How to host a rooted namespace extension in Windows Explorer

Question

There is a method to create a namespace extension rooted in a particular folder.

It involves creating folder with a name like:

My Custom NSE.{785EE551-DEE1-4F57-A8C9-0EF76F346A29}

And Windows Explorer will automatically host the NSE of that clsid at that location.

But for the life of me i cannot find the syntax anymore. It used to be on MSDN in the namespace extension documentation, and it listed the 3 ways to get your namespace into Windows Explorer - that this was one of them.

What's the syntax - it's driving me crazy!

Answer 1

i found it. There are 3 ways to get your namespace extension into "My Computer"

Specifying a Namespace Extension's Location

a) Add entry to the registry

\Software
   \Microsoft
      \Windows
         \CurrentVersion
            \Explorer
               \(Virtual Folder Name)
                  \Namespace
                     \{785EE551-DEE1-4F57-A8C9-0EF76F346A29}

Where "Virtual Folder Name" can be one of

• MyComputer
• Desktop
• ControlPanel
• NetworkNeighborhood
• NetworkNeighborhood\EntireNetwork
• RemoteComputer

b) Create a folder named

My Custom NSE.{785EE551-DEE1-4F57-A8C9-0EF76F346A29}

c) Create a read-only system folder, create a desktop.ini file, and to it add:

[.ShellClassInfo]
CLSID={785EE551-DEE1-4F57-A8C9-0EF76F346A29}

---

You can also host the shell namespace extension in a separate copy of explorer:

%SystemRoot%\Explorer.exe /e,::{785EE551-DEE1-4F57-A8C9-0EF76F346A29}