Is it Possible to Lock Windows Folder Settings? >> David Candy (registry tweaking)

"David Candy" wrote:

Set up how you want it then reboot then turn off Remember each
folders view settings. The existing settings are used and
contimnue to be used but for the first folder opened. Or read
the last section of this post and think of the order you do
the Apply To All in.

EG If My Comp is Icons and Control Panel is thumbnails and
you open a window on My Comp all folders viewed with that
window will be icons. If you open a window on Control Panel
then all are thumbnails.


Hi David, I have just caught up with this very interesting post
which you made a couple of weeks ago.

I have been customizing my XP Pro and using lots of registry
tweaks and as a result my folders forget *some* of their
settings. The folder manage to remember the POSITION and SIZE
and SHAPE of their window.

But the folders forget settings to do with displaying the ADDRESS
BAR, BUTTONS and STATUS BAR.

I can confirm I have marked the check box "Remember Each Folder's
View Settings" under Advanced Settings on the View tab of Folder
Options in Control Panel. But XP behaves exactly in the way you
describe it when that box is *not* checked.

How can I fix this problem?

As a repair, I followed all of the steps you posted. For
convenience I quote your steps below this message.

In addition to your steps, I have done what is in MSKB article
813711, "Your View Settings or Customizations For a Folder are
Lost or Incorrect" . and so I increased the two entries for
'BagMRU Size' to a very large value of 18000.

(I figure have 4,000 folders on the C partition and about the
same on the D partiton and even more on some other partitions all
attached at the same time.)

None of this works. My folders still behave as if I have not
checked the 'Remember Each Folder's View Settings'. Could the
entry in the registry for this very checkbox itself be corrupted?
In other words, this setting is not properly being read as
"checked"?

What should I do to solve this?

Can anyone else here advise me on this problem?

Thanks in advance for any help.


Maerko




-------- STEPS FOLLOWED (QUOTING DAVID'S TEXT) -------------

The store may be corrupt. Type regedit in Start Run and delete
all these keys.

Delete these keys or values from the registry. This will reset
many things like saved folder settings. Type Regedit in Start -
Run. Right click taskbar and choose Task Manager. Processes
tab and end processs for explorer. (Your Desktop and Start Menu
now disappears).

In Regedit navigate to each of these keys and delete them:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\
Explorer and delete the value Shellstate

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\
Explorer\CabinetState and delete the value Settings

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\
Explorer\Streams

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\
Explorer\StreamsMRU (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\Shell NoRoam\BagMRU

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell NoRoam\Bags

Then in Task Manager, File - Run type explorer. (Start menu and
Desktop come back).

David, in addition I have put 18,000 for 'BAGMRU SIZE' following
the MSKB article http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=813711.

After making al the registry changes I immediately rebooted the
system.

-------------- END OF STEPS FOLLOWED -------------------



=========== REST OF ORIGINAL POSTING FOLLOWS =============

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.

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

And check:

NoSaveSettings
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Pol icies\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.

----------

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\Curre ntVersion\
Explorer\Streams\Defaults

as well as a higher set of defaults at

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\
Explorer\Streams
Settings=

Plus if you hold down control and click close it also updates

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\
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.

============ END OF TEXT FROM ORIGINAL POSTING ==============



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