Recently I had a problem with Explorer on Windows 10. Opening a file browser in This PC would slow it to a crawl. Other folders worked fine, it was just This PC that would never load, ever.
After doing everything possible, including reinstalling Windows, it turns out that the iCloud Photos item in the quick Access sidebar was the culprit. Problem is that some combination of dark magick made it impossible to remove. The only way was to open Regedit (Windows+R, then type out regedit.exe), find the path
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\
and delete the key called {F0D63F85-37EC-4097-B30D-61B4A8917118}.
So every time iCloud updated I would have to find that web page with the registry address of the offending key.
Problem is, this time there was no key {F0D63F85-37EC-4097-B30D-61B4A8917118}. Fortunately the keys are listed in order that they were written. The last key was {f86fa3ab-70d2-4fc7-9c99-fcbf05467f3a}. I exported the key (as a backup), and then deleted it.
Bingo. no more iCloud gumming up the works.
TL;DR:
Using regedit (hit the Windows key and type the word regedit or if that doesn’t work hit Windows-R and type regedit), then navigate to the folder
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\
Then look for the key (looks like a folder icon) called
{f86fa3ab-70d2-4fc7-9c99-fcbf05467f3a}
Right-click and choose delete. Restart and you’re good.
Pappu
Doesn’t work
Robert Chalmers
Works like a charm. Thanks dude. I have to do the “set key to 0 from 1” for all “iCloud Photo” entires as mentioned in a related post by ‘gogreen’, and also remove the keys mentioned in this post. Now – no spare iCould Photos entires. The post from ‘gogreen’ mentions also to leave one entry. Don’t – set them all to 0. It will rebuild when you reboot.
Taken me ages to fix this. (Windows 10 of coure)
Thanks dude. Nicve bit of research.
Colin Aitken
Hi, where can I find this related post by Gogreen? I found by deleting the registry key it didn’t remove the icons, but if I need to set other keys from 1 to 0 it would be great to know which ones. Thanks a lot
Tim Schropp
Doesn’t work. Key {f86fa3ab-70d2-4fc7-9c99-fcbf05467f3a}, is “This PC”.