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Making Folder Customizations Stick

Since the introduction of Windows 98, users of Windows have had the ability to change how a particular folder looks in Windows Explorer. A nice enhancement, but it has never worked sensibly. More often than not, folders do not inherit customizations, or they simply fail to retain the changes. If you have never tried this before, here is how to do it:

  1. Open Windows Explorer.
  2. Click on View and then Customize This Folder.
  3. Select the type of view you want to use. "Pictures" is the Thumbnail view, Photo Album creates a slide show type.
  4. Check the box next to Also apply this template to all subfolders.
  5. Click OK.
Your changes should be effective immediately. When you change a folder's customization options, you'd think that little checkbox to apply the settings to subfolders would just work. Well, it does work - but not until you help it with a small change elsewhere first. I couldn't believe the stupidity of this annoyance when I discovered its source.

Open Explorer, and go to Tools - Folder Options. Clear the checkbox next to Remember each folder's view settings. Click Apply.

Next, follow the steps that you normally use to customize a folder: View - Customize This Folder . Select your view settings, tick the checkbox to apply to all subfolders, and apply. Then go back and enable Remember each folder's view settings. Your changes should stick.

Along the same lines is the problem Explorer sometimes has with view settings for individual folders. This includes window sizes and positions, among others. By default, Windows will remember view settings for up to 400 folders. These settings are all stored in the registry under the following keys:
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \Shell \Bags]
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \Shell \BagMRU]
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \ShellNoRoam \Bags]
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \ShellNoRoam \BagMRU]
Deleting these keys will wipe out any saved view settings (but the keys themselves will regenerate). Under Bags are a series of numbers which correspond to the folders whose settings are remembered. Now here's the dumb part: the numbers aren't assigned in a sensible order; they're apparently assigned as you modify folder view settings - so customizing a particular folder requires you to use a tool like RegMon to track down which number refers to the corresponding folder.

You can configure for how many folders will remember customization by modifying or creating the following DWORD values (I don't know if there's an upper limit):
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \Shell
    BagMRU Size = 1000
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \ShellNoRoam
    BagMRU Size = 1000
A note: Folders will only inherit a particular view type if you do not re-enable "Remember each folder's view settings" before actually viewing the folders. This parameter/checkbox must remain cleared, and you must view the subfolders in order for them to inherit the proper setting - before re-enabling the tick in the checkbox next to that option. Once you have viewed the folders, you can then re-enable the "Remember" setting to ensure that they remain unchanged.
 

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