Is Your File Explorer Sidebar Missing? How to Fix It Easily?

File Explorer Sidebar Missing

Is your File Explorer sidebar or left pane missing? Most people run into this issue after the Windows update. That may be related to the Windows setup issue and you can try to roll back the latest Windows.

Apart from that, system file corruptions or some Windows bugs or glitches can also make File Explorer left pane missing. For detailed solutions, you can read the next part.

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A Guide to Fixing “File Explorer Sidebar Missing”

Fix 1: Restart the Windows Explorer

You can try to restart Windows Explorer to see if the “File Explorer sidebar missing” issue can be gone.

Step 1: Right-click on the taskbar and choose Task Manager from the list.

Step 2: Locate and right-click on Windows Explorer and click Restart from the menu.

After that, you can check if the File Explorer left pane appears.

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Fix 2: Run SFC

If you find the navigation pane missing in File Explorer, you can try to run an SFC scan.

Step 1: Input Command Prompt in Search and choose Run as administrator from the list.

Step 2: When the window comes up, copy and paste this command – sfc /scannow and then press Enter to execute the command.

Fix 3: Change the File Explorer Settings

You can fix the File Explorer sidebar missing issue by enabling it with some changes in Settings.

1. If you are Windows 11 user, you can do the following steps to change the settings.

Step 1: Open Windows Explorer by pressing Win + R and click View from the top.

Step 2: Choose Show from the drop-down list and check the option of Navigation pane.

Then you can close the window and re-launch it.

2. If you are Windows 10 user, you can do these steps to change the settings.

Step 1: Open File Explorer and go to the View tab from the top menu bar.

Step 2: Choose Navigation pane and then tick the option of Navigation pane.

Fix 4: Re-Register the shdocvw.dll File

The shdocvw.dll file contains essential functions of Internet Explorer, such as Internet navigation and in-place linking. In this way, you can choose to re-register the shdocvw.dll file to fix the File Explorer sidebar missing.

Step 1: type Command Prompt in the search bar and choose Run as administrator from the menu.

Step 2: Click Yes when a prompt pop up to ask for your confirmation.

Step 3: When the Command Prompt window appears, copy and paste this command – regsvr32 /i shdocvw and then press Enter to execute it.

After that, you can close the window and restart your computer to see if the issue persists.

Bottom Line:

After trying these methods, the File Explorer sidebar missing issue may have been fixed. Hope this article is useful for you.