Why "Folder Name - Explorer" appears in the Win11 taskbar thumbnail (preview) and how to hide it

This time, I would like to explain why "Folder Name - Explorer" appears in the taskbar thumbnail (preview) and how to hide it.

After installing the September update for Windows 11, the title of the thumbnail (preview) that appears when you hover the mouse cursor over a folder icon on the taskbar has changed to "Folder name - Explorer."

This is a change in Windows 11 Explorer design and is not a bug.

We received an inquiry from a user the other day, and after trying various things, we discovered the mechanism behind the display of "- Explorer" and were able to successfully hide it.

Why does "- Explorer" appear in the title of the folder thumbnail (preview)?

The reason why "- Explorer" appears in the title of the folder thumbnail (preview) is due to the Explorer-related dll file "explorerframe.dll."

"explorerframe.dll" is a file required for the operation of Explorer, and if this file is corrupted or has problems, Explorer may freeze or display incorrectly.

"explorerframe.dll" is located in the "C:\Windows\System32" folder.

For example, if you create a situation where "explorerframe.dll" is not in the "C:\Windows\System32" folder and start Windows 11, the desktop will be completely white or black and nothing will be displayed, and Windows 11 will not function.

The reason why "- Explorer" is displayed in the title of the folder thumbnail (preview) this time is because Microsoft updated "explorerframe.dll" and the MUI file in the September update, adding "- Explorer" to the title of the folder thumbnail (preview).

MUI stands for Multilingual User Interface, and simply put, it is a language pack file that allows you to switch the display language of software.

How to hide "- File Explorer"

We discovered that the cause was the MUI file "explorerframe.dll," so we checked the contents of the MUI file "explorerframe.dll.mui," found the relevant section, and edited it to successfully hide "- Explorer."

Here we will show you how to edit the contents of "explorerframe.dll.mui".

• Please follow the steps
• Please run this with a user account that has administrator privileges.

1. Download the software you need to edit MUI files

First, you need to download the software "ResourceHacker" required to edit MUI files.

1. Open the following page and download "ResourceHacker" from "ZIP install" at the bottom.

https://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker

2. Copy the downloaded "resource_hacker.zip"Unzip international success.

We will run "ResourceHacker.exe" later when editing the MUI file "explorerframe.dll.mui".

2. Access Permission

1. Open the following folder:

C:\Windows\System32

2. Right-click on the "ja-jp" folder > Click "Properties".

3. "ja-jp Properties" will open, so open the Security tab and click "Advanced Settings".

4. The "Advanced Security Settings for ja-JP" will open, so click "Change" to the right of Owner.

5. The "Select User or Group" screen will appear, so click "Advanced".

6. "Select User or Group (Advanced)" will be displayed, so click "Search".

7. Many names will be displayed in the search results, so select "Administrators" or the user name you are currently signed in as and click OK.

8. Make sure "Administrators" or your user name is displayed in "Enter the object names to select," then click OK.

For example: "DESKTOP-******\Administrators", "DESKTOP-******\Currently signed-in user name"

9. You will be returned to "Advanced Security Settings for ja-jp." Make sure the owner has been changed to "Administrators" or the currently signed-in user, thenCheck "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" Click OK.

10. You will be returned to "ja-jp Properties", so click "Advanced Settings" again.

11. "Advanced Security Settings for ja-jp" will open, so click "Change Permissions" in the bottom left.

12.The "Change Permissions" option will then disappear, so double-click the file with the same name as the state owner to open it.

13. The "Permission Entry for ja-jp" will open, so check "Full Control" and click OK.

14. You will be returned to "ja-jp Advanced Security Settings".Check "Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object", and click OK.

15.A warning from Windows Security will appear, so click Yes.

16.A warning will appear again, so click "Yes".

17.Finally, click OK under "ja-jp Properties."

Now that the permissions have been granted, we will edit the MUI file "explorerframe.dll.mui".

3. Editing the MUI file

First, let's show the file extension.

How to display file extensions

1. Copy "explorerframe.dll.mui" in the "ja-jp" folder and paste it on your desktop.

2. Run "ResourceHacker.exe".

3. Left-click "explorerframe.dll.mui" on the desktop and, without releasing it, move it over the "ResourceHacker" screen and release the left-click (drag and drop).

4. A list will then appear in the left frame, so open "String Table".

5. Find and select "2195:1041".

The text "35104, "%1!ws! - Explorer"" displayed on the right side will be displayed in the title of the folder thumbnail (preview).

"%1!ws!" is the name of the currently open folder.

6. Delete "- File Explorer" and click the green triangle button.

The two items under "35104, "%1!ws! - Explorer"" are displayed when multiple tabs are displayed.

35105, "%1!ws! and 1 other tab – Explorer" is what you see when there are two tabs.

35106, "%1!ws!%2!u! More Tabs – Explorer" is displayed when there are three or more tabs.

The image below is

35105, "%1!ws! and 1 other tab – Explorer"

35105, "%1!ws! and 1 other tab" to,

35106, "%1!ws!%2!u! Other Tabs – Explorer"

35106, "%1!ws! and %2!u! other tabsThis is what will be displayed if you change it to ".

7. When you're done editing, click the green floppy icon in the top left to save your edits.

8. The original file will then be renamed to "explorerframe.dll_original.mui" and a new file, "explorerframe.dll.mui", will be created.

The newly created "explorerframe.dll.mui" is the edited file.

9. Right-click on "explorerframe.dll.mui" in the "C:\Windows\System32\ja-jp" folder > "Check other options" > "Rename".

10. Add ".bak" to the end of the name (e.g. "explorerframe.dll.mui".Capricorn" ) and press Enter.

11. A confirmation screen will appear, so click "Yes".

12. "File access denied" will be displayed, so click "Continue".

13. When the "User Account Control" message appears, click "Yes".

14. Verify that the name has been changed.

15. Copy the "explorerframe.dll.mui" you just edited and paste it into the "C:\Windows\System32\ja-jp" folder.

16. You will see the message "Access to target folder is denied," so click "Continue."

17. Restart your PC

Once your PC has started, open the folder to view the thumbnail (preview) and confirm that "- File Explorer" is no longer displayed.

2024/10/18 If you cannot hide "- Explorer" using the above method

Starting around the evening of 17/10/2024, I was suddenly unable to hide "- Explorer" using the method described above.

I assumed that the timing might be related to an update that had been installed automatically, so I checked the reliability monitor and found that an update called "9N1W692FV4S1-Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackja-JP" had been installed.

This update is a language pack that is automatically installed in the background on Japanese operating systems.

Once "Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackja-JP" is installed, the "explorerframe.dll.mui" in the "C:\Windows\System32\ja-jp" folder will no longer be used, and the "explorerframe.dll.mui" in the "Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackja-JP_version number_neutral__8wekyb3d8bbwe" folder in the "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps" folder will be used.

Specifically, a registry value was added that specified the use of "explorerframe.dll.mui" in the "Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackja-JP" folder.

We were able to hide "- Explorer" by editing the registry value, but editing the registry is risky, so we'll introduce another easy way.

Editing "explorerframe.dll.mui" in the "C:\Windows\System32\ja-jp" folder is required. Please run this after editing.

1.Start buttonRight-click on the icon and click "Terminal (Administrator)".

2. Type the following command and press Enter:

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackja-JP | Remove-AppxPackage

*This is the command to uninstall "Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackja-JP".

3. Restart your PC or restart File Explorer.

Add "Restart Explorer" to the taskbar on Win10/Win11

Once your PC has started, open the folder to view the thumbnail (preview) and confirm that "- File Explorer" is no longer displayed.

Currently, after uninstalling "Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackja-JP" Windows Update screen Even if you "Check for updates" or "Get updates" in the Microsoft Store app, "Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackja-JP" will not be installed.

If there is an update for "Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackja-JP", it will be installed automatically. Therefore, you will need to uninstall it each time.

Add-appxpackage -register "C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackja-JP*\appxmanifest.xml" -disabledevelopmentmod