How to Disable File Explorer Tabs in Windows 11

If you are running Windows 11 22H2 or have installed the Windows 11 October 2023 upgrade, you may already have tabs in the File Explorer. The new File Explorer tabs feature is designed to make multitasking easier.

Vivetools allows you to easily navigate around files in the file explorer on any Windows 11 version, including previous versions. When using File Explorer's tabbed browsing capability, you can have many folders open without needing to maintain separate Windows windows active.

Tabbed browsing in Windows 11 File Explorer is a very useful feature, although not everyone likes it. Actually, Windows 11 users contacted us frequently inquiring about how to remove the File Explorer's tabs.

How to Disable File Explorer Tabs in Windows 11

Therefore, you may remove Windows 11's tabbed user interface (UI) if you're not a fan by installing a third-party app. Here are some easy procedures to turn off tabs in Windows 11's File Explorer.

1. Open this GitHub page in your preferred web browser.

2. On your PC, you now need to download the ViveTool-vx.x.x.zip file.

3. After downloading, extract all contents by performing a right-click on the ZIP file.

4. At this point, right-click on the extracted folder and choose Copy as Path.

4. Now click on the Windows 11 Search and type in Command Prompt. Right-click on the Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

5. When the Command Prompt opens, type in cd followed by the path you’ve copied in Step 4. The full command would look like

cd "C:\Users\Techviral\Downloads\ViVeTool-v0.3.3"

6. To disable tabs in Windows 11 file explorer, execute these two commands one by one:

vivetool /disable /id:37634385

vivetool /disable /id:36354489

7. After executing the commands, close the command prompt. Then, click on the Windows 11 Start button and restart your computer.

That’s it! After the restart, you will no longer see tabs on the File Explorer of Windows 11. The steps we have shared should remove tabs from Windows 11 File Explorer.

How to Enable Tabs in Windows 11 File Explorer Again?

If you ever change your mind and wish to bring back the tabbed UI on the Windows 11 File Explorer, you must follow the same steps we shared above. Just on the Step 6, execute these two commands:

vivetool /enable /id:37634385

vivetool /enable /id:36354489

Restart your Windows 11 PC after running these two procedures. This ought to restore the file explorer's tabs. The new navigation pane design will also be brought about by these two commands.

Important: It's possible that Microsoft removed the option to disable the feature if the command does not function on your copy of Windows 11. Furthermore, there's no guarantee that File Explorer's tabs will stay deactivated indefinitely.

Thus, the purpose of this instruction is to disable the tabs in Windows 11 File Explorer. If you are unable to disable the tabs, you may want to try installing a previous Windows 11 version.