How to enable drag tabs out of File Explorer on Windows 11

On Windows 11 build 25290 and higher releases, you can now turn on an option that enables the ability to drag a tab out of File Explorer to open a location in a new window.

The feature is still under development, and you can only drag out one tab from File Explorer (via @PhantomOcean3). You cannot select multiple taps with the “Ctrl” key to create a new window. In addition, once you create a new separate window, you cannot drag the tab back to the previous window like when using web browsers.

If you want to get hands-on with the new feature, you can use a third-party tool called “ViveTool” created by Rafael Rivera and Lucas on GitHub, to enable the option on your computer.

This guide will teach you the steps to turn on this new feature on Windows 11.

Enable drag tabs out of File Explorer on Windows 11

To drag tabs out of File Explorer to a separate window, use these steps:

1. Open GitHub website.

2. Download the ViveTool-vx.x.x.zip file to enable the tab drag-out feature.

3. Double-click the zip folder to open it with File Explorer.

4. Click the Extract all button.

   

5. Click the Extract button.

6. Copy the path to the folder.

7. Open Start.

8. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.

9. Type the following command to navigate to the ViveTool folder and press Enter:

   cd c:\folder\path\ViveTool-vx.x.x

   In the command, remember to change the path to the folder with your path.

10. Type the following command to enable the ability to drag tabs out of File Explorer and press Enter:

    vivetool /enable /id:39661369

11. Restart the computer.

Once you complete the steps, the next time you open multiple tabs on File Explorer, you will be able to drag tabs out to create a new window.

If you change your mind, you can revert the changes with the same instructions, but on step 10, make sure to use these commands: vivetool /disable /id:39661369 and then restart the device.