View Full Version : Windows Desktop Folders
The new laptop has an annoying habit of switching my desktop "keep the programmes tidy, by category" folders from Icons to Lists.
I know there's a way to tell it not to mess with them, but I can't remember what it is/was. The desktop behaves perfectly. Windows Explorer shows lists when in document and other folders, but keeps the desktop folders as icons.
'Tis Windows XP Pro SP2 on an IBM ThinkPad.
Can someone remind this forgetful old codger?
frostbite
11th Sep 2008, 21:35
Just guessing - select 'Classical Windows Display' ? Right click on desktop?
Saab Dastard
11th Sep 2008, 21:59
Here's a possible fix:
Users with many folders on their system might experience an annoying problem in Windows Vista which has already plagued many Windows XP users as well. Windows remembers by default the folder view settings of 200 local folders and 200 network folders initially. Windows Vista remembers 5000 folders which are usually enough for most users.
Some users have more than 5000 folders on their system and they will experience that the folder view is resetting itself whenever the limit is reached. It works like a first in first out cache once the limit has been reached.
Here is what you need to do to fix it (via Redmond Pie): Open the Windows Registry by pressing Windows R, typing in regedit and hitting enter. Now navigate to the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Classes \Local Settings \Software \Microsoft \Windows \Shell and create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it BagMRU Size. Double-click the entry and give it a value of 10000, double the default amount.
Work with your system for a while and see if all folder view settings are remembered. If it is not enough increase the number a second time to 15000 or even 20000. The same can be applied to Windows XP, the limit in XP seems to be 8000 though.
SD
TweakUi will do it for you, Keef
Thanks all!
It's not the number of folders: this is the laptop, which has relatively few - unless it's all those folders on the network. There's lots of those.
Off to have a peek at TweakUI. I'll report back.
TweakUIed from 400 to 5000 folders, and told it to remember each folder's view settings. That should do it, I hope.
Back to the Ubuntu pen-drive games now :( I thought the pen drive would work on any PC I plugged it into, but it doesn't look that way at the mo...
Nope, that didn't work. The folders on the lappie are all back to detailed text mode again.
The desktop's fine. Any other suggestions, anyone? The desktop clearly knows something. I know I "fixed" it but that was yonks ago and I've forgotten how.
I got the Ubuntu USB pen drive working - the desktop PC would boot from it OK, and I could collect mail and the like with it. It would add software. The laptop wasn't patient enough to wait for it to load its boot stuff.
Then it checked the Ubuntu site and found a new core, which it downloaded. That killed it stone dead.
The same tiny 4GB USB chip is installing Fedora 9 at the mo.
Loose rivets
14th Sep 2008, 03:29
Do you see any difference when you leave by the top right X as opposed to the File Exit?
Forgive the 'egg-sucking', Keef, but you have done 'Tools/Folder Options/View/apply to all folders' and you "told it to remember each folder's view settings" in the same panel? I am a little puzzled by the reference to the desktop as I have never seen anything other than icons on that. The XP default 'remember folder settings' is, I think, 400.
You place "keep the programmes tidy, by category" in quotes - I must either have a different machine or have missed that link. Where is it?
The desktop looks like this:
http://www.kirbycane.plus.com/keeftop.jpg
The folders Church, Comms, Financial, Flying etc have a dozen or so icons in each, to start programmes or open frequently-used documents. It's the way I like my desktop.
The laptop and the main PC are both that way.
Yes, I did set "remember each folder's view settings". It remembers them for a day or so, then dumps them back to list view. It's on Classic Folders.
Here's an example of a folder, working the way it should:
http://www.kirbycane.plus.com/keefflying.jpg
All suggestions gratefully received. It's not a bit deal, just an annoyance.
Saab Dastard
14th Sep 2008, 16:54
Have you searched the web for "remember each folder's view settings"?
SD
Have you searched the web for "remember each folder's view settings"?
I hadn't Googled it, but I did. I found a MS KB article about how to tweak the Registry for more than 200 folder layouts etc. Mine already had all those tweaks, set to 5000 - I did that via TweakUI, which is a lot easier than Regedit. Not that I need 5000 (200 might almost be enough).
In desperation,I changed the "default" format to icons (so all my detailed file lists are now in icons). That kept the icons OK on reboot, but the folders still resize themselves from the "convenient" size to almost full screen.
"Remember each folder's view settings" is turned on. I turned it off, rebooted, turned it on, reset, rebooted. Guess what :(
Now I'm convinced it's a bug in that laptop, cos the desktop behaves perfectly.
Well whaddaya know!
I realised that in the middle of turning the "each folder in its own window" off and then "on" again, I hadn't checked in the "middle" position.
The machine now has "each folder in its own window" NOT ticked, and it's behaving fine. For the moment, anyway.
Sounds like a switch wired backwards, doesn't it!
Saab Dastard
15th Sep 2008, 07:37
Understanding Windows Folder Views (from MS)
Managing Files, Folders, and Search Methods
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:
•The changes you make to a folder's view is automatically saved when you close the folder.
•The view you use to view one folder is not applied to other folders.
•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:
•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.
•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.
•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.
Does this make sense?
SD
Thanks, SD. That's exactly what I was expecting to happen.
The main PC (XP Pro SP2) has "remember ... settings" turned on, and the folders stay as I want them. The desktop folders open "sized" and with icons. The file list ones open in detailed list view. It doesn't matter what order I open them in, they always do the same.
The laptop (XP Pro SP2) didn't do that. Now I have set the switch the other way, it seems to. Can a software switch be wired the wrong way round?
Mind you, the laptop is doing a few other strange things, too. Skype always opens with a splash screen, and maximised despite the "trigger" saying /nosplash /minimized. Perhaps I should exorcise it ;)
frostbite
15th Sep 2008, 11:50
Water (whether holy or not) and laptops do not mix.