Folder views randomly changing

[Mark Bourne]

Using Explorer on Windows Vista Business, I've noticed that the folder
view settings keep randomly changing.

For example, one folder yesterday was set to "Details" view. Today, I
opened the folder and it is in "Tiles" view. The main "Computer" view
yesterday was "Tiles", grouped by drive type, today it is in "List view
and not grouped. I have also had some folders even randomly changing
type ("All Items", "Pictures and Videos", "Music Icons" etc.) This was
particularly annoying when it decided that the root of the C: drive was
a music folder, as there is no option to "Customise" this folder and put
it back to "All Items"!

I don't do anything to change the view of these folders, nor anything
which would affect the view of all folders (ie. clicking "Apply to
Folders" in the folder options).

Does anyone know why this happens, and what I can do to stop it
happening? I understand there are some registry keys which control this,
but I don't see why they would keep randomly changing like this.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Richard Urban]

Are you using any "system cleaner" such as CCleaner in the interim? If so.
you may be deleting the saved settings.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Mark Bourne]

Nope. All I've actually done is shutdown yesterday and start it up
today. Sometimes they change without even doing that. I come back to a
folder I was looking at earlier in the day, and it has a different view.

Antivirus software is Avast! 4.7 Home (I doubt that's relevant, but just
in case). All other such software (firewall, defender etc) is the
built-in Windows utilities. I don't have any third-party cleanup
utilities installed, so unless Windows is automatically running
something built-in, it's not happening.

Looking at Task Scheduler, there is an "LPRemove" task. I'm not sure
what it removes, as there is no description given, but it does seem to
be run several times each day. Author is listed as Microsoft Corporation.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Richard Urban]

Re-reading your original post I think that the folder view is just a result
of a more serious problem. Have you had this from the beginning - from the
first time you used Vista? Did Vista come on a new computer or did you
upgrade an older computer?

The fact that your root folders are changing their folder types worries me a
bit. If it were me, I would go back to a system image that I previously
created at a known good system state. But, many people do not image their
computers.

If I did not have an older good image to go back to, I would reinstall my
operating system from scratch.

This is all assuming that your hardware is up to snuff - RAM, CPU, video
etc.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Mark Bourne]

Re-reading your original post I think that the folder view is just a
result of a more serious problem. Have you had this from the beginning -
from the first time you used Vista? Did Vista come on a new computer or
did you upgrade an older computer?

It is a new laptop (just over a week old), which came with Vista
Business OEM and hardware drivers pre-installed. None of the other
mostly useless software etc which typically comes with an OEM install
though. This problem with folders has been happening from the beginning,
although I immediately installed all updates, anti-virus and other
software, so can't say for sure there was a problem before doing that.

I had previously installed a copy of Vista Business (free through
University) on an older laptop to experiment with, and found the same
happening on that, although that was failing hardware so I didn't bother
too much about it.

The fact that your root folders are changing their folder types worries
me a bit. If it were me, I would go back to a system image that I
previously created at a known good system state. But, many people do not
image their computers.

The root folder only changed type once, and I think that was actually on
the old machine. Several folders have seemingly randomly changed type on
the new machine though. On the new machine, system restore shows several
restore points going back to when I first got it. I'm not sure that
would help though, if it has actually been a problem from the start.

If I did not have an older good image to go back to, I would reinstall
my operating system from scratch.

I'll try that when I have time, unless I've found a fix by then.
Unfortunately I need to get coursework done at the moment, so can't
afford the time for a reinstall right now.

This is all assuming that your hardware is up to snuff - RAM, CPU, video
etc.

I'd hope so, since it's a new computer. Although there's always the
possibility of a problem. I'll contact the manufacturer if this could be
a sign of hardware problem.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

First & foremost:

'Organize' -> 'Folder & Search Options' -> 'View' tab (or Alt+T -> 'Folder
Options')

Make sure that 'Remember each folder's view settings is checked'

As for a specific folder forgetting it's view, folder views are unique based
on the namespace path to the folder -- the saved view for
'Desktop\UserName\Pictures' has no bearing on the view of
'Desktop\Computer\c:\Users\UserName\Pictures', it can remember different
view settings -- even use a different template. So make sure that's not the
cause of the discrepancy that you are seeing.

To obtain some consistency, you might want to consider using 'Apply to
Folders'. 'Apply to Folders' in Vista works on a per-template basis.
Different
defaults can be saved for 'All Items', 'Documents', 'Pictures & Video', etc.
You need to be sure of what template the current folder is using before
using 'Apply to Folders'.

This also means that the default will only be applied to folders of that
type.

As for over-zealous content-sniffing (forcing the Pictures template on a
folder), you can kill that with the following regedit. It will override
autosense & set the template for any folder without a saved view as 'All
Items'.

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.

--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

--------------------------------------------------

Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can clear
all saved views by deleting the

"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"

key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.

 

[cvp]

Just so you don't feel alone, I have the same problem. I've had it with RC2
and clean installs of the release on multiple machines. I set all folders to
the preferred view but it's as if a random generator decides what view I'll
get this time. I don't have it on the root folder. I've just assumed that
it's a bug (annoying) that will be fixed eventually.

 

[cvp]

Now that is useful! I hadn't realized that each folder TYPE had different
default views and apparently (or because of that)different setting for
"Remember. each folder's view settings'.

First & foremost:

'Organize' -> 'Folder & Search Options' -> 'View' tab (or Alt+T -> 'Folder
Options')

Make sure that 'Remember each folder's view settings is checked'

As for a specific folder forgetting it's view, folder views are unique
based
on the namespace path to the folder -- the saved view for
'Desktop\UserName\Pictures' has no bearing on the view of
'Desktop\Computer\c:\Users\UserName\Pictures', it can remember different
view settings -- even use a different template. So make sure that's not
the
cause of the discrepancy that you are seeing.

To obtain some consistency, you might want to consider using 'Apply to
Folders'. 'Apply to Folders' in Vista works on a per-template basis.
Different
defaults can be saved for 'All Items', 'Documents', 'Pictures & Video',
etc.
You need to be sure of what template the current folder is using before
using 'Apply to Folders'.

This also means that the default will only be applied to folders of that
type.

As for over-zealous content-sniffing (forcing the Pictures template on a
folder), you can kill that with the following regedit. It will override
autosense & set the template for any folder without a saved view as 'All
Items'.

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.

--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

--------------------------------------------------

Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders
that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can
clear
all saved views by deleting the

"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"

key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Using Explorer on Windows Vista Business, I've noticed that the folder
view settings keep randomly changing.

For example, one folder yesterday was set to "Details" view. Today, I
opened the folder and it is in "Tiles" view. The main "Computer" view
yesterday was "Tiles", grouped by drive type, today it is in "List view
and not grouped. I have also had some folders even randomly changing type
("All Items", "Pictures and Videos", "Music Icons" etc.) This was
particularly annoying when it decided that the root of the C: drive was a
music folder, as there is no option to "Customise" this folder and put it
back to "All Items"!

I don't do anything to change the view of these folders, nor anything
which would affect the view of all folders (ie. clicking "Apply to
Folders" in the folder options).

Does anyone know why this happens, and what I can do to stop it
happening? I understand there are some registry keys which control this,
but I don't see why they would keep randomly changing like this.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Adam Albright]

I'd hope so, since it's a new computer. Although there's always the
possibility of a problem. I'll contact the manufacturer if this could be
a sign of hardware problem.

How folders display their contents has NOTHING to do with your RAM or
CPU, that's absurd for anyone to suggest that.

Have you gone to Control Panel, Folder Options and under the View tab
checked to be sure "Remember each folder's view settings" is checked?

For what it is worth over the years I've seen Windows' Explorer do all
kinds of goofy things including change folder settings on it's own for
no apparant reason. Now it has learned a new trick in Vista. In spite
of me setting things up to show some special details you can pick
under more... it will sometimes "forget" to show these added
categories.

Worse, I set up a single "download" folder that's not on my root
drive. This is the place anything I download or get sent to me first
ends up. So this folder can contain simple text files, PDF files, Word
documents, spreadsheets, still images of every possible file type, Mp3
files, video files, attachments, anything. I have this file set to
show details. Normally it sticks. However if I clean this folder out
so nothing remains as I do daily moving or discarding files to their
more appropriate place, if I then happen to receive or download some
files of a type that Windows normally likes to set up a different
folder view with by default it sometimes, but not always, will change
the view to show thumbnails overriding my details setting, if for
example if all that's left in the folder is 4 or 5 still images. Makes
no sense why. Most likely just another yet unfixed Windows bug.

 

[Mark Bourne]

First & foremost:

'Organize' -> 'Folder & Search Options' -> 'View' tab (or Alt+T ->
'Folder Options')

Make sure that 'Remember each folder's view settings is checked'

Yes - that is checked.

As for a specific folder forgetting it's view, folder views are unique
based
on the namespace path to the folder -- the saved view for
'Desktop\UserName\Pictures' has no bearing on the view of
'Desktop\Computer\c:\Users\UserName\Pictures', it can remember different
view settings -- even use a different template. So make sure that's not
the
cause of the discrepancy that you are seeing.

I don't think that's the cause, but will look out for it from now on. I
do sometimes navigate from shortcuts to "Computer", "C:\",
"C:\Users\Mark\Documents", or "Desktop\Mark", so it could depend on
which route I take.

To obtain some consistency, you might want to consider using 'Apply to
Folders'. 'Apply to Folders' in Vista works on a per-template basis.
Different
defaults can be saved for 'All Items', 'Documents', 'Pictures & Video',
etc.
You need to be sure of what template the current folder is using before
using 'Apply to Folders'.

I have already done that, and it does fix changed views but not changed
types. The problem is not always that the view is changing, but
sometimes even the folder type/template changes.

This also means that the default will only be applied to folders of that
type.

As for over-zealous content-sniffing (forcing the Pictures template on a
folder), you can kill that with the following regedit. It will override
autosense & set the template for any folder without a saved view as 'All
Items'.

Thanks - I'll try that. Although some folders I have previously viewed
and seen with the "All Items" template (I haven't set this template -
it's just detected as that), and later come back to and found they have
a different template (usually "Music Details" if it has changed). Is the
automatic decision cached? Or is it only manually set templates which
are saved, in which case maybe it is reasonable that it could make a
different decision another time?

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.

--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

--------------------------------------------------

Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders
that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can clear
all saved views by deleting the

"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"

key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Mark Bourne]

Now that is useful! I hadn't realized that each folder TYPE had
different default views and apparently (or because of that)different
setting for "Remember. each folder's view settings'.

I'd picked up on that one a while back from browsing these forums. As I
understand it...

With "Remember each folder's view settings" checked, the view of each
individual folder is remembered.

When you click "Apply to folders" (in Folder Options > View) the current
folder's view is applied to all folders the same type. Hence doing this
for a folder under C:\ProgramData (an "All Items" folder) will affect
the view of C:\Program Files (another "All Items" folder) but not your
Documents (a "Documents" folder).

The problem I've been having is that these views don't seem to stick,
and even the type of folders seems to change, apparently at random. As
you and Adam have suggested, it may just be one of those annoying bugs
which will hopefully be fixed. I just posted here to find out if there
could be another reason for it, which may be fixable. I'll try Keith's
registry hacks when I have time, and see how that goes.

Mark.

 

[Guest]

Using Explorer on Windows Vista Business, I've noticed that the folder
view settings keep randomly changing.

For example, one folder yesterday was set to "Details" view. Today, I
opened the folder and it is in "Tiles" view. The main "Computer" view
yesterday was "Tiles", grouped by drive type, today it is in "List view
and not grouped. I have also had some folders even randomly changing
type ("All Items", "Pictures and Videos", "Music Icons" etc.) This was
particularly annoying when it decided that the root of the C: drive was
a music folder, as there is no option to "Customise" this folder and put
it back to "All Items"!

I don't do anything to change the view of these folders, nor anything
which would affect the view of all folders (ie. clicking "Apply to
Folders" in the folder options).

Does anyone know why this happens, and what I can do to stop it
happening? I understand there are some registry keys which control this,
but I don't see why they would keep randomly changing like this.

Thanks,
Mark.

ditto

My folder views change all the time. I tried setting them all to the same
view (detail) but they are always changing. Even detail view changes. It will
use different columns and rearrange them to the point that the folder doesn't
even look likes it's in detail view. BUGGY

 

[Guest]

First & foremost:

'Organize' -> 'Folder & Search Options' -> 'View' tab (or Alt+T -> 'Folder
Options')

Make sure that 'Remember each folder's view settings is checked'

As for a specific folder forgetting it's view, folder views are unique based
on the namespace path to the folder -- the saved view for
'Desktop\UserName\Pictures' has no bearing on the view of
'Desktop\Computer\c:\Users\UserName\Pictures', it can remember different
view settings -- even use a different template. So make sure that's not the
cause of the discrepancy that you are seeing.

THEN WHAT GOOD IS THE OPTION TO SET ALL FOLDER TO CURRENT VIEW IF IT ISN"T
GOING TO LISTEN?!

Stupid VISTA

To obtain some consistency, you might want to consider using 'Apply to
Folders'. 'Apply to Folders' in Vista works on a per-template basis.
Different
defaults can be saved for 'All Items', 'Documents', 'Pictures & Video', etc.
You need to be sure of what template the current folder is using before
using 'Apply to Folders'.

I just want a stinking DETAIL view for EVERYTHING how is that done?

This also means that the default will only be applied to folders of that
type.

As for over-zealous content-sniffing (forcing the Pictures template on a
folder), you can kill that with the following regedit. It will override
autosense & set the template for any folder without a saved view as 'All
Items'.

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.

--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

--------------------------------------------------

Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can clear
all saved views by deleting the

"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"

key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Using Explorer on Windows Vista Business, I've noticed that the folder
view settings keep randomly changing.

For example, one folder yesterday was set to "Details" view. Today, I
opened the folder and it is in "Tiles" view. The main "Computer" view
yesterday was "Tiles", grouped by drive type, today it is in "List view
and not grouped. I have also had some folders even randomly changing type
("All Items", "Pictures and Videos", "Music Icons" etc.) This was
particularly annoying when it decided that the root of the C: drive was a
music folder, as there is no option to "Customise" this folder and put it
back to "All Items"!

I don't do anything to change the view of these folders, nor anything
which would affect the view of all folders (ie. clicking "Apply to
Folders" in the folder options).

Does anyone know why this happens, and what I can do to stop it happening?
I understand there are some registry keys which control this, but I don't
see why they would keep randomly changing like this.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Bruce Jacobs]

I do not see how this could be a security issue. If so let me know but I am
making a global change here.

Try this and see if you like this better:

As an admin account browse to the top of the drive (C
'Organize' -> 'Folder & Search Options' -> 'View' tab
UNCHECK 'Remember each folder's view settings'
Set to details
apply/save
'Organize' -> 'Folder & Search Options' -> 'View' tab -> Apply to all
folders

Now almost everything in c: should show as details.

I think if you want to you can set the remember setting back and they will
stay details except where you change them to something else.

First & foremost:

'Organize' -> 'Folder & Search Options' -> 'View' tab (or Alt+T ->
'Folder
Options')

Make sure that 'Remember each folder's view settings is checked'

As for a specific folder forgetting it's view, folder views are unique
based
on the namespace path to the folder -- the saved view for
'Desktop\UserName\Pictures' has no bearing on the view of
'Desktop\Computer\c:\Users\UserName\Pictures', it can remember different
view settings -- even use a different template. So make sure that's not
the
cause of the discrepancy that you are seeing.

THEN WHAT GOOD IS THE OPTION TO SET ALL FOLDER TO CURRENT VIEW IF IT ISN"T
GOING TO LISTEN?!

Stupid VISTA

To obtain some consistency, you might want to consider using 'Apply to
Folders'. 'Apply to Folders' in Vista works on a per-template basis.
Different
defaults can be saved for 'All Items', 'Documents', 'Pictures & Video',
etc.
You need to be sure of what template the current folder is using before
using 'Apply to Folders'.

I just want a stinking DETAIL view for EVERYTHING how is that done?

This also means that the default will only be applied to folders of that
type.

As for over-zealous content-sniffing (forcing the Pictures template on a
folder), you can kill that with the following regedit. It will override
autosense & set the template for any folder without a saved view as 'All
Items'.

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.

--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

--------------------------------------------------

Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders
that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can
clear
all saved views by deleting the

"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"

key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Using Explorer on Windows Vista Business, I've noticed that the folder
view settings keep randomly changing.

For example, one folder yesterday was set to "Details" view. Today, I
opened the folder and it is in "Tiles" view. The main "Computer" view
yesterday was "Tiles", grouped by drive type, today it is in "List view
and not grouped. I have also had some folders even randomly changing
type
("All Items", "Pictures and Videos", "Music Icons" etc.) This was
particularly annoying when it decided that the root of the C: drive was
a
music folder, as there is no option to "Customise" this folder and put
it
back to "All Items"!

I don't do anything to change the view of these folders, nor anything
which would affect the view of all folders (ie. clicking "Apply to
Folders" in the folder options).

Does anyone know why this happens, and what I can do to stop it
happening?
I understand there are some registry keys which control this, but I
don't
see why they would keep randomly changing like this.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Mark Bourne]

THEN WHAT GOOD IS THE OPTION TO SET ALL FOLDER TO CURRENT VIEW IF IT ISN"T
GOING TO LISTEN?!

They above is about how each *individual* folder's view is remembered,
not about setting all folders to the current view. As I understand it,
when you set all folders OF THE SAME TYPE to the current view, it should
clear any settings remembered per-folder.

The bit that seems to keep tripping people up (understandably, as the
change isn't exactly obvious) is that the button which used to set ALL
folders to the current view now only sets all folders OF THE SAME TYPE
to the current view. And who actually carefully reads the text next to a
button they've been using for the last 7 years?

That, however, isn't the problem I'm having. The problem I have is that
the view or even type of individual folders keeps changing, apparently
at random, without me doing anything to change it. Maybe because of the
namespace path thing Keith mentioned, but I don't think that is it.
Maybe the content-sniffing, and I'll be trying the registry hack Keith
suggested to stop that.

Stupid VISTA

I just want a stinking DETAIL view for EVERYTHING how is that done?

Find a folder of each type (or use one folder and change it to each type
in turn), change its view and apply to all folders of that type. By
default, detail view for "Documents" contains different columns than
detail view for "All Items" etc., so you might want to change the
columns to what you want as well before applying to all similar folders.
Maybe there's an easier way, but there's only 5 different types to change.

If you don't want the view of individual folders remembered, you may
also want to turn OFF the option to "remember each folder's view settings".

This also means that the default will only be applied to folders of that
type.

As for over-zealous content-sniffing (forcing the Pictures template on a
folder), you can kill that with the following regedit. It will override
autosense & set the template for any folder without a saved view as 'All
Items'.

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.

--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

--------------------------------------------------

Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can clear
all saved views by deleting the

"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"

key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Using Explorer on Windows Vista Business, I've noticed that the folder
view settings keep randomly changing.

For example, one folder yesterday was set to "Details" view. Today, I
opened the folder and it is in "Tiles" view. The main "Computer" view
yesterday was "Tiles", grouped by drive type, today it is in "List view
and not grouped. I have also had some folders even randomly changing type
("All Items", "Pictures and Videos", "Music Icons" etc.) This was
particularly annoying when it decided that the root of the C: drive was a
music folder, as there is no option to "Customise" this folder and put it
back to "All Items"!

I don't do anything to change the view of these folders, nor anything
which would affect the view of all folders (ie. clicking "Apply to
Folders" in the folder options).

Does anyone know why this happens, and what I can do to stop it happening?
I understand there are some registry keys which control this, but I don't
see why they would keep randomly changing like this.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Adam Albright]

They above is about how each *individual* folder's view is remembered,
not about setting all folders to the current view. As I understand it,
when you set all folders OF THE SAME TYPE to the current view, it should
clear any settings remembered per-folder.

It boils down to Microsoft again showing it's arrogance and imposing
what it thinks is right, overriding what the user actually wants. This
is exhibited by some offering a Registry hack to prevent Vista from
doing what it wants to do by default. This is an ABSURD "solution" to
suggest you must fiddle with some Registry hack just to get Windows to
do what you want it to do in the way of presenting folder views.

Microsoft still hasn't learned a simple and important lesson. It is MY
computer, and I GET TO SET IT UP the way I want it to work, not how
Microsoft thinks it should behave. We see the biggest example of
Microsoft arrogance in their useless UAC implementation foced upon us.

What always infurates users of Windows is the mindless maze of
"controls" which often act other than expected or act differently
depending on how they're accessed which again makes little sense.

How Explorer displays folder contents is a good example of how
Microsoft dropped the ball and instead of offering s simple, clean
interface where you can easily set folders to show how YOU WANT THEM
TO SHOW globally, it uses a maze of templates which may or may not
undo what you want. The laughbable part is to do it this way no doubt
adds hundreds if not thousands of lies of code that further adds to
Windows' bloat which is often the underlying problem for all the dumb
things Windows does and how long it takes to do them.

What's sure to anger the fan boys club is a famous quote from Bill
Gates himself: "If you can't make it good, at least make it look
good.”

That is the singular guiding principle behind Windows and the fan boys
know it, which is why they quickly get pissed off when anybody points
out flaws in Windows which are everywhere, hiding under the "pretty"
Vista face. Eveybody knows Windows is broken, has been from the start,
the fan boys say so what, live with it or use something else. I expect
more. I'm simply saying Microsoft should be held accountable.

 

[Guest]

They above is about how each *individual* folder's view is remembered,
not about setting all folders to the current view. As I understand it,
when you set all folders OF THE SAME TYPE to the current view, it should
clear any settings remembered per-folder.

The bit that seems to keep tripping people up (understandably, as the
change isn't exactly obvious) is that the button which used to set ALL
folders to the current view now only sets all folders OF THE SAME TYPE
to the current view. And who actually carefully reads the text next to a
button they've been using for the last 7 years?

Yeah I noticed that yesterday But I don't want "types" either I just want a
folder to open and have file names in detail view FOR ALL OF MY FOLDERS
Is there a place to set the "types" to a default view?

I can't tell if they are really changing until I can set them all.
Where does it say in a folder what type you are viewing? How do I know when
a folder is of a different "type" ? How many types are there? etc etc.
Why would they make something so simple so complicated? ;-)

That, however, isn't the problem I'm having. The problem I have is that
the view or even type of individual folders keeps changing, apparently
at random, without me doing anything to change it. Maybe because of the
namespace path thing Keith mentioned, but I don't think that is it.
Maybe the content-sniffing, and I'll be trying the registry hack Keith
suggested to stop that.

Stupid VISTA

I just want a stinking DETAIL view for EVERYTHING how is that done?

Find a folder of each type (or use one folder and change it to each type
in turn), change its view and apply to all folders of that type. By
default, detail view for "Documents" contains different columns than
detail view for "All Items" etc., so you might want to change the
columns to what you want as well before applying to all similar folders.
Maybe there's an easier way, but there's only 5 different types to change.

If you don't want the view of individual folders remembered, you may
also want to turn OFF the option to "remember each folder's view settings".

This also means that the default will only be applied to folders of that
type.

As for over-zealous content-sniffing (forcing the Pictures template on a
folder), you can kill that with the following regedit. It will override
autosense & set the template for any folder without a saved view as 'All
Items'.

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.

--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

--------------------------------------------------

Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can clear
all saved views by deleting the

"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"

key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Using Explorer on Windows Vista Business, I've noticed that the folder
view settings keep randomly changing.

For example, one folder yesterday was set to "Details" view. Today, I
opened the folder and it is in "Tiles" view. The main "Computer" view
yesterday was "Tiles", grouped by drive type, today it is in "List view
and not grouped. I have also had some folders even randomly changing type
("All Items", "Pictures and Videos", "Music Icons" etc.) This was
particularly annoying when it decided that the root of the C: drive was a
music folder, as there is no option to "Customise" this folder and put it
back to "All Items"!

I don't do anything to change the view of these folders, nor anything
which would affect the view of all folders (ie. clicking "Apply to
Folders" in the folder options).

Does anyone know why this happens, and what I can do to stop it happening?
I understand there are some registry keys which control this, but I don't
see why they would keep randomly changing like this.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Eric]

I can't tell if they are really changing until I can set them all.

Where does it say in a folder what type you are viewing? How do I know
when
a folder is of a different "type" ? How many types are there? etc etc.
Why would they make something so simple so complicated? ;-)

When you're in a folder, right-click anywehre in the white area and click
"Customize". The current type is listed in the drop-down menu and you're
free to change it to anything you want. You can also apply the template
type to subfolders. You can also get to the "Customize" tab from within the
properties of any folder.


Eric

 

[Mark Bourne]

Yeah I noticed that yesterday But I don't want "types" either I just want a
folder to open and have file names in detail view FOR ALL OF MY FOLDERS
Is there a place to set the "types" to a default view?

Keith's registry hack (if you delete the key he mentioned first) seems
to set most, if not all, folders to "All Items". Even Documents,
Pictures, etc were set to "All Items" rather than their default when I
tried it.

I can't tell if they are really changing until I can set them all.
Where does it say in a folder what type you are viewing? How do I know when
a folder is of a different "type" ?

Open the folder, and either:
- right click in and empty space and select "Customize This Folder"
- click "Organize", then "Properties" and select the "Customize" tab
- if you have the menus shown, View > Customize This Folder
You can then see and change the template used for the current folder.

How many types are there?

5 for most folders - All Items, Documents, Pictures and Videos, Music
Details, Music Icons. It seems that an additional "Contacts" template is
available when you are in your contacts folder. I'm not sure what's
special about this folder that makes the extra template visible, nor if
any other folders have a similar feature.

etc etc.
Why would they make something so simple so complicated? ;-)

I guess they're trying to make it easy to apply different views to
folders containing different types of content. eg. you may want a
thumbnail view when browsing photos, but details view when looking at
documents. Like you, I've previously always had everything in details
view, but I can see the advantage of the "Pictures" folder showing
thumbnails etc. Personally, I'm not sure if I like it or not either yet.
I might start liking it more if it didn't keep randomly changing the
views ;o) I've yet to see if the registry hack has fixed that.

I was also thinking it might also be nice if I could define my own
templates rather than being stuck with the 5 provided, and delete the
ones I don't use (maybe all except "All Items" in your case). Then
again, maybe that is possible and I just don't know how...

That, however, isn't the problem I'm having. The problem I have is that
the view or even type of individual folders keeps changing, apparently
at random, without me doing anything to change it. Maybe because of the
namespace path thing Keith mentioned, but I don't think that is it.
Maybe the content-sniffing, and I'll be trying the registry hack Keith
suggested to stop that.

Stupid VISTA
To obtain some consistency, you might want to consider using 'Apply to
Folders'. 'Apply to Folders' in Vista works on a per-template basis.
Different
defaults can be saved for 'All Items', 'Documents', 'Pictures & Video', etc.
You need to be sure of what template the current folder is using before
using 'Apply to Folders'.

I just want a stinking DETAIL view for EVERYTHING how is that done?

Find a folder of each type (or use one folder and change it to each type
in turn), change its view and apply to all folders of that type. By
default, detail view for "Documents" contains different columns than
detail view for "All Items" etc., so you might want to change the
columns to what you want as well before applying to all similar folders.
Maybe there's an easier way, but there's only 5 different types to change.

If you don't want the view of individual folders remembered, you may
also want to turn OFF the option to "remember each folder's view settings".

This also means that the default will only be applied to folders of that
type.

As for over-zealous content-sniffing (forcing the Pictures template on a
folder), you can kill that with the following regedit. It will override
autosense & set the template for any folder without a saved view as 'All
Items'.

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.

--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

--------------------------------------------------

Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can clear
all saved views by deleting the

"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"

key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Using Explorer on Windows Vista Business, I've noticed that the folder
view settings keep randomly changing.

For example, one folder yesterday was set to "Details" view. Today, I
opened the folder and it is in "Tiles" view. The main "Computer" view
yesterday was "Tiles", grouped by drive type, today it is in "List view
and not grouped. I have also had some folders even randomly changing type
("All Items", "Pictures and Videos", "Music Icons" etc.) This was
particularly annoying when it decided that the root of the C: drive was a
music folder, as there is no option to "Customise" this folder and put it
back to "All Items"!

I don't do anything to change the view of these folders, nor anything
which would affect the view of all folders (ie. clicking "Apply to
Folders" in the folder options).

Does anyone know why this happens, and what I can do to stop it happening?
I understand there are some registry keys which control this, but I don't
see why they would keep randomly changing like this.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Mark Bourne]

As for over-zealous content-sniffing (forcing the Pictures template on a
folder), you can kill that with the following regedit. It will override
autosense & set the template for any folder without a saved view as 'All
Items'.

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.

--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

--------------------------------------------------

Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders
that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can clear
all saved views by deleting the

"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"

key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.

I deleted the "...\Shell\Bags" key, and then set FolderType=NotSpecified
for AllFolders (as above). This does seem to have stopped the content
detection choosing a template for folders. I then set one of the "All
Items" folders up as I wanted it to appear (details view), and applied
to all other folders of that type.

One particular folder (C:\Users\Mark\Documents\Uni\Year4) was fine
yesterday, in details view. Today I went to that folder, through exactly
the same sequence as yesterday (so no problems with navigating from
Desktop vs Computer) and it was in Tiles view, grouped by type. It was
still an "All Items" folder, so the folder type hadn't changed (I never
put my Documents back to the Documents template after modifying the
registry, since I don't want them to have a different view).

So the views still seem to be liable to change apparently at random...