Vista's Weird Folder View Problem

[Guest]

I know that there are a lot of posts about Vista's problem with folder views.
I am getting very frustrated too. I like the way I customise my folders, and
Vista always ruins them. Just recently, Vista decided that Program files and
Windows folders contained Music Files and changed them to that template. Now
the columns contained things like Album, Artist, Rating, things all
irrelevant to these types of folders. So i tried to go Customize the folder,
by going to Properties then Customize. There was nothing there; you can't
customize them. I realised these folders are important system files that
couldn't be tampered with, but Vista decided to play around with it. So I
just had to remove those unwanted columns and add the ones i liked. But they
are still classifed as Music Details folders as evident when i right-click on
the column bar, and the quick Columns i can insert are all related to Music.
Is there any way to get the Program files and Windows folders back to the All
Items template like it was in the first place?

PS. Microsoft should be working on a way to fix the Folder View Problem.

 

[Guest]

You should edit the Registry:

Open Registry Editor and delete this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags. Note that you will lose all
folder customizations you've made so far. If you would like to fix only the
affected folder, please post back and I'll give you further information on
this.

 

[Guest]

Oh great now I got 6 registry errors instead of 5.

according to WLOC web security scanners registry there is now 6 errors that
can't be fixed

 

[Grant]

You should edit the Registry:

Open Registry Editor and delete this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local
Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags. Note that you will lose
all folder customizations you've made so far. If you would like to fix
only the affected folder, please post back and I'll give you further
information on this.

"Edit the Registry" Should this be necessary on such a wonderful platform.This is Bloody ridiculous, it just gets worse ever day.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply. I just want to know how to fix the Program Files amd
Windows folders. And any tips on how to fix any other folders when i need to
will also be appreciated.

 

[Guy Thomas]

Oh great now I got 6 registry errors instead of 5.

according to WLOC web security scanners registry there is now 6 errors
that
can't be fixed

Could this be the problem that you refer to?
If so, here is how to edit the registry and return to normal.
http://computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_registry_bags.htm

Guy

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

I've got a script nearly ready that will repair this problem -- but I have
to get to Dog Obedience class right now. Will post it later tonite.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Right-click on the link below and select 'Save Target As...' and save the
zip to your computer. Then unzip & run the script.

http://mysite.verizon.net/res18hr7/TaskPaneFix-Vista.zip


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I've got a script nearly ready that will repair this problem -- but I have
to get to Dog Obedience class right now. Will post it later tonite.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I know that there are a lot of posts about Vista's problem with folder
views.
I am getting very frustrated too. I like the way I customise my folders,
and
Vista always ruins them. Just recently, Vista decided that Program files
and
Windows folders contained Music Files and changed them to that template.
Now
the columns contained things like Album, Artist, Rating, things all
irrelevant to these types of folders. So i tried to go Customize the
folder,
by going to Properties then Customize. There was nothing there; you can't
customize them. I realised these folders are important system files that
couldn't be tampered with, but Vista decided to play around with it. So I
just had to remove those unwanted columns and add the ones i liked. But
they
are still classifed as Music Details folders as evident when i
right-click on
the column bar, and the quick Columns i can insert are all related to
Music.
Is there any way to get the Program files and Windows folders back to the
All
Items template like it was in the first place?

PS. Microsoft should be working on a way to fix the Folder View Problem.

 

[Guest]

umm... What exactly does this script do and how do i make it work?

Right-click on the link below and select 'Save Target As...' and save the
zip to your computer. Then unzip & run the script.

http://mysite.verizon.net/res18hr7/TaskPaneFix-Vista.zip


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I've got a script nearly ready that will repair this problem -- but I have
to get to Dog Obedience class right now. Will post it later tonite.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I know that there are a lot of posts about Vista's problem with folder
views.
I am getting very frustrated too. I like the way I customise my folders,
and
Vista always ruins them. Just recently, Vista decided that Program files
and
Windows folders contained Music Files and changed them to that template.
Now
the columns contained things like Album, Artist, Rating, things all
irrelevant to these types of folders. So i tried to go Customize the
folder,
by going to Properties then Customize. There was nothing there; you can't
customize them. I realised these folders are important system files that
couldn't be tampered with, but Vista decided to play around with it. So I
just had to remove those unwanted columns and add the ones i liked. But
they
are still classifed as Music Details folders as evident when i
right-click on
the column bar, and the quick Columns i can insert are all related to
Music.
Is there any way to get the Program files and Windows folders back to the
All
Items template like it was in the first place?

PS. Microsoft should be working on a way to fix the Folder View Problem.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

A script is just a text file with an extension of .vbs rather than .txt. If
you right-click the file & select 'Edit', it will open in Notepad where you
can examine the contents. 'Opening' the script will run it.

When you run the script, you'll be prompted to select the folder(s) you wish
to repair. The script opens & closes the folder(s) to locate the
appropriate subkey of 'HKCU\....\Bags' that holds the view settings for that
folder. It then adds a value named 'FolderType' with the data
"NotSpecified" (= All Items, the most general template). The 'FolderType'
value will override 'SniffedFolderType' which is the value that tends to get
confused & get set to 'Music' or 'Pictures'

Google me on the XP newsgroups, I have a pretty good reputation


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

umm... What exactly does this script do and how do i make it work?

Right-click on the link below and select 'Save Target As...' and save the
zip to your computer. Then unzip & run the script.

http://mysite.verizon.net/res18hr7/TaskPaneFix-Vista.zip


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I've got a script nearly ready that will repair this problem -- but I
have
to get to Dog Obedience class right now. Will post it later tonite.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I know that there are a lot of posts about Vista's problem with folder
views.
I am getting very frustrated too. I like the way I customise my
folders,
and
Vista always ruins them. Just recently, Vista decided that Program
files
and
Windows folders contained Music Files and changed them to that
template.
Now
the columns contained things like Album, Artist, Rating, things all
irrelevant to these types of folders. So i tried to go Customize the
folder,
by going to Properties then Customize. There was nothing there; you
can't
customize them. I realised these folders are important system files
that
couldn't be tampered with, but Vista decided to play around with it.
So I
just had to remove those unwanted columns and add the ones i liked.
But
they
are still classifed as Music Details folders as evident when i
right-click on
the column bar, and the quick Columns i can insert are all related to
Music.
Is there any way to get the Program files and Windows folders back to
the
All
Items template like it was in the first place?

PS. Microsoft should be working on a way to fix the Folder View
Problem.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for this, it worked great. Just one last thing, will deleting the
SniffedFolderType do the same thing as this script i.e set the folder
template to All Items?

A script is just a text file with an extension of .vbs rather than .txt. If
you right-click the file & select 'Edit', it will open in Notepad where you
can examine the contents. 'Opening' the script will run it.

When you run the script, you'll be prompted to select the folder(s) you wish
to repair. The script opens & closes the folder(s) to locate the
appropriate subkey of 'HKCU\....\Bags' that holds the view settings for that
folder. It then adds a value named 'FolderType' with the data
"NotSpecified" (= All Items, the most general template). The 'FolderType'
value will override 'SniffedFolderType' which is the value that tends to get
confused & get set to 'Music' or 'Pictures'

Google me on the XP newsgroups, I have a pretty good reputation


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

umm... What exactly does this script do and how do i make it work?

Right-click on the link below and select 'Save Target As...' and save the
zip to your computer. Then unzip & run the script.

http://mysite.verizon.net/res18hr7/TaskPaneFix-Vista.zip


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I've got a script nearly ready that will repair this problem -- but I
have
to get to Dog Obedience class right now. Will post it later tonite.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I know that there are a lot of posts about Vista's problem with folder
views.
I am getting very frustrated too. I like the way I customise my
folders,
and
Vista always ruins them. Just recently, Vista decided that Program
files
and
Windows folders contained Music Files and changed them to that
template.
Now
the columns contained things like Album, Artist, Rating, things all
irrelevant to these types of folders. So i tried to go Customize the
folder,
by going to Properties then Customize. There was nothing there; you
can't
customize them. I realised these folders are important system files
that
couldn't be tampered with, but Vista decided to play around with it.
So I
just had to remove those unwanted columns and add the ones i liked.
But
they
are still classifed as Music Details folders as evident when i
right-click on
the column bar, and the quick Columns i can insert are all related to
Music.
Is there any way to get the Program files and Windows folders back to
the
All
Items template like it was in the first place?

PS. Microsoft should be working on a way to fix the Folder View
Problem.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

You're welcome.

will deleting the SniffedFolderType do the same thing as this script...

It probably would, at least for a while, but it's my guess that whatever
binary hiccup set it wrong the first time may occur again. AFAIK,
FolderType overrules SniffedFolderType. As it is only set via the Customize
dialog, which is unavailable to the affected folders, I think setting
FolderType is more likely to 'lock' the folders with the proper template.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

Thanks for this, it worked great. Just one last thing, will deleting the
SniffedFolderType do the same thing as this script i.e set the folder
template to All Items?

A script is just a text file with an extension of .vbs rather than .txt.
If
you right-click the file & select 'Edit', it will open in Notepad where
you
can examine the contents. 'Opening' the script will run it.

When you run the script, you'll be prompted to select the folder(s) you
wish
to repair. The script opens & closes the folder(s) to locate the
appropriate subkey of 'HKCU\....\Bags' that holds the view settings for
that
folder. It then adds a value named 'FolderType' with the data
"NotSpecified" (= All Items, the most general template). The
'FolderType'
value will override 'SniffedFolderType' which is the value that tends to
get
confused & get set to 'Music' or 'Pictures'

Google me on the XP newsgroups, I have a pretty good reputation


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

umm... What exactly does this script do and how do i make it work?

:

Right-click on the link below and select 'Save Target As...' and save
the
zip to your computer. Then unzip & run the script.

http://mysite.verizon.net/res18hr7/TaskPaneFix-Vista.zip


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I've got a script nearly ready that will repair this problem -- but
I
have
to get to Dog Obedience class right now. Will post it later tonite.


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]

I know that there are a lot of posts about Vista's problem with
folder
views.
I am getting very frustrated too. I like the way I customise my
folders,
and
Vista always ruins them. Just recently, Vista decided that Program
files
and
Windows folders contained Music Files and changed them to that
template.
Now
the columns contained things like Album, Artist, Rating, things all
irrelevant to these types of folders. So i tried to go Customize
the
folder,
by going to Properties then Customize. There was nothing there; you
can't
customize them. I realised these folders are important system files
that
couldn't be tampered with, but Vista decided to play around with
it.
So I
just had to remove those unwanted columns and add the ones i liked.
But
they
are still classifed as Music Details folders as evident when i
right-click on
the column bar, and the quick Columns i can insert are all related
to
Music.
Is there any way to get the Program files and Windows folders back
to
the
All
Items template like it was in the first place?

PS. Microsoft should be working on a way to fix the Folder View
Problem.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

That script is for folders that take on the wrong template (documents,
music, pics, etc) and don't have a 'Customize' tab in their Properties
dialog (Programs, Computer, System Drive), which allows the user to restore
the 'All Items' template.

You sound more like a victim of content-sniffing on folders that you can
customize. Try explicitly setting the folders to be 'All Items' and see if
that doesn't help stabilize your views.

 

[Keith Miller MVP]

Content-sniffing is when Explorer 'guesses' what template to use based on
the folder contents. If there are picture files, it uses the Picture &
Video template; music files, Music Icons or Music Details, etc.

Are you having problems will all folders or just certain ones?

 

[Mark Bourne]

it happens with random folders.. they simply forget my settings
sometimes, or revert back to Details mode, and sometimes it groups the
folder by name, even though I never specified to do that. makes no
sense.

I've also been having problems with folders changing view apparently at
random (see thread "Folder views randomly changing", started 14/04/07).
Keith suggested a registry edit to effectively disable the content
sniffing for all folders. That does seem to have worked, but some folder
views were still changing. I later noticed that a particular pair of
folders (Computer and C:\Users\Mark\Documents\Uni\Year4) seem to always
have the same view. If I change the view of one, the other also changes
next time I open it! It's as if both folders are mapped to the same
subkey of "HKCU\....\Bags" - maybe some kind of broken hashing (not
knowing how folders are mapped to the Bags keys...)

I've not yet found any other folders paired in this way, but I have most
of my folders set to the same view anyway so probably wouldn't notice.
Maybe some of these apparently random changes aren't quite as random as
they seem.

Doesn't make them any less annoying though, but at least consistent
problems are usually easier to track down and fix ;o)

 

[CPP.Dave]

I know that there are a lot of posts about Vista's problem with folder views.
I am getting very frustrated too. I like the way I customise my folders, and
Vista always ruins them. Just recently, Vista decided that Program files and
Windows folders contained Music Files and changed them to that template. Now
the columns contained things like Album, Artist, Rating, things all
irrelevant to these types of folders. So i tried to go Customize the folder,
by going to Properties then Customize. There was nothing there; you can't
customize them. I realised these folders are important system files that
couldn't be tampered with, but Vista decided to play around with it. So I
just had to remove those unwanted columns and add the ones i liked. But they
are still classifed as Music Details folders as evident when i right-click on
the column bar, and the quick Columns i can insert are all related to Music.
Is there any way to get the Program files and Windows folders back to the All
Items template like it was in the first place?

PS. Microsoft should be working on a way to fix the Folder View Problem.

 

[Keith Miller \(MVP\)]

I've written a script that will fix a folder that doesn't allow
customization. Right-click on the link below and select 'Save Target As...'
and save the
zip to your computer. Then unzip & run the script.


http://mysite.verizon.net/res18hr7/TaskPaneFix-Vista.zip




--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]