[Fix] Folders Open in New Window Every time

When you open File Explorer and double-click a folder, it may open a new Explorer window rather than showing the folder contents in the existing window.

This issue may occur even though the “Open each folder in the same window” setting is selected in Control Panel → Folder Options.

folders open new window fix

Cause

Folders may always open in a new window due to the wrong folder association settings in the registry. For example, the (default) registry value data in the following key may be incorrectly set to “opennewwindow”

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell

Or, an unwanted registry value named LaunchExplorerFlags may be present in the following registry location:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open

If the LaunchExplorerFlags value exists and its data is a non-zero value (i.e., not equal to 0x0), then this value overrides the “Open each folder in the same window” setting. Due to the incorrect registry setting, the default double-click action folders is set to “Open in new window”.

folders open new window fix

Another possible cause is that the “DelegateExecute” registry value may be missing in the above location.

These incorrect registry settings force Windows to open folders in a new window when you double-click on them. Let’s see how to fix this problem.

The fixes #1 and #2 below apply to all versions of Windows, including Windows 11.

Resolution

Step 1: Resetting the Default Double-click Action

  1. Open an admin Command Prompt window.
  2. Type the following commands one by one and press Enter after each command. Ignore the “unable to find” error messages if any. 
    reg delete HKCR\Folder\shell /ve /f

reg add HKCR\Directory\shell /ve /d none /f

reg delete HKCR\Folder\shell\open /v "LaunchExplorerFlags" /f

reg add HKCR\Folder\shell\open\command /v "DelegateExecute" /d "{11dbb47c-a525-400b-9e80-a54615a090c0}" /f

    folders open new window fix - launchexplorerflags

That resets the default double-click action to “open”, thereby fixing the problem.

Step 2: Resetting the NavPane registry settings

  1. Close all folder windows.
  2. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
  3. Navigate to the following registry branch: 
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Modules\NavPane
  4. Right-click NavPane and choose Delete
  5. Exit the Registry Editor.

If that doesn’t help, download and run the folder and directory association fixes from the following links. Choose the one for the version of Windows you’re using:

File Association Fixes

Windows 7 | Windows 8 | Windows 10

(This article was last updated on May 05, 2023.)

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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

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34 thoughts on “[Fix] Folders Open in New Window Every time”

  4. thanks man its works..i had finished 3 hours to find how to fix this problem and i found its solution here..great job! Bravo!

    Reply

  7. Hi !! ” @ RedAndBlueSpidey ‘in win 7 Open “my Computer” then “Organize” at top left corner “Folder and search options” and then in the” GENERAL TAB ” select “”Open each folder in same window “”

    Reply

  13. hey”, glad to say.. that it works for me.. i’d try to do it again.. BOOMMMMMMM.. WORKS LIKE CHARMS.. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE INFORMATION.. GOD BLESS.

    Reply

  16. its give me error “make sure the binary is stored at the specified path or debug it to check for problems with the binary or dependent .DLL files.
    the specified module could not be found”

    Reply

  18. its give me error “make sure the binary is stored at the specified path or debug it to check for problems with the binary or dependent .DLL files.
    the specified module could not be found

    Reply

  23. Fix #2 worked for me, but I had to use the task manager to end “Windows Explorer” before deleting the key and then ran task “explorer.exe” from within task manager to get Windows Explorer (and the task bar etc) back.

    Reply

  29. Thank you! Had a perfect machine except for this issue, which drove me cookoo. Turned out I removed privls to this dir %Programfiles%\Internet Explorer\*.* ( via ACL, for security reasons). As soon as I restored, problem vanished. Thanks a million friend!

    Reply

  34. Bless you my lovely sir! You deserve a big fat kiss! Funny how something like this can annoy you so much.

    #1 Worked like a charm.

    Reply

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