Delete Camera Roll, Saved Pictures & Captures folders

A personal computer is just that… personal. I really wish Microsoft would stop forcing us to utilize folders which we don’t specifically request. I say “we” because I have, and continue, to transfer files for many clients from old to new PC’s. You would be amazed at the number of empty folders (which Microsoft and others have automatically created over the years) which have accumulated and cluttered up client computers.

With Windows 10 and Windows 11, Microsoft has introduced three more folders, the “Camera Roll” and “Saved Pictures” within the Pictures folder and “Captures” within the Videos folder. Any attempts to delete these folders would be futile, they simply reappear the next time you open a photo or video file. The culprits generating these empty folders are the Microsoft Camera and Photo apps. These two apps continuously monitor for and recreate the Camera Roll, Saved Pictures, and Captures folders if they are missing.

In this article I will show you how to permanently remove these Windows 10 and Windows 11 default folders.

 

Delete the Camera Roll, Saved Pictures & Captures folders

The best way I have found to permanently remove these folders from my Windows file system is via the Windows Registry. However, it is not presently known if this will, eventually, cause issues. So, be sure to backup your Registry just in case you need to restore any entries. I’ve been running my computer with these edits in place since the beginning of 2020 without issue.

Open the Windows Registry program by clicking “Start” then type “regedit” and press “enter” on your keyboard. When the “User Account Control” window pops up, click “Yes”

Insert the following registry location into the address bar at the top, replacing what ever is presently there:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\

Then locate and remove the following keys:

• {3B193882-D3AD-4eab-965A-69829D1FB59F}
  • This is for the “Saved Pictures” folder within your Pictures folder.
• {AB5FB87B-7CE2-4F83-915D-550846C9537B}
  • This is for the “Camera Roll” folder within your Pictures folder.
• {EDC0FE71-98D8-4F4A-B920-C8DC133CB165}
  • This is for the “Captures” folder within your Videos folder.

Once the above registry keys have been removed you’ll want to manually remove those folders (one final time). You can then reboot and open the Windows Photo app to see that they do not automagically reappear.

Alternatively, you can download the removal registry editor script using the button below (at your own risk of course). Be sure to have a working backup, just in case. Again, manually remove the folders one final time and reboot to see that they do not reappear even after opening the Windows Photos app.

 

 

Optional Step

Those keys above also exist within the 64bit Windows Registry area. You may remove them from there as well, but I did not do this and I obtained the same result.

Insert the following registry location into the address bar at the top, replacing what ever is presently there:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\

• Then locate and remove the keys previously mentioned above.

Note

A note about the keys we are deleting; the following entry indicates the parent folder. In this case, it is my personal “Pictures” folder. The beginning “{33…” is the ID for my “Pictures” folder. Your ParentFolder ID may differ.

• “ParentFolder”=”{33E28130-4E1E-4676-835A-98395C3BC3BB}”
  • If the “ParentFolder” is “OneDrive” then this entry is fine.
• “RelativePath”=”Saved Pictures”
  • This is the folder we want to permanently delete!

Final Step

Once you’ve completed the necessary registry edits, simply delete the Camera Roll, Saved Pictures, and Captures folders for the final time within your file system. Then try accessing one of your photos or videos. Note that those default folders are not recreated. Woohoo!

 

Uninstall the Windows 10 Camera & Photos Apps

I don’t recommend this method of removing the Camera Roll, Saved Pictures, and Captures folders. However, it does achieve the desired result but will also require that you to set a new default program for viewing your photos. I found this particularly inconvenient since I actually like the newer, updated Microsoft Photos app as it provides several welcomed improvements.

Should you choose to proceed, here are the instructions for uninstalling both the Camera app and the Photos app. In case you need a new default photo app, I am also including instructions for accessing the hidden Windows 7 Windows Photo Viewer on Windows 10.

To remove the Camera app, locate and run the Windows 10 PowerShell command prompt by clicking “Start” then type “powershell” (Run as Administrator). Insert the following command:

• Get-AppxPackage *camera* | Remove-AppxPackage

To remove the Photos app, insert the following command:

• Get-AppxPackage *photos* | Remove-AppxPackage

Once those two apps have been successfully uninstalled, delete the Camera Roll, Saved Pictures, and Captures folders and reboot your PC. Then try accessing one of your photos or videos. Note that those default folders were not recreated. Woohoo!

 

Switch to Windows Photo Viewer

You’ll need to set a default Photo viewer app. If you have one you want to use, then set that up. Otherwise here is how you can switch back to the old Windows 7 Windows Photo Viewer app. Yes, it still exists within Windows 10. Save the following as a .reg file and double-click it to merge it into your Windows System Registry.

 

How to Reinstall Microsoft Photos App in Windows 10

Just in case you changed your mind and want to reinstall the Microsoft Photos app, here are the instructions for doing so.

To reinstall the Microsoft Photos apps, locate and run the Windows 10 PowerShell command prompt by clicking “Start” then type “powershell” (Run as Administrator). Insert the following command to get the Microsoft Photos app full Package ID.

• Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.Windows.Photos -allusers | select PackageFullName

Copy the full Photos Package ID provided, (example: “Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2020.19081.28230.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe” ), then run the command below replacing the Photos Package ID with the one you just obtained:

• Add-AppxPackage -register -DisableDevelopmentMode “C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2020.19081.28230.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppxManifest.xml”

The original Microsoft Photos app should now be reinstalled.

Another possible option would be to install the Microsoft Photos app by downloading it directly from Windows Store. Simply search for “Microsoft Photos“. However, some have reported that once it is removed via the PowerShell command prompt it will no longer appear within the Microsoft Store for the given user.

 

Conclusion

I hope this article on Removing the Camera Roll, Saved Pictures and Captures default folders from your computer was easy to follow and helpful. I welcome your thoughts, questions or suggestions regarding this article.

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Let me know if you found any errors within my article or if I may further assist you by answering any additional questions you may have.

 

Editors Note:

• This article was first published on April 29th, 2017 and was revised on Feb. 24th, 2020 to include instructions for removing these folders via the registry rather than by removing the built-in Microsoft Apps.
• This article was revised on August 24th, 2022 to include the fact that it also works on Windows 11. I also created a handy registry editor script to automagically remove those pesky registry entries.