Solved Specific desktop folders reset their view settings

Brutus

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We all know the terrible history of Windows and folder view settings. They've limited some of the customization options and most of the problems went away. Windows 8 is rather decent in saving the folder view settings. All the folders in my local drives keep their view settings and I have no problems. However, I have a couple folders on my desktop that keep reverting to the default view settings and it is a bit irritating.

Here's the situation: I have several folders on my desktop. Some of them are shortcuts and some of them are located on the desktop itself. The shortcut ones have no problems with the view settings. The ones located on the desktop on the other hand keep resetting to the default view settings. They contain only one type of files - shortcuts for my programs and games. I'm not sure if the type of customization makes any difference, but one of the folders I like to view in tiles and the others in large icons. I usually sort them by date created. No matter of the view or sort setting though, they reset to the default details view quite often.

I've tried most of the possible solutions. I've also deleted and created the folders again but the problems persists. I've tried to identify the actions that might force the reset but I have no definite answer. In past versions of Windows it seemed there were some "connections" between random folders and changing the view settings of one affected the other but I don't think that's the case here because I don't change view settings at all. Something else that might be causing it is just simple browsing in folders on my local drivers. Sometimes I browse folders on my system partition and then when I check, the desktop folders are reset to the default setting. However if I try to force that change I can't identify a pattern. It seems strange and I can't understand what mechanism could be causing such a change. Something else I thought about is starting a particular program or a game. I don't know if an executable file could initiate something like that. For example when I start one of my programs, it forces the first image in my wallpapers folder on the background. However I had the view settings problem even before I installed the program.

It's not such a big problem since it is affecting just some folders on the desktop but it would be nice if I fix it. I thought of some way of "locking" the view settings. However I'm not sure where that information is stored and how I can manipulate it. It would be great if I manually set the view settings via a configuration file or something and make it read-only. I've started looking for that option but also decided to post here. Maybe some of you can offer a solution. Thanks in advance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Core
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS G75VX
I have 8.1 Pro so my View settings may not apply to yours.

If I set a View it stays that way unless I change it.
Picture-

screenshot_290.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
Thanks for your response.

My other laptop runs 8.1 and I know for sure that there are some changes regarding folder view settings. However I don't think they affect my problem. As I said it is rather specific. It is happening only on desktop non-shortcut folders and I don't think the method of changing the view settings has anything to do with it.

I've used one of NirSoft's great tools and identified the registry keys that store the view settings. Now I have to check if I can lock these keys.

- - -

I am able to deny permissions to the registry keys but it might be changing nothing. It doesn't seem Windows has very straightforward approach to saving folder view settings. Changing the settings sometimes just ends in a new registry key. Sometimes different folders seem to use the same "slot number" (particular registry folder for view settings) and then change to another. Maybe the tool is misreading the registry or the mechanism for folder view settings has a strange algorithm. It seems sometimes the settings for a folder are saved not at the moment but when you change some other folder's settings.

Obviously it's not so simple to deal with. It may not be worth the time trying to figure something that at the end might just be buggy but I'd appreciate any replies and possible solutions.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Core
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS G75VX
I decided it's just not worth trying to understand what's wrong with this particular situation. There's a good chance it is just bugged and there's no point trying to fix it.

Usually I'm not satisfied leaving things unresolved but I used a pretty simple workaround which has no practical drawbacks. I just moved all my shortcuts from the desktop to a non-system hard drive and then created a shortcut for that. Huh, funny rubbish, but that's what happens sometimes with Windows.

I'll mark this as solved even though it is not the solution I was looking for. Hope it helps in the unlikely situation of somebody else having a similar issue.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Core
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS G75VX
I feel your pain. Way back when, I thought desktop.ini controlled how File Explorer displayed the folder's contents.

I use XNView as my primary File Explorer. Since I can't figure out how to 'move' .html files and their folders in a single step with XNView, I have to resort to Windows File Explorer to do that. Otherwise, I would use XNView as my SOLE File Explorer.

I growl every time the column, TYPE, appears in File Explorer. Such a waste.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
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