When I replace the “local file browser configuration” node inside the component by a “string configuration” node the problem disappears as the full upper branch is now inactive, as it should be:
KNIME has two stages in which nodes are run: configuration and execution (yellow and green traffic light). I assume the issue here is that the configuration is run, even though the component is part of a disabled branch (and the configuration of the Local File Browser happens to fail).
I’ll pass this on to development to clarify whether this may be a bug or can be improved (while ensuring backwards compatibility), but for the time being, I believe you can work around this issue by connecting the nodes within the component to the disabled component input like so:
