How to re-enable the "Expand to Open Folder" option?

It worked for me as well, thanks for the tip.

Little warning: on some setups, like mine, activating the "Show all folders" checkbox in Folder Options has the effect to prevent sorting the Quick Access folders by drag & drop (which is the only way). So do not be surprised if you activate the option, and the workaround is simple. Just untick the option, move your Quick Access folder(s), then tick it back.

Just tried that and it does work ... as a work-around. So, this also again proves that Microsoft broke something in an update.

I've discovered a workaround. If you ALSO enable the "Show all folders" checkbox in Folder Options, it'll make "Expand to Open Folder" actually work.

Of course, this floods your Navigation pane with a dozen worthless folders that I don't know how to hide, but until (unless...) this bug is fixed, it's a price of annoyance that I'm willing to pay.

Yes, it appears that many people are having this issue, as am I. This problem exists on all 4 of my Windows 11 machine, and it also happens if I download a new Windows 11 ISO and run an instance in a Virtual Machine. This is definitely an issue that Microsoft caused as they added/corrected some other function of the Windows Explorer.

Reading the www for hours :

• Update 22H2 is the culprit. Some systems are affected, some are not.
• Only folders behind C:\Users\USERNAME\ are affected.
• I did launch all possible "solutions" (sfc scan, repair windows image, etc...) but that did not help.
• Work-arounds are available (3rd party file manager, option "show all folders", playing with libraries/shortcuts, whatever....) Unfortunately, these do not make life easier !

Ctrl+Shift+E will temporarily restore your left tree, but this tree is not "updated" when moving folders in the right pane - pretty useless to me.

VERY ANNOYING !!!!

Hope someone will find a decent solution....

Bright spot : there are A LOT of people having this same problem.