Topic: All details, all the time!

[Bonk]

Sick of Vista's windows explorer giving "random" folder views?

DISCLAIMER: for advanced users, and I assume no liability if your system grows fur and starts giving birth to baby gerbils.

That said...

-1) Back up the relevant registry keys if you are wary.
0) Close any explorer windows you have open.
1) Delete the registry key: "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"
2) Create the key: "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell"
3) Create a string value in that key called "FolderType" with a value of "NotSpecified"
4) Log out
5) Log in and proceed to set your explorer view settings as you would have in XP (if needed - I did not have to, I now get my preferred details view by default all the time! Hurray!)

Enjoy increased productivity. 


edit: A more complete registry edit:

Code: [Select]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell]
"BagMRU Size"=dword:00004e20

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"FolderType"="NotSpecified"
Though I only followed the shorter process above and it seems to be working fine for me.

[Lepton]

Hmm, you can't just go to organize, folder options, view tab, click apply to folders?  Does that not work?  Seems to work for me.

[Bonk]

Hmm, you can't just go to organize, folder options, view tab, click apply to folders?  Does that not work?  Seems to work for me.

That worked in XP. But does not work in vista without this fix. There are 5 folder "templates" in vista, you must have sampled only one. If you "apply to all folders" to a sample of each of the 5 folder templates, then you will get the desired effect. I could not be bothered repeating the process multiple times, hoping to catch each and every template type.

Check the properties on a folder in vista, look at the customise tab, see the templates drop-down? You'd need to repeat the process for each template type, as from what I've read, the "apply to all folders" button now means "Apply to all folders OF THIS TYPE". Even so, I've seen reports of this approach failing and vista reverting to "random" folder views. Vista will change the folder type all by itself if the dominant file type in the folder changes (a possible explanation for the reversion to "random" views).

It might be a cripple factor in Vista Home Premium? Maybe it works in Ultimate? Stupid crippleware... 

I hate tiles! 

It is a classic case of MS trying to make things easy for the masses, but ending up totally screwing it up.

I want to see all files. Why the f would I want to customise folder views? This is just a bad extension of the desktop.ini file concept - but at least they've moved from files on disk contaminating everything to a user reg key.

I deal with thousands and thousands of files on a daily basis, gigantic tiles of code files are not very useful, I want to see the names, dates, sizes, owners and attributes for as many files as I can at once.

I can only conclude that Vista is designed for porn and mp3s. (Obviously this is what MS have concluded the masses are using their software for, and they would be right.)

[toasty0]

Hi Bonk. Great info. Just an fyi to let you know that Nem has created a thread and pinned it for just this type of info: http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163384648.0.html

Again, great tip!

[Nemesis]

Hi Bonk. Great info. Just an fyi to let you know that Nem has created a thread and pinned it for just this type of info: http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163384648.0.html

Again, great tip!

Credit where credit is due.  You created the thread I merely pinned it.