I had the same problem, just download the registry file below and run it.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/bags8000.reg
Quote:
http://groups.google.co.nz/groups?q...TF-8&selm=ugTk9Qv2BHA.2048@tkmsftngp05&rnum=2
Hi Trevor,
I'm sorry to hear that you've experienced the type of frustration you've
detailed in your post.
I have setup hundreds of folders in a structure of 'Music Artist' and
within them 'Music Album' folders.
But every other day I will be using the system and discover that some
folders that I had previously setup the way I wanted have now reverted to
the standard 'All Documents' folder style. Or, I might find that some 'Music
Album' folders have now become 'Music Artist'. And then, worst of all I
will find some folders, often on a completely different Drive, that have
nothing to do with music and that I have never added any customization to,
will suddenly be displayed as 'Music Artist' with the folder view set to
'Thumbnail' for example.
The problems/behaviours you are encountering centre on the interaction
between two features, Folder Customization, which you know about, and Folder
Sniffing, which you might not know about. Folder Sniffing is a feature that
inspects the content of any previously unopened folder and based on the
dominant file type and quantity of files, presents the folder in one of the
templates used by Folder Customization. The information used by both of
these features is stored in the registry at
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
&
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam
Depending on the type of folder it is. Since data is stored on a "Most
Recently Used" basis, at any given time, it will only contain data for the
last 400 or so folders opened. If more information must be stored, the
oldest folder's data will be overwritten. At that point, since there is no
persisted data for that folder, if it were re-opened, a new "sniff" would
occur and the folder would be presented as determined by its dominant
content and quantity of files. The number of folders that can have data
stored for them can be manually set by create a new Value at the Shell and
ShellNoRoam Key. Create a new DWORD value called "BagMRU Size", and set it
to a number higher than 400, 1000 for example. Please note that this is
only meant to be done on Windows XP. It is not guaranteed to work on any
past or future release of Windows.
Basically I want to clean the whole lot out. If it will not work properly
then I would rather just remove it. Is there some straightforward way that I
can remove ALL the folder customizations from the system?
Removing all persisted data about folder settings can be accomplished by
going to an Explorer Window and going to the Tools - >Folder Options dialog,
selecting the View tab and clicking the "Reset All Folders" button. This
will wipe all stored folder settings data from the registry. This being
said, Folder Sniffing will take place on all folders opened at that point
since no persisted data exists now. There is no way to turn off Folder
Sniffing.
I would like to go back to a standard 'Documents of all file types' with a
'Detail' view for all my folders. Rather than continue with this
frustration.
You can make all folders use Details view by going into any folder and
changing the view to Details, bring up the Folder Options dialog and in the
View tab, click the "Apply to All Folders" button. All your folders should
now be in Details view. Your Tasks Pane will still be based on the dominant
file type.
I hope this answers your questions.
Fred Nava
Windows Shell Test Team
