Icon views in foldera defaults to details setting

Hi all,

Running W10 Pro x64, completely updated.
On my desktop I have a few folders, containing icons of programs and
utilities. I have set them to be viewed as Medium-sized icons. They were
for a long time.
Recently, all icons in these folders are shown as Details. I can bring
them back to Medium-sized icons, but as soon as I close such a folder
and reopen it, they are back to Details again. It seems that this has
become a default setting.
How can I bring them back to Medium-sized icons and let them stay that way?

Fokke Nauta

Fokke Nauta wrote:

Running W10 Pro x64, completely updated.
On my desktop I have a few folders, containing icons of programs and
utilities. I have set them to be viewed as Medium-sized icons. They were
for a long time.
Recently, all icons in these folders are shown as Details. I can bring
them back to Medium-sized icons, but as soon as I close such a folder
and reopen it, they are back to Details again. It seems that this has
become a default setting.
How can I bring them back to Medium-sized icons and let them stay that way?

What comes to my mind from prior versions of Windows is a cache in the
registry that is used to remember folder settings: Shell Bags. Don't
ask me why Microsoft used the word "bags". The subentries are known as
slots (for each remembered folder). "Shell Bags" would've been better
named as "FolderData" which I've seen used by some forensic sites.

To remember the view mode and icons within a folder requires building a
cache, called shell bags, in the registry. Could be the default size
for the cache size is not sufficient for the number of folders you have
stored their attributes, so you have to increase the size of shell bags.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_bags_view.html

That utility lets you see the "slots" for each folder in the shell bags
cache. While that lets you see what is stored, if anything, in the
registry for a particular folder, I don't see that it lets you increase
the cache size (how many slots to retain for remembering folder views).
For that, you need to edit the registry to increase the value of the
BagsMRU entry.

https://www.ghacks.net/2014/06/09/re...ndows-privacy/

Since you don't seem interested in wiping out the folder data cache from
the registry but just get it to remember folders newly opened in File
Explorer, all you care about is the BagMRU setting for how many slots
(for folders) can be recorded in the registry. However, it is possible
the slot for the problematic folder is corrupt, so you might want to use
the Nirsoft tool to find which slot is for that folder and let the tool
take you to the registry key to delete it. Since you're delving into
the registry and might not be comfortable with what you are doing there,
make sure to save a copy of the entire registry before putzing around
inside that database, and a system restore point is also recommended.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell \BagMRU

When I look at that registry key in the registry using regedit.exe,
there is no Size data item. When registry entries are missing, their
default value is used. To change away from the default means creating
the data item, so you can give it a value. The default is 5000 slots.
I only remember upping it to 8000, but don't know if there is a max size
beyond which it should not be set. I couldn't remember what data type
to use for the user-created data item, but the following article says it
is a DWORD (32-bit) data type, and where that author used 10000 for the
number of folder data slots to keep in the registry.

https://techjourney.net/fix-windows-...e-memory-size/


Note: Some users will delete the shell bags registry entries for privacy
reasons. The files within a folder are not remembered or cached but the
caching of the folders with their names can reveal some information
about the users and the content on their storage media. Deleting a
folder does not wipe its files from the disk hence the use of unerase
tools for forensics, plus the shell bag slots are not erased until
reused sometime later. Even if you use Veracrypt (a replacement for
TrueCrypt) to secrete your files, and folders within that encrypted
container will result in shell bag entries, so forensics could discover
what might be inside the encrypted container (mounted or not) by the
names of the folders that are inside.

If you don't want someone to figure out what is or was on your computer
based on folder names, even after deleting a folder or for data stored
in an encrypted container, don't use folder names that reveal what type
of files are stored within those folders. For example, I got a new Dell
LED monitor and installed some software for it. Instead of using the
%temp% folder, it created a C:\Dell folder used to extract the
installer's files but not needed later. AMD does the same thing for
their driver package (was Catalyst, now Adrenalin). Nirsoft's tool
shows the C:\Dell and C:\AMD folder data still listed in a shell
bag/slot despite I deleted those folders after the install completed.
Nirsoft's ShellBagsView won't let me delete the shell bag/slot, and
resetting doesn't delete it, but it will take me to the registry entry
for that slot where I can then delete it individually. My .reg file
just deletes the parent key, so all slots (cached folder data) gets
deleted.

You might use a tool, like CCleaner, to remove data on your computer but
it doesn't clear the shell bag slots. While CCleaner has the option to
clear "Windows Size/Location Cache", it is not enabled by default, plus
I don't know if that has to do with the shell bags/slots.

https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/cclean...-windows-files

That makes it look like that cleaning option wipes the shell bags
(delete them or set to null values).

https://ericmathison.com/blog/remove...s-for-privacy/

I have a .reg file that deletes the Shell Bag entries in the registry
and recreates the required ones. I don't care about someone using these
entries in some forensic investigation on my computer. I read up about
shell bags and created the .reg file because there was some problem that
got corrected by resetting all those registry entries. I do remember
increasing the size of BagMRU, but it has been so long since I use the
..reg file that I don't remember what was the problem that it fixed.
That also means I have not revisited that .reg file to make sure it
applies to Windows 10, and why I won't provide here until I get around
to testing and revising it sometime later if I want to use it again.

Fokke Nauta wrote:

Running W10 Pro x64, completely updated.
On my desktop I have a few folders, containing icons of programs and
utilities. I have set them to be viewed as Medium-sized icons. They were
for a long time.
Recently, all icons in these folders are shown as Details. I can bring
them back to Medium-sized icons, but as soon as I close such a folder
and reopen it, they are back to Details again. It seems that this has
become a default setting.
How can I bring them back to Medium-sized icons and let them stay that way?

Oh, and there is another source if icon problems in folders: the
iconcache file that caches the folder icons. If corrupted, you won't
get the icons you expect, or none at all and Windows defaults to the
standard icon for the filetype. See:

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/rebui...che-windows-10

On 21/05/2019 20:01, VanguardLH wrote:
Fokke Nauta wrote:

Running W10 Pro x64, completely updated.
On my desktop I have a few folders, containing icons of programs and
utilities. I have set them to be viewed as Medium-sized icons. They were
for a long time.
Recently, all icons in these folders are shown as Details. I can bring
them back to Medium-sized icons, but as soon as I close such a folder
and reopen it, they are back to Details again. It seems that this has
become a default setting.
How can I bring them back to Medium-sized icons and let them stay that way?

What comes to my mind from prior versions of Windows is a cache in the
registry that is used to remember folder settings: Shell Bags. Don't
ask me why Microsoft used the word "bags". The subentries are known as
slots (for each remembered folder). "Shell Bags" would've been better
named as "FolderData" which I've seen used by some forensic sites.

To remember the view mode and icons within a folder requires building a
cache, called shell bags, in the registry. Could be the default size
for the cache size is not sufficient for the number of folders you have
stored their attributes, so you have to increase the size of shell bags.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_bags_view.html

That utility lets you see the "slots" for each folder in the shell bags
cache. While that lets you see what is stored, if anything, in the
registry for a particular folder, I don't see that it lets you increase
the cache size (how many slots to retain for remembering folder views).
For that, you need to edit the registry to increase the value of the
BagsMRU entry.

https://www.ghacks.net/2014/06/09/re...ndows-privacy/

Since you don't seem interested in wiping out the folder data cache from
the registry but just get it to remember folders newly opened in File
Explorer, all you care about is the BagMRU setting for how many slots
(for folders) can be recorded in the registry. However, it is possible
the slot for the problematic folder is corrupt, so you might want to use
the Nirsoft tool to find which slot is for that folder and let the tool
take you to the registry key to delete it. Since you're delving into
the registry and might not be comfortable with what you are doing there,
make sure to save a copy of the entire registry before putzing around
inside that database, and a system restore point is also recommended.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell \BagMRU

When I look at that registry key in the registry using regedit.exe,
there is no Size data item. When registry entries are missing, their
default value is used. To change away from the default means creating
the data item, so you can give it a value. The default is 5000 slots.
I only remember upping it to 8000, but don't know if there is a max size
beyond which it should not be set. I couldn't remember what data type
to use for the user-created data item, but the following article says it
is a DWORD (32-bit) data type, and where that author used 10000 for the
number of folder data slots to keep in the registry.

https://techjourney.net/fix-windows-...e-memory-size/


Note: Some users will delete the shell bags registry entries for privacy
reasons. The files within a folder are not remembered or cached but the
caching of the folders with their names can reveal some information
about the users and the content on their storage media. Deleting a
folder does not wipe its files from the disk hence the use of unerase
tools for forensics, plus the shell bag slots are not erased until
reused sometime later. Even if you use Veracrypt (a replacement for
TrueCrypt) to secrete your files, and folders within that encrypted
container will result in shell bag entries, so forensics could discover
what might be inside the encrypted container (mounted or not) by the
names of the folders that are inside.

If you don't want someone to figure out what is or was on your computer
based on folder names, even after deleting a folder or for data stored
in an encrypted container, don't use folder names that reveal what type
of files are stored within those folders. For example, I got a new Dell
LED monitor and installed some software for it. Instead of using the
%temp% folder, it created a C:\Dell folder used to extract the
installer's files but not needed later. AMD does the same thing for
their driver package (was Catalyst, now Adrenalin). Nirsoft's tool
shows the C:\Dell and C:\AMD folder data still listed in a shell
bag/slot despite I deleted those folders after the install completed.
Nirsoft's ShellBagsView won't let me delete the shell bag/slot, and
resetting doesn't delete it, but it will take me to the registry entry
for that slot where I can then delete it individually. My .reg file
just deletes the parent key, so all slots (cached folder data) gets
deleted.

You might use a tool, like CCleaner, to remove data on your computer but
it doesn't clear the shell bag slots. While CCleaner has the option to
clear "Windows Size/Location Cache", it is not enabled by default, plus
I don't know if that has to do with the shell bags/slots.

https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/cclean...-windows-files

That makes it look like that cleaning option wipes the shell bags
(delete them or set to null values).

https://ericmathison.com/blog/remove...s-for-privacy/

I have a .reg file that deletes the Shell Bag entries in the registry
and recreates the required ones. I don't care about someone using these
entries in some forensic investigation on my computer. I read up about
shell bags and created the .reg file because there was some problem that
got corrected by resetting all those registry entries. I do remember
increasing the size of BagMRU, but it has been so long since I use the
.reg file that I don't remember what was the problem that it fixed.
That also means I have not revisited that .reg file to make sure it
applies to Windows 10, and why I won't provide here until I get around
to testing and revising it sometime later if I want to use it again.


Thanks for your extensive answer.
Never heard of Shellbags before.
I tried it all: changing the registry entry, ran Shellbagsview, Shellbag
Analyzer & Cleaner and CCleaner. Now, it looks fine, but I'll wait and
see. I'll come back on this.

Fokke

On 22/05/2019 13:28, Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 21/05/2019 20:01, VanguardLH wrote:
Fokke Nauta wrote:

Running W10 Pro x64, completely updated.
On my desktop I have a few folders, containing icons of programs and
utilities. I have set them to be viewed as Medium-sized icons. They were
for a long time.
Recently, all icons in these folders are shown as Details. I can bring
them back to Medium-sized icons, but as soon as I close such a folder
and reopen it, they are back to Details again. It seems that this has
become a default setting.
How can I bring them back to Medium-sized icons and let them stay
that way?

What comes to my mind from prior versions of Windows is a cache in the
registry that is used to remember folder settings: Shell Bags.Â* Don't
ask me why Microsoft used the word "bags".Â* The subentries are known as
slots (for each remembered folder).Â* "Shell Bags" would've been better
named as "FolderData" which I've seen used by some forensic sites.

To remember the view mode and icons within a folder requires building a
cache, called shell bags, in the registry.Â* Could be the default size
for the cache size is not sufficient for the number of folders you have
stored their attributes, so you have to increase the size of shell bags.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_bags_view.html

That utility lets you see the "slots" for each folder in the shell bags
cache.Â* While that lets you see what is stored, if anything, in the
registry for a particular folder, I don't see that it lets you increase
the cache size (how many slots to retain for remembering folder views).
For that, you need to edit the registry to increase the value of the
BagsMRU entry.

https://www.ghacks.net/2014/06/09/re...ndows-privacy/


Since you don't seem interested in wiping out the folder data cache from
the registry but just get it to remember folders newly opened in File
Explorer, all you care about is the BagMRU setting for how many slots
(for folders) can be recorded in the registry.Â* However, it is possible
the slot for the problematic folder is corrupt, so you might want to use
the Nirsoft tool to find which slot is for that folder and let the tool
take you to the registry key to delete it.Â* Since you're delving into
the registry and might not be comfortable with what you are doing there,
make sure to save a copy of the entire registry before putzing around
inside that database, and a system restore point is also recommended.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell \BagMRU

When I look at that registry key in the registry using regedit.exe,
there is no Size data item.Â* When registry entries are missing, their
default value is used.Â* To change away from the default means creating
the data item, so you can give it a value.Â* The default is 5000 slots.
I only remember upping it to 8000, but don't know if there is a max size
beyond which it should not be set.Â* I couldn't remember what data type
to use for the user-created data item, but the following article says it
is a DWORD (32-bit) data type, and where that author used 10000 for the
number of folder data slots to keep in the registry.

https://techjourney.net/fix-windows-...e-memory-size/



Note: Some users will delete the shell bags registry entries for privacy
reasons.Â* The files within a folder are not remembered or cached but the
caching of the folders with their names can reveal some information
about the users and the content on their storage media.Â* Deleting a
folder does not wipe its files from the disk hence the use of unerase
tools for forensics, plus the shell bag slots are not erased until
reused sometime later.Â* Even if you use Veracrypt (a replacement for
TrueCrypt) to secrete your files, and folders within that encrypted
container will result in shell bag entries, so forensics could discover
what might be inside the encrypted container (mounted or not) by the
names of the folders that are inside.

If you don't want someone to figure out what is or was on your computer
based on folder names, even after deleting a folder or for data stored
in an encrypted container, don't use folder names that reveal what type
of files are stored within those folders.Â* For example, I got a new Dell
LED monitor and installed some software for it.Â* Instead of using the
%temp% folder, it created a C:\Dell folder used to extract the
installer's files but not needed later.Â* AMD does the same thing for
their driver package (was Catalyst, now Adrenalin).Â* Nirsoft's tool
shows the C:\Dell and C:\AMD folder data still listed in a shell
bag/slot despite I deleted those folders after the install completed.
Nirsoft's ShellBagsView won't let me delete the shell bag/slot, and
resetting doesn't delete it, but it will take me to the registry entry
for that slot where I can then delete it individually.Â* My .reg file
just deletes the parent key, so all slots (cached folder data) gets
deleted.

You might use a tool, like CCleaner, to remove data on your computer but
it doesn't clear the shell bag slots.Â* While CCleaner has the option to
clear "Windows Size/Location Cache", it is not enabled by default, plus
I don't know if that has to do with the shell bags/slots.

https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/cclean...-windows-files


That makes it look like that cleaning option wipes the shell bags
(delete them or set to null values).

https://ericmathison.com/blog/remove...s-for-privacy/

I have a .reg file that deletes the Shell Bag entries in the registry
and recreates the required ones.Â* I don't care about someone using these
entries in some forensic investigation on my computer.Â* I read up about
shell bags and created the .reg file because there was some problem that
got corrected by resetting all those registry entries.Â* I do remember
increasing the size of BagMRU, but it has been so long since I use the
.reg file that I don't remember what was the problem that it fixed.
That also means I have not revisited that .reg file to make sure it
applies to Windows 10, and why I won't provide here until I get around
to testing and revising it sometime later if I want to use it again.


Thanks for your extensive answer.
Never heard of Shellbags before.
I tried it all: changing the registry entry, ran Shellbagsview, Shellbag
Analyzer & Cleaner and CCleaner. Now, it looks fine, but I'll wait and
see. I'll come back on this.

Fokke

Tell you something: it worked!
Thanks very much.
I'll remember this solution.

Fokke

Fokke Nauta wrote:

On 22/05/2019 13:28, Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 21/05/2019 20:01, VanguardLH wrote:
Fokke Nauta wrote:

Running W10 Pro x64, completely updated.
On my desktop I have a few folders, containing icons of programs and
utilities. I have set them to be viewed as Medium-sized icons. They were
for a long time.
Recently, all icons in these folders are shown as Details. I can bring
them back to Medium-sized icons, but as soon as I close such a folder
and reopen it, they are back to Details again. It seems that this has
become a default setting.
How can I bring them back to Medium-sized icons and let them stay
that way?

What comes to my mind from prior versions of Windows is a cache in the
registry that is used to remember folder settings: Shell Bags.* Don't
ask me why Microsoft used the word "bags".* The subentries are known as
slots (for each remembered folder).* "Shell Bags" would've been better
named as "FolderData" which I've seen used by some forensic sites.

To remember the view mode and icons within a folder requires building a
cache, called shell bags, in the registry.* Could be the default size
for the cache size is not sufficient for the number of folders you have
stored their attributes, so you have to increase the size of shell bags.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_bags_view.html

That utility lets you see the "slots" for each folder in the shell bags
cache.* While that lets you see what is stored, if anything, in the
registry for a particular folder, I don't see that it lets you increase
the cache size (how many slots to retain for remembering folder views).
For that, you need to edit the registry to increase the value of the
BagsMRU entry.

https://www.ghacks.net/2014/06/09/re...ndows-privacy/


Since you don't seem interested in wiping out the folder data cache from
the registry but just get it to remember folders newly opened in File
Explorer, all you care about is the BagMRU setting for how many slots
(for folders) can be recorded in the registry.* However, it is possible
the slot for the problematic folder is corrupt, so you might want to use
the Nirsoft tool to find which slot is for that folder and let the tool
take you to the registry key to delete it.* Since you're delving into
the registry and might not be comfortable with what you are doing there,
make sure to save a copy of the entire registry before putzing around
inside that database, and a system restore point is also recommended.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell \BagMRU

When I look at that registry key in the registry using regedit.exe,
there is no Size data item.* When registry entries are missing, their
default value is used.* To change away from the default means creating
the data item, so you can give it a value.* The default is 5000 slots.
I only remember upping it to 8000, but don't know if there is a max size
beyond which it should not be set.* I couldn't remember what data type
to use for the user-created data item, but the following article says it
is a DWORD (32-bit) data type, and where that author used 10000 for the
number of folder data slots to keep in the registry.

https://techjourney.net/fix-windows-...e-memory-size/



Note: Some users will delete the shell bags registry entries for privacy
reasons.* The files within a folder are not remembered or cached but the
caching of the folders with their names can reveal some information
about the users and the content on their storage media.* Deleting a
folder does not wipe its files from the disk hence the use of unerase
tools for forensics, plus the shell bag slots are not erased until
reused sometime later.* Even if you use Veracrypt (a replacement for
TrueCrypt) to secrete your files, and folders within that encrypted
container will result in shell bag entries, so forensics could discover
what might be inside the encrypted container (mounted or not) by the
names of the folders that are inside.

If you don't want someone to figure out what is or was on your computer
based on folder names, even after deleting a folder or for data stored
in an encrypted container, don't use folder names that reveal what type
of files are stored within those folders.* For example, I got a new Dell
LED monitor and installed some software for it.* Instead of using the
%temp% folder, it created a C:\Dell folder used to extract the
installer's files but not needed later.* AMD does the same thing for
their driver package (was Catalyst, now Adrenalin).* Nirsoft's tool
shows the C:\Dell and C:\AMD folder data still listed in a shell
bag/slot despite I deleted those folders after the install completed.
Nirsoft's ShellBagsView won't let me delete the shell bag/slot, and
resetting doesn't delete it, but it will take me to the registry entry
for that slot where I can then delete it individually.* My .reg file
just deletes the parent key, so all slots (cached folder data) gets
deleted.

You might use a tool, like CCleaner, to remove data on your computer but
it doesn't clear the shell bag slots.* While CCleaner has the option to
clear "Windows Size/Location Cache", it is not enabled by default, plus
I don't know if that has to do with the shell bags/slots.

https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/cclean...-windows-files


That makes it look like that cleaning option wipes the shell bags
(delete them or set to null values).

https://ericmathison.com/blog/remove...s-for-privacy/

I have a .reg file that deletes the Shell Bag entries in the registry
and recreates the required ones.* I don't care about someone using these
entries in some forensic investigation on my computer.* I read up about
shell bags and created the .reg file because there was some problem that
got corrected by resetting all those registry entries.* I do remember
increasing the size of BagMRU, but it has been so long since I use the
.reg file that I don't remember what was the problem that it fixed.
That also means I have not revisited that .reg file to make sure it
applies to Windows 10, and why I won't provide here until I get around
to testing and revising it sometime later if I want to use it again.


Thanks for your extensive answer.
Never heard of Shellbags before.
I tried it all: changing the registry entry, ran Shellbagsview, Shellbag
Analyzer & Cleaner and CCleaner. Now, it looks fine, but I'll wait and
see. I'll come back on this.

Fokke

Tell you something: it worked!
Thanks very much.
I'll remember this solution.

Fokke

Did you up the BagMRU from the default of 5000 to something higher, so
more slots are used in the registry (making it larger, of course) to
remember more folders? Else, you'll run into the same problem later,
but probably with a different folder. The oldest slots get replaced
with new folder data, so the larger the number of slots then the longer
it takes for the oldest to get reused.

In a command shell, run "dir /ad /s". At the end in its report, how
many folders were found? Some won't be listed, like hidden or system
flagged folders, but you'll get an idea how many folders there are. No,
you won't be touching a lot of those folders: considering how many there
are, and many are for the OS, you're unlikely to visit every folder.

For me, "dir /ad /s" reported finding 135669 folders. A *lot* of them
will never be visited by me, or they will one-off occurences. If I get
hit with the Shell Bags problem, I'll then look into upping the BagMRU
value to, say, 10000 (decimal, since the default when editing DWORD data
items is hex).

On Tue, 21 May 2019 13:01:26 -0500, in alt.comp.os.windows-10, VanguardLH
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:

Running W10 Pro x64, completely updated.
On my desktop I have a few folders, containing icons of programs and
utilities. I have set them to be viewed as Medium-sized icons. They were
for a long time.
Recently, all icons in these folders are shown as Details. I can bring
them back to Medium-sized icons, but as soon as I close such a folder
and reopen it, they are back to Details again. It seems that this has
become a default setting.
How can I bring them back to Medium-sized icons and let them stay that way?

What comes to my mind from prior versions of Windows is a cache in the
registry that is used to remember folder settings: Shell Bags. Don't
ask me why Microsoft used the word "bags". The subentries are known as
slots (for each remembered folder). "Shell Bags" would've been better
named as "FolderData" which I've seen used by some forensic sites.

Exactly. It's gotten much better than the XP days, it takes much longer
to run out of bags, but when this happens all you can do is blow away
Shell/Bags and Shell/BagsMRU and start over again.

You can literally just delete the keys "Bags" and "BagsMRU." It'll just
repopulate them. For my use, it generally turns out that I only have to
set a couple of folders up at a time, as I run into them, and I'm back to
normal. It isn't so bad.


Side note...

Something really fun happened to me the other day. I had a bunch of
..mp3's on my desktop, and I opened the "Desktop" shortcut under "My PC."

It immediately turned the folder into a music folder. The problem is,
there's no way to set it back. Every time I use the shortcut in the
Navigation Pane it's a music folder. If I instead go to
C:\Users\[user]\Desktop, it's a normal folder again. If I pin that as a
shortcut to Quick Access, it's a music folder again when I click on the
shortcut.

The shortcut itself, if it's on the Navigation pane, has its own bag! and
you can't customize it once Windows decides it's not a general content
folder anymore, because there's no customization pane on the properties
dialogue of a shortcut, only on a folder.

So annoying. I could try to track down the specific bag and delete it,
but really the only way to get it back to normal would be to blow away
"Bags" again.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

On Wed, 22 May 2019 16:38:40 -0500, Zaghadka
wrote:

Side note...

Something really fun happened to me the other day. I had a bunch of
.mp3's on my desktop, and I opened the "Desktop" shortcut under "My PC."

It immediately turned the folder into a music folder. The problem is,
there's no way to set it back. Every time I use the shortcut in the
Navigation Pane it's a music folder. If I instead go to
C:\Users\[user]\Desktop, it's a normal folder again. If I pin that as a
shortcut to Quick Access, it's a music folder again when I click on the
shortcut.

The shortcut itself, if it's on the Navigation pane, has its own bag! and
you can't customize it once Windows decides it's not a general content
folder anymore, because there's no customization pane on the properties
dialogue of a shortcut, only on a folder.

So annoying. I could try to track down the specific bag and delete it,
but really the only way to get it back to normal would be to blow away
"Bags" again.

Is there a hidden desktop.ini there on the desktop? If so, perhaps you
can delete it to restore the default settings.

On Wed, 22 May 2019 16:45:25 -0500, in alt.comp.os.windows-10, Char
Jackson wrote:

On Wed, 22 May 2019 16:38:40 -0500, Zaghadka
wrote:

So annoying. I could try to track down the specific bag and delete it,
but really the only way to get it back to normal would be to blow away
"Bags" again.

Is there a hidden desktop.ini there on the desktop? If so, perhaps you
can delete it to restore the default settings.

Nah. That was the first thing I checked. For some reason the Nav pane
shortcut itself has its own bag, instead of using the bag of the folder.

If I navigate to the folder by directory, it shows up normal. That's what
desktop.ini affects.

If I drag the Nav pane icon to the desktop as a shortcut, it works fine
there, too. It only does this when you click on it in the Nav pane.

I was always good at QA, because I'm really good at breaking things in
unexpected ways on computers. This is one of those cases.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

If I drag the Nav pane icon to the desktop as a shortcut, it works fine
there, too. It only does this when you click on it in the Nav pane.


Check that. The icon is different than the one you get from dragging the
folder as a shortcut, and it does show the same characteristics as the
Nav pane icon.

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

On 22/05/2019 20:31, VanguardLH wrote:
Fokke Nauta wrote:

On 22/05/2019 13:28, Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 21/05/2019 20:01, VanguardLH wrote:
Fokke Nauta wrote:

Running W10 Pro x64, completely updated.
On my desktop I have a few folders, containing icons of programs and
utilities. I have set them to be viewed as Medium-sized icons. They were
for a long time.
Recently, all icons in these folders are shown as Details. I can bring
them back to Medium-sized icons, but as soon as I close such a folder
and reopen it, they are back to Details again. It seems that this has
become a default setting.
How can I bring them back to Medium-sized icons and let them stay
that way?

What comes to my mind from prior versions of Windows is a cache in the
registry that is used to remember folder settings: Shell Bags.Â* Don't
ask me why Microsoft used the word "bags".Â* The subentries are known as
slots (for each remembered folder).Â* "Shell Bags" would've been better
named as "FolderData" which I've seen used by some forensic sites.

To remember the view mode and icons within a folder requires building a
cache, called shell bags, in the registry.Â* Could be the default size
for the cache size is not sufficient for the number of folders you have
stored their attributes, so you have to increase the size of shell bags.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_bags_view.html

That utility lets you see the "slots" for each folder in the shell bags
cache.Â* While that lets you see what is stored, if anything, in the
registry for a particular folder, I don't see that it lets you increase
the cache size (how many slots to retain for remembering folder views).
For that, you need to edit the registry to increase the value of the
BagsMRU entry.

https://www.ghacks.net/2014/06/09/re...ndows-privacy/


Since you don't seem interested in wiping out the folder data cache from
the registry but just get it to remember folders newly opened in File
Explorer, all you care about is the BagMRU setting for how many slots
(for folders) can be recorded in the registry.Â* However, it is possible
the slot for the problematic folder is corrupt, so you might want to use
the Nirsoft tool to find which slot is for that folder and let the tool
take you to the registry key to delete it.Â* Since you're delving into
the registry and might not be comfortable with what you are doing there,
make sure to save a copy of the entire registry before putzing around
inside that database, and a system restore point is also recommended.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell \BagMRU

When I look at that registry key in the registry using regedit.exe,
there is no Size data item.Â* When registry entries are missing, their
default value is used.Â* To change away from the default means creating
the data item, so you can give it a value.Â* The default is 5000 slots.
I only remember upping it to 8000, but don't know if there is a max size
beyond which it should not be set.Â* I couldn't remember what data type
to use for the user-created data item, but the following article says it
is a DWORD (32-bit) data type, and where that author used 10000 for the
number of folder data slots to keep in the registry.

https://techjourney.net/fix-windows-...e-memory-size/



Note: Some users will delete the shell bags registry entries for privacy
reasons.Â* The files within a folder are not remembered or cached but the
caching of the folders with their names can reveal some information
about the users and the content on their storage media.Â* Deleting a
folder does not wipe its files from the disk hence the use of unerase
tools for forensics, plus the shell bag slots are not erased until
reused sometime later.Â* Even if you use Veracrypt (a replacement for
TrueCrypt) to secrete your files, and folders within that encrypted
container will result in shell bag entries, so forensics could discover
what might be inside the encrypted container (mounted or not) by the
names of the folders that are inside.

If you don't want someone to figure out what is or was on your computer
based on folder names, even after deleting a folder or for data stored
in an encrypted container, don't use folder names that reveal what type
of files are stored within those folders.Â* For example, I got a new Dell
LED monitor and installed some software for it.Â* Instead of using the
%temp% folder, it created a C:\Dell folder used to extract the
installer's files but not needed later.Â* AMD does the same thing for
their driver package (was Catalyst, now Adrenalin).Â* Nirsoft's tool
shows the C:\Dell and C:\AMD folder data still listed in a shell
bag/slot despite I deleted those folders after the install completed.
Nirsoft's ShellBagsView won't let me delete the shell bag/slot, and
resetting doesn't delete it, but it will take me to the registry entry
for that slot where I can then delete it individually.Â* My .reg file
just deletes the parent key, so all slots (cached folder data) gets
deleted.

You might use a tool, like CCleaner, to remove data on your computer but
it doesn't clear the shell bag slots.Â* While CCleaner has the option to
clear "Windows Size/Location Cache", it is not enabled by default, plus
I don't know if that has to do with the shell bags/slots.

https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/cclean...-windows-files


That makes it look like that cleaning option wipes the shell bags
(delete them or set to null values).

https://ericmathison.com/blog/remove...s-for-privacy/

I have a .reg file that deletes the Shell Bag entries in the registry
and recreates the required ones.Â* I don't care about someone using these
entries in some forensic investigation on my computer.Â* I read up about
shell bags and created the .reg file because there was some problem that
got corrected by resetting all those registry entries.Â* I do remember
increasing the size of BagMRU, but it has been so long since I use the
.reg file that I don't remember what was the problem that it fixed.
That also means I have not revisited that .reg file to make sure it
applies to Windows 10, and why I won't provide here until I get around
to testing and revising it sometime later if I want to use it again.


Thanks for your extensive answer.
Never heard of Shellbags before.
I tried it all: changing the registry entry, ran Shellbagsview, Shellbag
Analyzer & Cleaner and CCleaner. Now, it looks fine, but I'll wait and
see. I'll come back on this.

Fokke

Tell you something: it worked!
Thanks very much.
I'll remember this solution.

Fokke

Did you up the BagMRU from the default of 5000 to something higher, so
more slots are used in the registry (making it larger, of course) to
remember more folders?

Yes, I did.

Else, you'll run into the same problem later,
but probably with a different folder. The oldest slots get replaced
with new folder data, so the larger the number of slots then the longer
it takes for the oldest to get reused.

In a command shell, run "dir /ad /s". At the end in its report, how
many folders were found?

There were 5335 folders on the C:drive. On my data drive there were
61462 folders.

Some won't be listed, like hidden or system
flagged folders, but you'll get an idea how many folders there are. No,
you won't be touching a lot of those folders: considering how many there
are, and many are for the OS, you're unlikely to visit every folder.

For me, "dir /ad /s" reported finding 135669 folders. A *lot* of them
will never be visited by me, or they will one-off occurences. If I get
hit with the Shell Bags problem, I'll then look into upping the BagMRU
value to, say, 10000 (decimal, since the default when editing DWORD data
items is hex).


Interesting stuff!

Fokke

Fokke Nauta wrote:

There were 5335 folders on the C:drive. On my data drive there were
61462 folders.

The bags (slots) are on ALL drives that you ever accessed using
Windows/File Explorer. Drive C:, drive D:, a networked drive, or even
an encrypted TrueCrypt container that you mount and look inside.
Anything that mounts like as a drive and has folder objects and are seen
by File Explorer create a slot (aka bag). I don't know about shares as
I've never checked shell bags after accessing a share. Shell bags is
something of an after-thought: when there is a problem is when I clear
out all of them and possibly increase the BagMRU.

If you have multiple drives (local internal, local USB, networked or
mapped) that you've accessed using File Explorer, use Nirsoft's
ShellBagsViewer to see what the slots have listed in them. I find lots
of entries which can be on my C: drive (internal SSD), D: drive
(internal HDD), N: drive (USB HDD), and P: drive (assigned to a
Veracrypt container when mounted), and various other drive letters that
were assigned when I had plugged in (and removed) USB flash drives but
while mounted I used File Explorer to look at those mounted drives.
Some don't even have drive letters; i.e., they are relatively pathed
folders, not absolutely pathed.

There are a lot of slots listed by ShellBagsView that do not currently
exist, like for the USB flash drives that I plugged in, used File
Explorer to look at them, and then unplugged. Just because drive is not
currently mounted does not automatically delete the shell bags used to
record the folders that got visited when the storage media was
previously mounted. Bags don't get deleted or disappear. They just
eventually get reused. That's why they are a concern to privacy
sensitive users: looking at the cache of folder data (shell bags) can
reveal what content is or was on your computer or on any mounted drive
you ever accessed.