Setting / locking the explorer.exe view

[besonen]

i want to prevent some users from changing an explorer.exe view setting (because they get confused when they change this setting accidentally).

specifically, how can i lock the explorer.exe view to "details"? iow, i don't want a user to be able to switch the view to thumbnails, tiles, icons, or list.

thanks,

david

[cluberti]

There's probably a group policy setting that will do what you want. Type gpedit.msc in the run box and have a look around.

Unfortunately, there is no group policy for this, as it only exists for Vista and higher - XP, 2003, etc. lacks any policy to configure these settings or lock them down. However, it can be done. Please again make note that there's no group policy that will lock this down, and what I'm posting here isn't really documented anywhere at all; also, the registry changes currently work only for XP/2003 and potentially Windows 2000, but do not work in Vista or newer - you must add the key {5C4F28B5-F869-4E84-8E60-F11DB97C5CC7} after \AllFolders\Shell\ for it to work there. Also, in Vista+ there's a GPO for this, as above, so I guess that's not really an issue). Without further ado, this is how you would force all user folder views to Explorer by default:

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell
Value: WFlags
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 0

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell
Value: Status
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 0

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell
Value: Mode
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 4

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell
Value: vid
Type: REG_SZ
Data: {137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}


Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell
Value: WFlags
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 0

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell
Value: Status
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 0

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell
Value: Mode
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 4

Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell
Value: vid
Type: REG_SZ
Data: {137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}

Here's a .reg that will force "details" view for all current and new folders if imported into a logged-on user's registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"WFlags"=dword:00000000
"Status"=dword:00000000
"Mode"=dword:00000004
"vid"="{137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
"WFlags"=dword:00000000
"Status"=dword:00000000
"Mode"=dword:00000004
"vid"="{137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"

Here are all of the possible "mode" and "vid" values that can be set:

Name 	Mode VID
Icons 	1 {0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}
List 	3 {0E1FA5E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}
Details 4 {137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}
Thumbnail 5 {8BEBB290-52D0-11D0-B7F4-00C04FD706EC}
Tiles 	6 {65F125E5-7BE1-4810-BA9D-D271C8432CE3}
Filmstrip 7 {8EEFA624-D1E9-445B-94B7-74FBCE2EA11A}

EDIT 9th April 2010: Someone documents the Vista/Win7 version of this here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/win7-entries-related-folder-views-t142961-pid-917586.html/page__gopid__917586

Edited April 9, 2010 by cluberti
Someone else documents this here as well, see EDIT.

[Noise]

OMG Cluberti I love you!@

But it's a fleeting IT kind of love, that will soon be replaced when I get distracted by something shiny later on.

But those registry settings could be loaded and then locked down with ACL's.

/scampers off to look for old setacl.exe script...

// oooo look - something shiny!

[besonen]

this is how you would force all user folder views . . .

thank you.

Here’s a .reg that will force “details” view for all current and new folders

does this mean that i would need execute the "Apply to All Folders" command after these .reg settings were applied in order to propagate this view to all folders?

[besonen]

But those registry settings could be loaded and then locked down with ACL's.

/scampers off to look for old setacl.exe script...

this sounds useful.

could you post your solution after you implement it?

[Noise]

Well, I doubt I'll take the time to try it out unless I have a reason to. I could have used Cluberti's script 4 years ago really really bad.

But you can do it yourself if you want to. Just make sure you do it on a test (vmware) machine, because if you screw up registry permissions you are really screwed.

First log on as the user you want to lock down, then load Cluberti's registry file. Then, use SETACL.EXE to remove inheritance from the registry keys listed in Cluberti's registry files. Then lock the rights to those keys to "everyone" readonly. That way the currently logged on user will only be able to read those registry keys and not modify them. Should work. The hard part is getting the cryptic commands in setacl.exe correct.

http://setacl.sourceforge.net/html/examples.html

Edited May 19, 2009 by Nois3

[cluberti]

does this mean that i would need execute the "Apply to All Folders" command after these .reg settings were applied in order to propagate this view to all folders?

No, the .reg clears all the user's explorer views they've saved in the user's profile and replaces them with the "explorer" view. It just takes a reg merge, logoff and logon (or apply during a synchronous logon script, before explorer loads), and it's done.

[cluberti]

Well, I doubt I'll take the time to try it out unless I have a reason to. I could have used Cluberti's script 4 years ago really really bad.

I figured it out a few years ago, but I don't support XP anymore so I'd basically forgotten it. Thank goodness for email search!

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

What would I have to do to set the view to "Icons"?

Thanks in advance.

[Noise]

What would I have to do to set the view to "Icons"?

You'd have to be crazy.

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

What would I have to do to set the view to "Icons"?

You'd have to be crazy.

Yeah, thanks, very funny. I appreciate a bit of humour, especially when it's supported by facts. Nevertheless, I'm sticking to my question.

[cluberti]

Set the mode and vid values in the registry for icons?

Name Mode VID

Icons 1 {0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}

[schloss]

EDIT 9th April 2010: Someone documents the Vista/Win7 version of this here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/win7-entries-related-folder-views-t142961-pid-917586.html/page__gopid__917586

That link is broken.

Try this for now: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/142961-new-win7-reg-entries-related-to-folder-views/

[junebug2012]

OK...

I'm as green as they come with this stuff.... so please bear with me.

I'm trying this out and i'm not getting any results.

When i went into the reg the branch, [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell and [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\AllFolders\Shell] Didn't exist.

All that was there was [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags] and [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags]

So, I created the rest of the branch, created the keys and set the values exactly as above.

Reboot. open a few folders.... no change...

What am I missing here?

Thanks for your time.

Edited February 12, 2011 by junebug2012

[dencorso]

Here. Try to merge this reg file. Then let me know what happened.

explorer_details.reg