Empty Favorites Panel

[Alan Edwards]

Hi David

It is unclear if the value you show in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders is Favorites or Common Favorites.
If you have different Favorites in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, you must decide
which you really want and alter them accordingly.

Looking back, I cannot see that you have ever stated a problem as you
first came into this thread asking a question on hidden files.
Can you please state your exact problem?

....Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
http://dts-l.org/index.html

see below

On Sun, 16 Oct 2005 06:31:51 +1100, Alan Edwards

Re-ticked what?
If you mean Read-only then that is OK.

You said in an earlier post that the Registry settings were OK.
Can you export the two keys and supply the relevant part of the
export?

...Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
http://dts-l.org/index.html

read only is ticked
running xpsp1 and ie6xpsp2
from your earlier post you said there was only 1 key for xp

"For Windows 2000/XP:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders]
Set the Favorites path to : %USERPROFILE%\Favorites "

I've exported the file to your email address
many thanks

Yes, the export is correct but I didn't mean there was only one key
for XP.
XP still has the Shell Folders key like other operating systems.
What does that have in it?

Reg_SZ c:\Documents and Settings\DavidW\Favorites

(Don't worry about an export, just give the data for Favorites)

Just in case, you should also check for any equivalent keys in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. It is unlikely you will have Favorites in the
Shell Folders or User Shell Folders but it is worth checking.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders Common Favorites REG_EXPAND_SZ
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Favorites

and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders REG_SZ c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\ Favorites

David

 

[David M Wicker]

Hi David

It is unclear if the value you show in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders is Favorites or Common Favorites.
If you have different Favorites in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, you must decide
which you really want and alter them accordingly.

Looking back, I cannot see that you have ever stated a problem as you
first came into this thread asking a question on hidden files.
Can you please state your exact problem?

...Alan

Alan

My original post on the 13th Oct said:
"I'm on ie6 xpsp2
and also run avant (ie derived) and firefox

recently I updated the ff to c 1.07
my bookmarks in ff have remained unchanged, but in ie there is only a
very small amount of favourites

Fortunately I had a backup
imported it into ie and all's ok

except when I reboot, I'm back to almost no favorites in ie!
I've checked the reg settings as you say, and all seems to be ok
any idea what is happening and how to stop it?"

 

[Alan Edwards]

Alan

My original post on the 13th Oct said:
"I'm on ie6 xpsp2
and also run avant (ie derived) and firefox

recently I updated the ff to c 1.07
my bookmarks in ff have remained unchanged, but in ie there is only a
very small amount of favourites

Fortunately I had a backup
imported it into ie and all's ok

except when I reboot, I'm back to almost no favorites in ie!
I've checked the reg settings as you say, and all seems to be ok
any idea what is happening and how to stop it?"

Please clarify if it is Common Favorites or Favorites in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders
I am not familiar with Common Favorites but I assume only one favorite
folder can be used, so you may have to remove the Common Favorites
entries. Have you looked in the folder specified by Common Favorites
to see if it matches the "very small amount of favorites"?

....Alan

 

[David M Wicker]

see below

Please clarify if it is Common Favorites or Favorites in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders

common favorites

but the address is C:\Documents and Settings\All users\favorites

 

[Alan Edwards]

Please answer the other question.

It looks to me as though you must choose to stick with one favorites
location of the other as it looks like Common Favorites have taken
over.

Which one do you want?

....Alan

 

[David M Wicker]

Please answer the other question.

It looks to me as though you must choose to stick with one favorites
location of the other as it looks like Common Favorites have taken
over.

Which one do you want?

...Alan

I want the one that ie lets me import my bookmarks into
but keeps them permanently

 

[Guest]

I had same problem with two of four user accounts in xp home. I took a look
at the Favorites key in UserShellFolder for both of these problem users, and
size was REG_SZ, not REG_EXPAND_SZ. A simple change fixed both user
accounts favorites panes.

One question though, the administrator account, whose IE favorites pane has
always worked perfectly, has all usershellfolder keys set to %usersprofile%
(plural), while the other nonadministrator users are set to a singular
%userprofile%. Is this the way it is supposed to be?

Thanks for your fix.

You can change the value of Favorites in the Registry in these
two keys: (ignore the second if the value is not there)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders

For Windows 2000/XP:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders]
Set the Favorites path to : %USERPROFILE%\Favorites


The above should be a REG_EXPAND_SZ value, not REG_SZ


Ref: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFAQ.htm#favorites
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

....Alan
--
Alan Edwards, MS MVP Windows - Internet Explorer
http://dts-l.org/index.html

In the process of clicking around to update the Word normal.dot template, I
seem to have accidentally changed an obscure (to me) setting. Suddenly, the
Internet Explorer 6.0 Favorites panel displayed on the left side of the IE
screen is completely empty. I tried deactivating it and reactivating it via
View-Explorer Bar-Favorites. I tried closing and reopening IE. I tried
restarting the computer. Still nothing in the Favorites panel.

I tried to recreate one of the (now invisible) folders I sort Favorites
into, but the system will not allow it because it says a folder by that name
already exists. I checked, and there is indeed data in the Favorites folder
under Documents and Settings. So I exported and re-imported the Favorites.
Still nothing in the panel. Upon further checking, I see that if I click the
Add... button, all the invisible favorites are on the list (but not in the
panel itself), but if I click the Organize... button, none are shown.

I have not installed any new software recently, and everything was fine
until I started searching for normal.dot. No doubt it's some simple little
thing, but I have no clue where to look.

I'd appreciate any suggestions on what settings to check.

Thank you.

Ann