"My Recent Documents" empty despite registry changes

[Brian P.]

I am an IT tech working an issue for a client. For some reason, his "My
Recent Documents" entries are disappearing (and it displays "Empty") every
time he restarts or logs off.

I have tried researching this issue online and saw potential solutions which
included registry and group policy edits.

I have checked the relevant registry component, and it seems to be set
correctly to display the recent documents:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoRecentDocsHistory"=dword:00000000
"NoRecentDocsMenu"=dword:00000000

I have also checked Group Policy > User Configuration > Administrative
Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar for the following settings:

-Do not keep history of recently opened documents
-Clear history of recently opened documents on exit

Both were set to "Not Configured", but I reset them both explicitly to
"Disabled".

All of this and still no luck resolving the issue.

One other strange thing I noticed, in his \Documents and
Settings\user\Recent folder, there are thousands of shortcuts. I have
created and opened test documents and the associated shortcuts ARE being
added to the Recent folder, but are still not displaying on the Start Menu
after reboot, so I'm really stumped.

Any help you could provide would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

 

[Nepatsfan]

I am an IT tech working an issue for a client. For some reason, his "My
Recent Documents" entries are disappearing (and it displays "Empty") every
time he restarts or logs off.

I have tried researching this issue online and saw potential solutions
which
included registry and group policy edits.

I have checked the relevant registry component, and it seems to be set
correctly to display the recent documents:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoRecentDocsHistory"=dword:00000000
"NoRecentDocsMenu"=dword:00000000

I have also checked Group Policy > User Configuration > Administrative
Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar for the following settings:

-Do not keep history of recently opened documents
-Clear history of recently opened documents on exit

Both were set to "Not Configured", but I reset them both explicitly to
"Disabled".

All of this and still no luck resolving the issue.

One other strange thing I noticed, in his \Documents and
Settings\user\Recent folder, there are thousands of shortcuts. I have
created and opened test documents and the associated shortcuts ARE being
added to the Recent folder, but are still not displaying on the Start Menu
after reboot, so I'm really stumped.

Any help you could provide would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

Check this registry key.

Check that same registry key for a value named ClearRecentDocsOnExit set to
1.

TweakUI from Microsoft has a setting under the Explorer branch to "Clear
document history on exit". This setting relies on the registry key mentioned
above to achieve this goal.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Richard in AZ]

| | >I am an IT tech working an issue for a client. For some reason, his "My
| > Recent Documents" entries are disappearing (and it displays "Empty") every
| > time he restarts or logs off.
| >
| > I have tried researching this issue online and saw potential solutions
| > which
| > included registry and group policy edits.
| >
| > I have checked the relevant registry component, and it seems to be set
| > correctly to display the recent documents:
| >
| > [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
| > "NoRecentDocsHistory"=dword:00000000
| > "NoRecentDocsMenu"=dword:00000000
| >
| > I have also checked Group Policy > User Configuration > Administrative
| > Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar for the following settings:
| >
| > -Do not keep history of recently opened documents
| > -Clear history of recently opened documents on exit
| >
| > Both were set to "Not Configured", but I reset them both explicitly to
| > "Disabled".
| >
| > All of this and still no luck resolving the issue.
| >
| > One other strange thing I noticed, in his \Documents and
| > Settings\user\Recent folder, there are thousands of shortcuts. I have
| > created and opened test documents and the associated shortcuts ARE being
| > added to the Recent folder, but are still not displaying on the Start Menu
| > after reboot, so I'm really stumped.
| >
| > Any help you could provide would be GREATLY appreciated.
| >
| > Thanks in advance,
| > Brian
|
|
| Check this registry key.
|
| Check that same registry key for a value named ClearRecentDocsOnExit set to
| 1.
|
| TweakUI from Microsoft has a setting under the Explorer branch to "Clear
| document history on exit". This setting relies on the registry key mentioned
| above to achieve this goal.
|
| Good luck
|
| Nepatsfan

Also check to see if the user has changed his account name. If you go into the control panel and
change the user name, without creating a new account, the Recent Documents will not display. Some
computers setup with "owner" and users just change the name in User Accounts to one they like.

 

[Brian P.]

To add to the confusion, this computer is part of a small AD 2003 domain and
has a roaming profile set up. The "My Recent Documents" function works on
any other domain workstation that he logs into, so I don't suspect that the
roaming profile has anything to do with it, but I thought I'd mention it.

Also, the ClearRecentDocsOnExit value doesn't exist in the Explorer registry
key. And, as far as I know, this user hasn't ever changed his user name
(although I don't think that applies to this situation because he's part of a
domain anyway).

Thanks for the replies! Let me know if you have any other suggestions or
ideas.

 

[Elmo]

I am an IT tech working an issue for a client. For some reason, his "My
Recent Documents" entries are disappearing (and it displays "Empty") every
time he restarts or logs off.

I have tried researching this issue online and saw potential solutions which
included registry and group policy edits.

I have checked the relevant registry component, and it seems to be set
correctly to display the recent documents:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoRecentDocsHistory"=dword:00000000
"NoRecentDocsMenu"=dword:00000000

I have also checked Group Policy > User Configuration > Administrative
Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar for the following settings:

-Do not keep history of recently opened documents
-Clear history of recently opened documents on exit

Both were set to "Not Configured", but I reset them both explicitly to
"Disabled".

All of this and still no luck resolving the issue.

One other strange thing I noticed, in his \Documents and
Settings\user\Recent folder, there are thousands of shortcuts. I have
created and opened test documents and the associated shortcuts ARE being
added to the Recent folder, but are still not displaying on the Start Menu
after reboot, so I'm really stumped.

Any help you could provide would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

A couple of Kelly's registry tweaks:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Line 30. Windows XP Doesn't Save User Settings
Line 54. Save Settings on Exit - Don't Save Settings
Line 117. Restore Taskbar and Start Menu

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_qr.htm

Scroll down to the "Recent Documents" section at the above link to see
more suggestions.