How to Rename “Favorites”, “Libraries”, “Homegroup”, “Computer” and “Network” Items in Windows 7 Explorer’s Navigation Pane?

We have posted a few tutorials in past about removing "Favorites", "Libraries", "Homegroup", "Computer" and "Network" Items from Windows 7 Explorer’s Navigation Pane:

Today in this tutorial, we'll tell you how to rename these items present in Navigation pane. By default, Windows only allows you to rename "Computer" item. You can right-click on it and select "Rename" and type whatever name you want to give.

But what about other items? You can rename them too using a simple registry trick which is mentioned in the coming steps.

We'll modify the same registry keys which we modified in the above mentioned tutorials to remove the items. We'll just edit a String value "LocalizedString" for each Navigation pane item and give it our desired name.

So without wasting any time, lets start the tutorial:

1. Type regedit in RUN or startmenu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to any of following keys according to your requirements:

Favorites - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}
Libraries - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}
Homegroup - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}
Network - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}

3. Now you'll need to change value of "LocalizedString" String value present in the right-side section. But Windows will not allow you to change its value as you won't have proper permissions.

You can use following simple steps to take permission:

• Right-click on the key mentioned in Step 2 and select "Permissions...".
• It'll open a dialog box, Click on "Advanced" button.
• It'll open another dialog box, Go to "Owner" tab.
• Select your Username from the list and click on "Apply" button and then OK.
• Again click on OK button in the first dialog box.
• Now again right-click on the same key and select "Permissions...".
• Select your Username in the list and check the "Allow" option for "Full Control".
• Click on Apply button and then OK.

4. Now double-click on "LocalizedString" String value given in right-side section and change its value to any desired name like "PC Favorites", "My Libraries", "Home Network", etc.

5. That's it. Now open My Computer and you'll see the new names for each item.

NOTE: If you want to restore the default names, you can use following default values of "LocalizedString" String value:

Favorites - @%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21796
Libraries - @%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-50691
Homegroup - @%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-50688
Network - @%systemroot%\system32\NetworkExplorer.dll,-1