How to Turn On or Off Folder Options in Windows 11 File Explorer

This article explains turning on or off File Explorer Folder Options in Windows 11.

The Folder Options allows users to change how files and folders open, what appears in the navigation pane, and other advanced view settings.

The File Explorer options window is where one can configure many settings for File Explorer, including hiding and unhiding file extensions, opening folders in its window, and many more.

If you do not want users changing how folders and files are viewed or displayed in File Explorer, you can remove the ability to open and use Folder Options. The steps below show you how to do that.

Disable or disable Folder Options in the local group policy editor

As mentioned above, if you want to prevent users from changing how folders and files are viewed or displayed in File Explorer, you can remove the ability to use Folder Options.

Below is how to do that.

First, open the Local Group Policy editor, and browse the folders below:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer

Double-click the “Do not allow Folder Options to be opened from the Options button on the View tab of the ribbon” setting on the right panel.

Select the options below on the “Do not allow Folder Options to be opened from the Options button on the View tab of the ribbon” setting window.

• Not Configured – Same as Disabled.
• Enabled – Users will not be able to open Folder Options.
• Disabled – Users can open Folder Options.

Enable or disable Folder Options via Windows Registry Editor

Another way to enable or disable Folder Options in Windows is to use the Windows Registry editor.

To do that, open the Windows Registry editor, and navigate to the folder key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

#and

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

If you don’t see the Explorer folder key, right-click on the Policies parent key, then create the subkey (Explorer) folder.

Right-click the Explorer folder key’s right pane and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Type a new item named NoFolderOptions.

Double-click the new item you created (NoFolderOptions) and update the Value data:

• Delete the items created above or type 0 to enable Folder Options for all users.
• To disable Folder Options for all users, type 1.

Restart your computer for the changes to apply.

That should do it!

Conclusion:

This post showed you how to enable or disable the Folder Options in Windows 11. If you find any errors above or have something to add, please use the comments form below.