Customizing folders

[Guest]

With a lot of my folders, I have them as thumbnails so I can have pictures on
the folder. The problem is when I sometimes put a picture on the folder, it
then just decides to put the same picture on every single folder. Then other
times when I want to restore the default to just a normal folder, I can't.
Sometimes I successfully put the pictures on then they just decide to
disappear. It's really driving me crazy. Is there a special program I can
download to make customizing my folders easier?

Also, when I want to burn a CD or DVD and want to put pictures on the
folders, they never appear after burning. Do I have to make a new folder on
the CD or DVD and place the pictures I want to use in there?

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

When you use the folder's Properties dialog to assign a thumbnail pic to a folder, a registry value
is added to the saved view settings for that folder. The value's name is "Logo"; it's a string
value with the path to the image you assign as its data. If you have also used the 'Also apply this
template to all subfolders' option, the folder picture is assigned to the subfolders. To further
confuse matters, the folder picture is cached in the hidden, system file named thumbs.db within the
folder, so even if the registry entry is deleted, the picture can persist.

To get rid of the unwanted pictures, try the following:

1) Open regedit and navigate to the following key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags"

2) Ctrl+F -> search for keys named "Inherit"

3) If the "Inherit" key contains a value named 'Logo', delete that value.

4) Repeat the search (F3) and delete until all subkeys of Bags have been processed.

5) Open a command prompt window to the root directory of the drive containing the folders and type
the following command:

del /s /a:hs thumbs.db

6) Open explorer and take a look around, you should now only see pictures on those folders that were
assigned them.


An alternate method of assigning a picture to a folder is to place the image in the folder and name
it "folder.jpg". This is more persistent as it will survive moving or renaming of the folder, as
well as 'Reset All Folders". I would expect this method to work for CDs as well, though I haven't
tested it.

There is a 3rd method also, but I don't want to add to the confusion

 

[Gerald Ross]

My pictures work ok but my new XPhome notebook puts a hand across the
picture. Any way to get rid of this?

When you use the folder's Properties dialog to assign a thumbnail pic to a folder, a registry value
is added to the saved view settings for that folder. The value's name is "Logo"; it's a string
value with the path to the image you assign as its data. If you have also used the 'Also apply this
template to all subfolders' option, the folder picture is assigned to the subfolders. To further
confuse matters, the folder picture is cached in the hidden, system file named thumbs.db within the
folder, so even if the registry entry is deleted, the picture can persist.

To get rid of the unwanted pictures, try the following:

1) Open regedit and navigate to the following key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags"

2) Ctrl+F -> search for keys named "Inherit"

3) If the "Inherit" key contains a value named 'Logo', delete that value.

4) Repeat the search (F3) and delete until all subkeys of Bags have been processed.

5) Open a command prompt window to the root directory of the drive containing the folders and type
the following command:

del /s /a:hs thumbs.db

6) Open explorer and take a look around, you should now only see pictures on those folders that were
assigned them.


An alternate method of assigning a picture to a folder is to place the image in the folder and name
it "folder.jpg". This is more persistent as it will survive moving or renaming of the folder, as
well as 'Reset All Folders". I would expect this method to work for CDs as well, though I haven't
tested it.

There is a 3rd method also, but I don't want to add to the confusion

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

Yield to temptation, it may not pass
your way again. - L. Long

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Do you mean the shared folder overlay???

 

[Gerald Ross]

Yep. Had never seen it before because I had never selected shared. Thanks !

Do you mean the shared folder overlay???

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

Yield to temptation, it may not pass
your way again. - L. Long

 

[Guest]

As I'm not experienced in editing the registry, I'm still a little confused
as to what you mean. I've found the folder you're talking about but I'm not
sure about the searching part. When I saw for "Inherit", the results appear
in other folders and I can't find ones called "Logo". I'm not really sure
what it all means but I don't want to just delete anything because it could
damage my system.

 

[Dave Smith]

As I'm not experienced in editing the registry, I'm still a little confused
as to what you mean. I've found the folder you're talking about but I'm not
sure about the searching part. When I saw for "Inherit", the results appear
in other folders and I can't find ones called "Logo". I'm not really sure
what it all means but I don't want to just delete anything because it could
damage my system.

This advise won't hurt anything.
wetink...

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Let me clarify the terminology. When viewing the Registry Editor, the items in the left-hand pane
are keys, items in the right-hand pane are values. Keys have a name only; values have a name, a
type, and data.

Under the key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags"

you will find numbered subkeys, i.e.:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1"

Each numbered subkey corresponds to a saved view for a particular folder.

Each numbered subkey has a subkey named 'Shell':

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell"

and it is this key that contains the values that define a saved folder view.

IF the 'Shell' key has a subkey named 'Inherit', it is this key that contains view settings that are
applied to subfolders of the folder whose view is saved.

I suggested using the search facility in Regedit because there can be thousands of numbered subkeys
under 'Bags' and it can be tedious to expand each one. Using the 'Find' dialog, you can specify the
text 'Inherit' and check the box for 'Keys' while clearing the checkboxes for Values & Data.

If you find an 'Inherit' key which contains a value named 'Logo' (type = REG_SZ, data = path to
picture), this is controlling the thumbnail pic for all subfolders of a folder, & you can delete
this value.

It is possible that do not find any 'Inherit' keys. They are deleted by such actions as 'Apply to
All Folders' & 'Reset all Folders'. However, the pictures can linger in the thumbs.db file, in
which case Step 5 should be sufficient to clear them.

 

[Guest]

That helps a lot more! Anyway, I searched the registry and couldn't find any
subkeys named Inherit. Now I tried the other method of opening a command
window and typing what you told me in. It has worked for a lot of the
pictures but there are still some that won't go away. I've tried it a few
times and each time it says the pictures have been deleted but they're still
there. I try to restore to the default picture, which is just a blank folder,
but it continues to show a picture on some folders. And these are pictures
that I didn't ever put on there.

Let me clarify the terminology. When viewing the Registry Editor, the items in the left-hand pane
are keys, items in the right-hand pane are values. Keys have a name only; values have a name, a
type, and data.

Under the key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags"

you will find numbered subkeys, i.e.:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1"

Each numbered subkey corresponds to a saved view for a particular folder.

Each numbered subkey has a subkey named 'Shell':

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell"

and it is this key that contains the values that define a saved folder view.

IF the 'Shell' key has a subkey named 'Inherit', it is this key that contains view settings that are
applied to subfolders of the folder whose view is saved.

I suggested using the search facility in Regedit because there can be thousands of numbered subkeys
under 'Bags' and it can be tedious to expand each one. Using the 'Find' dialog, you can specify the
text 'Inherit' and check the box for 'Keys' while clearing the checkboxes for Values & Data.

If you find an 'Inherit' key which contains a value named 'Logo' (type = REG_SZ, data = path to
picture), this is controlling the thumbnail pic for all subfolders of a folder, & you can delete
this value.

It is possible that do not find any 'Inherit' keys. They are deleted by such actions as 'Apply to
All Folders' & 'Reset all Folders'. However, the pictures can linger in the thumbs.db file, in
which case Step 5 should be sufficient to clear them.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

As I'm not experienced in editing the registry, I'm still a little confused
as to what you mean. I've found the folder you're talking about but I'm not
sure about the searching part. When I saw for "Inherit", the results appear
in other folders and I can't find ones called "Logo". I'm not really sure
what it all means but I don't want to just delete anything because it could
damage my system.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

The thumbs.db file will be recreated whenever you view a folder in thumbnail view; so after trying
the following steps, repeat the deletion of thumbs.db to clear the file from any folders you have
viewed.

Also remember the command lines only affect one drive at a time -- if the problem folders are on
multiple drives, you'll need to execute each command multiple times at the roots of each drive (
C:\> , D:\> , etc)

Try the following from the root directory in a command prompt window:

dir /a /s folder.jpg

If any file listings are returned, you've found pictures that will be shown as thumbnail pics for
their containing folders. If you don't want them, delete them from the containing folder:


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

That helps a lot more! Anyway, I searched the registry and couldn't find any
subkeys named Inherit. Now I tried the other method of opening a command
window and typing what you told me in. It has worked for a lot of the
pictures but there are still some that won't go away. I've tried it a few
times and each time it says the pictures have been deleted but they're still
there. I try to restore to the default picture, which is just a blank folder,
but it continues to show a picture on some folders. And these are pictures
that I didn't ever put on there.

Let me clarify the terminology. When viewing the Registry Editor, the items in the left-hand
pane
are keys, items in the right-hand pane are values. Keys have a name only; values have a name, a
type, and data.

Under the key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags"

you will find numbered subkeys, i.e.:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1"

Each numbered subkey corresponds to a saved view for a particular folder.

Each numbered subkey has a subkey named 'Shell':

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell"

and it is this key that contains the values that define a saved folder view.

IF the 'Shell' key has a subkey named 'Inherit', it is this key that contains view settings that
are
applied to subfolders of the folder whose view is saved.

I suggested using the search facility in Regedit because there can be thousands of numbered
subkeys
under 'Bags' and it can be tedious to expand each one. Using the 'Find' dialog, you can specify
the
text 'Inherit' and check the box for 'Keys' while clearing the checkboxes for Values & Data.

If you find an 'Inherit' key which contains a value named 'Logo' (type = REG_SZ, data = path to
picture), this is controlling the thumbnail pic for all subfolders of a folder, & you can delete
this value.

It is possible that do not find any 'Inherit' keys. They are deleted by such actions as 'Apply
to
All Folders' & 'Reset all Folders'. However, the pictures can linger in the thumbs.db file, in
which case Step 5 should be sufficient to clear them.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

As I'm not experienced in editing the registry, I'm still a little confused
as to what you mean. I've found the folder you're talking about but I'm not
sure about the searching part. When I saw for "Inherit", the results appear
in other folders and I can't find ones called "Logo". I'm not really sure
what it all means but I don't want to just delete anything because it could
damage my system.


:

When you use the folder's Properties dialog to assign a thumbnail pic to a folder, a registry
value
is added to the saved view settings for that folder. The value's name is "Logo"; it's a
string
value with the path to the image you assign as its data. If you have also used the 'Also
apply
this
template to all subfolders' option, the folder picture is assigned to the subfolders. To
further
confuse matters, the folder picture is cached in the hidden, system file named thumbs.db
within
the
folder, so even if the registry entry is deleted, the picture can persist.

To get rid of the unwanted pictures, try the following:

1) Open regedit and navigate to the following key:

"HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags"

2) Ctrl+F -> search for keys named "Inherit"

3) If the "Inherit" key contains a value named 'Logo', delete that value.

4) Repeat the search (F3) and delete until all subkeys of Bags have been processed.

5) Open a command prompt window to the root directory of the drive containing the folders and
type
the following command:

del /s /a:hs thumbs.db

6) Open explorer and take a look around, you should now only see pictures on those folders
that
were
assigned them.

 

[Guest]

I did find some file listings but I still don't know how to delete them. What
do you mean by "delete them from the containing folder"?

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

If the output of the 'dir' command looks like this:

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

D:\>dir /a /s folder.jpg
Volume in drive D is Data
Volume Serial Number is 0C0E-2DE4

Directory of D:\Dell

06/21/2006 11:42 AM 0 folder.jpg
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\My Documents\Downloads

06/21/2006 11:42 AM 0 folder.jpg
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\My Music\Various Artists\Super Hits of the '70s Have a Nice Da
y, Vol. 15

10/21/2003 02:33 AM 14,203 Folder.jpg
1 File(s) 14,203 bytes

Total Files Listed:
3 File(s) 14,203 bytes
0 Dir(s) 86,721,032,192 bytes free
------------------------------------------------------------------

then the containing folders are 'D:\Dell', 'D:\My Documents\Downloads', and 'D:\My Music\Various
Artists\Super Hits of the '70s Have a Nice Day, Vol. 15'.

You can navigate to each of these folders in explorer, locate and select the file named
'folder.jpg', and press the delete key.

 

[Guest]

See that's what I thought you meant but I'm not finding any files. The
pictures that appear on the folders are not ones I put on there. Sometimes
when Windows Media Player gets the tracklists for music files, it also gets
the CD cover and automatically puts it on there. I can't see any files in
these folders called folder.jpg. When I right click on one of the folders, it
only has 12 files in it but it says in properties that it contains 16 files.
I can't see any more files. I even went to "folder options" and checked "show
hidden and system files" but there's still nothing.

If the output of the 'dir' command looks like this:

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

D:\>dir /a /s folder.jpg
Volume in drive D is Data
Volume Serial Number is 0C0E-2DE4

Directory of D:\Dell

06/21/2006 11:42 AM 0 folder.jpg
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\My Documents\Downloads

06/21/2006 11:42 AM 0 folder.jpg
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\My Music\Various Artists\Super Hits of the '70s Have a Nice Da
y, Vol. 15

10/21/2003 02:33 AM 14,203 Folder.jpg
1 File(s) 14,203 bytes

Total Files Listed:
3 File(s) 14,203 bytes
0 Dir(s) 86,721,032,192 bytes free
------------------------------------------------------------------

then the containing folders are 'D:\Dell', 'D:\My Documents\Downloads', and 'D:\My Music\Various
Artists\Super Hits of the '70s Have a Nice Day, Vol. 15'.

You can navigate to each of these folders in explorer, locate and select the file named
'folder.jpg', and press the delete key.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I did find some file listings but I still don't know how to delete them. What
do you mean by "delete them from the containing folder"?

 

[Guest]

See that's what I thought you meant but I'm not finding any files. The
pictures that appear on the folders are not ones I put on there. Sometimes
when Windows Media Player gets the tracklists for music files, it also gets
the CD cover and automatically puts it on there. I can't see any files in
these folders called folder.jpg. When I right click on one of the folders, it
only has 12 files in it but it says in properties that it contains 16 files.
I can't see any more files. I even went to "folder options" and checked "show
hidden and system files" but there's still nothing.

The only time I remember seeing a file called thumbs.db was when I was
burning a data DVD. They appeared then but I'm not sure if deleting those
would actually delete them from my computer.

If the output of the 'dir' command looks like this:

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

D:\>dir /a /s folder.jpg
Volume in drive D is Data
Volume Serial Number is 0C0E-2DE4

Directory of D:\Dell

06/21/2006 11:42 AM 0 folder.jpg
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\My Documents\Downloads

06/21/2006 11:42 AM 0 folder.jpg
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\My Music\Various Artists\Super Hits of the '70s Have a Nice Da
y, Vol. 15

10/21/2003 02:33 AM 14,203 Folder.jpg
1 File(s) 14,203 bytes

Total Files Listed:
3 File(s) 14,203 bytes
0 Dir(s) 86,721,032,192 bytes free
------------------------------------------------------------------

then the containing folders are 'D:\Dell', 'D:\My Documents\Downloads', and 'D:\My Music\Various
Artists\Super Hits of the '70s Have a Nice Day, Vol. 15'.

You can navigate to each of these folders in explorer, locate and select the file named
'folder.jpg', and press the delete key.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I did find some file listings but I still don't know how to delete them. What
do you mean by "delete them from the containing folder"?

 

[JDJ]

Let me clarify the terminology. When viewing the Registry Editor, the items in the left-hand pane

You seem to have knowledge of the registry and how it affects folders.

I'm not getting much response in my thread

Can't customize Folder Icons in Favorites Hierarchy
Message-ID: <[email protected]>

I figure the problem may be a registry entry of some sort.

If you have not already read my question/problem and you think you
could help I would appreciate it.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Sounds similar to a problem another poster had. Check out this thread and see if the info there
helps:

http://groups.google.com/group/micr..._frm/thread/288d8dc152f93d6/b88791640e940450?

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Under the 'View' tab in 'Folder Options', you need to have the radio button for 'Show hidden files &
folders' selected AND ALSO HAVE the checkbox labeled 'Hide protected operating system files
(Recommended)' CLEARED. Then you should be able to see all the files in a folder.

Are you seeing any files listed when you use the 'dir' command?


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

See that's what I thought you meant but I'm not finding any files. The
pictures that appear on the folders are not ones I put on there. Sometimes
when Windows Media Player gets the tracklists for music files, it also gets
the CD cover and automatically puts it on there. I can't see any files in
these folders called folder.jpg. When I right click on one of the folders, it
only has 12 files in it but it says in properties that it contains 16 files.
I can't see any more files. I even went to "folder options" and checked "show
hidden and system files" but there's still nothing.

If the output of the 'dir' command looks like this:

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

D:\>dir /a /s folder.jpg
Volume in drive D is Data
Volume Serial Number is 0C0E-2DE4

Directory of D:\Dell

06/21/2006 11:42 AM 0 folder.jpg
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\My Documents\Downloads

06/21/2006 11:42 AM 0 folder.jpg
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of D:\My Music\Various Artists\Super Hits of the '70s Have a Nice Da
y, Vol. 15

10/21/2003 02:33 AM 14,203 Folder.jpg
1 File(s) 14,203 bytes

Total Files Listed:
3 File(s) 14,203 bytes
0 Dir(s) 86,721,032,192 bytes free
------------------------------------------------------------------

then the containing folders are 'D:\Dell', 'D:\My Documents\Downloads', and 'D:\My Music\Various
Artists\Super Hits of the '70s Have a Nice Day, Vol. 15'.

You can navigate to each of these folders in explorer, locate and select the file named
'folder.jpg', and press the delete key.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I did find some file listings but I still don't know how to delete them. What
do you mean by "delete them from the containing folder"?

:
If any file listings are returned, you've found pictures that will be shown as thumbnail pics
for
their containing folders. If you don't want them, delete them from the containing folder: