How to Add or Remove Gallery to File Explorer Windows 11 (Fixed)

Microsoft added Gallery, a feature in File Explorer, starting with Windows 11 version 22H2. It gives you quick access to your photo collection right from the File Explorer navigation pane. The photos shown in Gallery are the same ones you see in the All Photos view of the Photos app.

If Gallery is missing on your PC, or if you want to remove it from the navigation pane, you can add or remove it with a small registry change. This guide shows both.

Add Gallery to the File Explorer Navigation Pane

This registry file pins Gallery to the navigation pane:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{e88865ea-0e1c-4e20-9aa6-edcd0212c87c}]
"System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree"=dword:00000001

You can download both ready-made registry files (add and remove) here:

Remove Gallery From the File Explorer Navigation Pane

This registry file unpins Gallery from the navigation pane:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{e88865ea-0e1c-4e20-9aa6-edcd0212c87c}]
"System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree"=dword:00000000

How to Apply the Registry File

1. Save the .reg file you need (add or remove) to your desktop.
2. Double-click the saved .reg file to merge it.
3. When prompted, click Run, then Yes (for the UAC prompt), then Yes, and finally OK to approve the merge.
4. If File Explorer is open, close and reopen it to apply the change.
5. You can delete the downloaded .reg file afterwards if you like.

Note: These changes only affect the current user (HKEY_CURRENT_USER). They do not delete any photos; they only show or hide the Gallery shortcut in File Explorer.

Want more File Explorer tweaks? See my guides on bringing back the old right-click menu in Windows 11 and enabling tabs in File Explorer.