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.
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\CurrentVersion\Explorer and delete the value
Shellstate
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\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\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags
Then in Task Manager, File - Run type explorer. (Start menu and Desktop come back).
And check
NoSaveSettings
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\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\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Defaults
as well as a higher set of defaults at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams
Settings=
Plus if you hold down control and click close it also updates
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
Shellstate=
typedef struct {
BOOL fShowAllObjects:1;
BOOL fShowExtensions:1;
BOOL fNoConfirmRecycle:1;
BOOL fShowSysFiles:1;
BOOL fShowCompColor:1;
BOOL fDoubleClickInWebView:1;
BOOL fDesktopHTML:1;
BOOL fWin95Classic:1;
BOOL fDontPrettyPath:1;
BOOL fShowAttribCol:1;
BOOL fMapNetDrvBtn:1;
BOOL fShowInfoTip:1;
BOOL fHideIcons:1;
BOOL fWebView:1;
BOOL fFilter:1;
BOOL fShowSuperHidden:1;
BOOL fNoNetCrawling:1;
DWORD dwWin95Unused;
UINT uWin95Unused;
LONG lParamSort;
int iSortDirection;
UINT version;
UINT uNotUsed;
BOOL fSepProcess:1;
BOOL fStartPanelOn:1;
BOOL fShowStartPage:1;
UINT fSpareFlags:13;
} SHELLSTATE, *LPSHSHELLSTATE;