To reproduce: public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); radGridView1.Columns.Add("Id"); radGridView1.Columns.Add("ParentID"); radGridView1.Columns.Add("Name"); radGridView1.Relations.AddSelfReference(radGridView1.MasterTemplate, "Id", "ParentID"); for (int id = 1; id <= 3; id++) { radGridView1.MasterTemplate.Rows.Add(id, 0, "Node_" + id); for (int iChild = 1; iChild <= 5; iChild++) { int childId = id * 100 + iChild; radGridView1.MasterTemplate.Rows.Add(childId, id, "ChildNode_" + childId); } } foreach (GridViewHierarchyRowInfo row in this.radGridView1.Rows) { row.IsExpanded = true; } }