With Remember Views unchecked the saved view for the first folder opened
applies to all subsequent folders. Not this still saves views but only reads
the first one.
Reset deletes all saved views (but not the index to them so Reset may not
fix problems but usually will).
If there is no saved view then content sniffing takes place.
This is a post I make about how to delete all settings. Read it carefully.
Delete these keys or values from the registry. This will reset many things
like saved folder settings.
Type Regedit in Start - Run
Click Start - Turn Off Computer (or maybe Shutdown) - Ctrl + Alt + Shift +
click Cancel (or Close) (your Desktop and Start Menu now disappear). This is
a clean shutdown unlike using Task Manager.
In Regedit navigate to each of these keys and delete them
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer and
delete the value
Shellstate
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Cabinet
State and delete the value
Settings
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams
MRU (may not exist)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags
[the above one is what reset deletes, 90% of the time it is sufficient but
10% of the time the BagMRU needs to be deleted too. If you know what cross
linked files are the same thing is happening here - the BagMRU point to the
wrong Bag or serveral BagMRU point to the same bag]
Then in Task Manager, File - Run type explorer. (Start menu and Desktop come
back).
You then need to reconfigure explorer and the desktop.
===================================================================
Understanding Saved Views and Browsing Folders
In Windows 2000 Professional, the view you use is not always permanently
saved in Windows Explorer. You can control whether the views you use are
saved permanently or temporarily by using the Remember each folder's view
settings check box on the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box (see
figure 9.3).
By default the Remember each folder's view settings option is enabled. When
you choose to leave this setting enabled, the following happens:
a.. The changes you make to a folder's view is automatically saved when
you close the folder.
b.. The view you use to view one folder is not applied to other folders.
c.. When you open a folder, it opens in the view you used when you last
viewed it.
When you clear the check box for Remember each folder's view settings, the
following happens:
a.. When you start Windows Explorer, the first folder you view displays in
the folder's saved view. Windows Explorer holds that view in temporary
memory and applies it to all the folders that you visit while Windows
Explorer remains open unless you manually alter the view.
b.. As you browse to other folders (after the initial folder is opened),
the saved view for each folder is ignored, and when you quit Windows
Explorer, the folder view that you have been using to view multiple folders
is deleted from temporary memory.
c.. The next time you open Windows Explorer, once again, it is the saved
view of the first folder you open that determines how you view multiple
folders.
Setting All Folders to the Same View
Some users want to have all their Windows Explorer folders set to the same
view. In Windows 2000 Professional, the default setting is that any change
made to a folder's view is automatically saved when you close the folder and
is not applied to other folders. However, you can set all folders to the
same view by using the Folder Options command as described in the following
procedure.
To set all folders to the same view
1.. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, set the view to your preference.
2.. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3.. In the Folder Options dialog box, click the View tab.
4.. Under Folder Views, click Like Current Folder.
Important The Remember each folder's view settings check box on the View tab
of the Folder Options dialog box (see Figure 9.3) affects how the view
settings of individual folders are applied and saved. For more information
about the impact of clearing this check box, see "Understanding Saved Views
and Browsing Folders" earlier in this chapter.
Windows 2000 Resource Kit
==========================================================================
And check
NoSaveSettings
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Data type Range Default value
REG_DWORD 0 | 1 0
Description
Prevents users from saving certain changes to the
desktop. Users can change the desktop, but some changes,
such as the positions of open windows and the size and
position of the taskbar, are not saved when users log
off. Shortcuts placed on the desktop are always saved.
This entry stores the setting of the Don't save settings
at exit Group Policy. Group Policy adds this entry to the
registry with a value of 1 when you enable the policy. If
you disable the policy or set it to Not configured, Group
Policy deletes the entry from the registry and the system
behaves as though the value is 0.
Value Meaning
0 (or not in registry) The policy is disabled or
not configured. Changes to the desktop are saved.
1 The policy is enabled. Some changes to the desktop are not saved.
Windows 2000 Resource Kit Reference
============================================================================
Saved folder settings are stored in BagMRU. Defaults and network/removable
drives are stored in Streams key (as everything was in earlier versions).
You have to do Apply To All while in a file folder.
For each type of object (File Folder, Control Panel, My Computer, etc) that
you do an Apply to All in it's clsid and the settings are created/updated at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams
\Defaults
{F3364BA0-65B9-11CE-A9BA-00AA004AE837} is ordinary folders, and other
numbers are what ever they are (My Comp, Control Panel, etc - note My Docs
is an ordinary folder). They only appear IF you do an apply to all in that
type of object.
as well as a higher set of defaults at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams
Settings=
So the point being in the order that you do things. You want to do your
overall default setting last. This is how I advised someone who asked
Can someone please tell me how to force Windows to keep
the seperate folder view settings I choose? I have
checked and rechecked the box in folder options for it to
remember, but it has no memory for that issue. To be more
specific; I want to always have the thumbnail view in My
Pictures and also in the Control Panel Dialog, but every
time I open them I have to manually set that view.
Set Control Panel how you want then Tools - View - Apply To All Folders.
This sets the global default and the Control Panel type of objects defaults
(but the system default remains the same - it can't be changed but all other
defaults/settings override it). Then go to an ordinary folder (as My Pics is
for this feature) and set it how you want all folders but CP. Then Tools -
View - Apply To All Folders. This sets the global default and the file
folder type of object defaults (CP's default settings will still override
the global). Then set My Pics how you want it and do nothing else as we are
saving it by the checkbox Remember Folder Settings AND BY THE PATH WE GOT
THERE. EG
Desktop\My Comp\C:\Documents & Settings\user name\My Docs\My Pics
is a different setting to
Desktop\My Comp\My Docs\My Pics
There is some searching for similar settings but the path used, if too
different, means it won't find the settings for similar named folders.
The system defaults (and saved settings for individual folders already
opened) are the only setting unless you've done an Apply To All, eg no
global or type defaults.
Plus if you hold down control and click close while in a file folder it also
updates
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Shellstate=
This is mainly setting irrelevent things except it holds the global sort,
which all the others override. But File Open dialog boxes only use this
setting, so it basically only affects sorting in File Open dialogs. But it
seems that sometimes an earlier windows versions setting get written here
and other settings then aren't saved
typedef struct {
BOOL fShowAllObjects:1;
BOOL fShowExtensions:1;
BOOL fNoConfirmRecycle:1;
BOOL fShowSysFiles:1;
BOOL fShowCompColor:1;
BOOL fDoubleClickInWebView:1;
BOOL fDesktopHTML:1;
BOOL fWin95Classic:1;
BOOL fDontPrettyPath:1;
BOOL fShowAttribCol:1;
BOOL fMapNetDrvBtn:1;
BOOL fShowInfoTip:1;
BOOL fHideIcons:1;
BOOL fWebView:1;
BOOL fFilter:1;
BOOL fShowSuperHidden:1;
BOOL fNoNetCrawling:1;
DWORD dwWin95Unused;
UINT uWin95Unused;
LONG lParamSort;
int iSortDirection;
UINT version;
UINT uNotUsed;
BOOL fSepProcess:1;
BOOL fStartPanelOn:1;
BOOL fShowStartPage:1;
UINT fSpareFlags:13;
} SHELLSTATE, *LPSHSHELLSTATE;
My original query requested a way to change the Tile view used as the
default in Windows Explorer. As of yet, no one has suggested a way to
do this. I was surprised see many discussion about or around this
topic when I searched the web and newsgroups, but no source provided
any solution to how one customizes to a mixture of Detail View and
Thumbnail View WITHOUT going thru the View menu for every individual
folder. For any substantial computer system, this is somewhere between
tedious and impractical. Even if one goes thru the process for each
folder, should it ever get reset back to the default, severe depression
would set in if on has lots of thumbnail directories (Like 5 years of
digital camera pictures).
In the hope I have overlooked some variation which could yield the
desired results, I will document my conclusion and at the end of this
message, the exact steps I went thru to reach them. [By the way, in
the Scenarios below, there are some apparent extra steps. I put these
in to maximize repeatability.]
Here are my conclusions:
1) With "Remember each Folder's view Settings" Unchecked, the
default view is Icon and changing the view for any folder changes the
view for ALL. (See Scenarios 1 & 4)
2) With "Remember each Folder's view Settings" Checked,
· Reset all Folders results in a context sensitive
default view (Senario 2) (which is pretty good if only it would use
Detail view instead of Tile view for non picture files.)
· Detail View can only be applied to individual folders
or All folders (Senario 3 & 5)
· AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, the Apply to all Subfolders
option in the Customize this Folder does not work. (Senerio 5)
Please feel free to correct me or suggest other alternatives.
Ram
Detail Process:
Scenario 1
1. OPEN Windows Explorer
2. Click Tool then Folder Options
3. Click Restore Defaults on General tab
4. On View tab, uncheck 'remember folder views"
5. Click Reset All Folders
6. Click Yes to Reset all folders dialog popup
7. Click Apply, then OK on Folder Options to close
8. Close Windows Explorer, then reopen
9. All folders display in icon view
10. Select folder (I'll call Pictures) which has lots of subfolders
(named by date) containing jpg files
11. Click View menu, then Customize this folder
12. On the Customize tab, select Pictures (best for many files) &
check the Also apply this template to all subfolders
13. Click apply. The picture folder and all subfolders now display in
thumbnail view
.... AS DOES EVERY OTHER FOLDER ON MY MULTIPLE HARD DRIVES!!!!
Definitely not what I wanted!!!
Scenario 2
1 to 9 Same as Scenario 1
9a. Click Tool then Folder Options & On View tab, CHECK "remember
folder views", click apply, then ok to close
10. Close Windows Explorer, then reopen
11. Folders/Files are displayed in a context sensitive fashion ...
some tiled, some filmstrip, some thumbnails ....
Scenario 3 ("Remember Folder View" checked)
1 to 11 Same as Scenario 2
12. Select a folder (I'll call Data) which has lots of subfolders by
application with diverse types of files presently displayed in Tile
13. Clicking View, then detail changes the specific folder (Data), but
none of the subfolders
13. Clicking View, then Customize this Folder does not offer a Detail
view in the drop down (the Documents selection displays Tile)
Note: Don't need to change any folders to thumbnail since they all
display in thumbnail already (see 11 in Scenario 2)
Scenario 4
1 to 9 Same as Scenario 1 ("Remember Folder View" unchecked)
10. Select Data Folder (see Scenario 3, step 12)
11. Click View, then Details - As in scenario 1 Data changes to detail
view, but so do all folders and subfolders everywhere
Scenario 5
All steps in Scenario 2. ("Remember Folder View" checked & in
"default View)
12. Select Data Folder (see Scenario 3, step 12)
13. Click View, then Details - (Data folder contents displays
details, but subfolders remain in Tile)
14. Click Tools, Folder Options, View, Apply to All folders -
Respond Yes to Popup
15. All Folders everywhere are now in Detail View.
16. Select Pictures folder (see Scenario 1, step 10) - currently
shown in Detail View
17. Click View, Customize This Folder
18. On the Customize tab, select Pictures (best for many files) &
check the Also apply this template to all subfolders - Click Apply &
Ok
19 The Pictures folder has changed to thumbnail, but the apply to
subfolders was ignored & all remain in detail view.
