing the above branch fixes the problem. Use the steps below:

1. Click Start, Run. Type Regedit.exe and press ENTER

2. Navigate to the following location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ comdlg32 \ Placesbar

3. Right-click Placesbar and choose Delete

4. Exit the Registry Editor.


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