Jump to content

Default folder view settings


Recommended Posts

I am building an unattended Windows XP CD. So far i've managed to get everything the way i want, with one nagging exception. On a clean install of Windows the default view settings for My Computer is to have tiles turned on and the icons shown in groups. I want to use icon view (instead of tiles) and want the "show in groups" to be turned off. Does anyone know of a way to accomplish this?

So far i've tried using RegShot to capture the registry before making the changes by hand, and then afterwards. However, when i compare the two registry shots there is no change! This makes me wonder if the changes i want can even be done through registry edits. If not, does anyone know how else it can be done?

Link to comment
Share on other sites


That's a mess : the folder view are often stored in RAM.

And sometimes, Windows thinks about remembering them... (on logoff)

You should try to hold down CTRL while closing the "personalized folder windows" (with the mouse and the [X] case) ; sometimes it helps... (this shortcut was introduced in IE 4 or 5, and I never managed to make it works ALL times... you may "reset" folder view options before use)

If you succeed, the value will be a binary one named "Streams" (somewhere under HK??\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer I think)

bye

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally managed to set My Computer's view settings. I did it by 1) creating a local user, 2) logging in as the user and immediately logging out (in order to create a profile), 3) as administrator loading the user's registry hive and capturing it with RegShot 4) logging in as the user, opening My Computer and setting icon view and unchecking "show in groups" 5) as administrator loading the user's hive again and capturing it a second time 6) comparing the two registry captures and then weeding out the parts that didn't have any effect. To determine what had an effect or not i made a backup copy of Default User's registry hive. Then for each round of testing i would delete the user's profile, load Default User's hive and apply changes to it, then log in as the user (to get a new profile based on Default User) and see what My Computer looks like.

Ultimately, these are the registry changes i found. If someone knows how to get them integrated into nLite that would be wonderful. I'm still working on the registry hack to make this apply to all folders rather than just My Computer as it does now. I'll probably have that in a day or two and will post it here.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Set view settings for My Computer to icon view and don't arrange icons in groups.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU]
"NodeSlots"=hex:02
"MRUListEx"=hex:00,00,00,00,ff,ff,ff,ff
"0"=hex:14,00,1f,50,e0,4f,d0,20,ea,3a,69,10,a2,d8,08,00,2b,30,30,9d,00,00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU\0]
"NodeSlot"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell]
"WFlags"=dword:00000000
"ShowCmd"=dword:00000001
"FFlags"=dword:00000000
"Vid"="{0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
"ColInfo"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,fd,df,df,fd,0f,\
 00,05,00,24,00,10,00,2e,00,46,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,03,00,\
 00,00,04,00,00,00,78,00,96,00,60,00,60,00,78,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,02,\
 00,00,00,03,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,ff,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
 00
; This part is not strictly necessary. It sets the window position for a few popular screen resolutions.
"WinPos800x600(1).left"=dword:00000030
"WinPos800x600(1).top"=dword:00000040
"WinPos800x600(1).right"=dword:000001e0
"WinPos800x600(1).bottom"=dword:000001f0
"ScrollPos800x600(1).x"=dword:00000000
"ScrollPos800x600(1).y"=dword:00000000
"WinPos1024x768(1).left"=dword:00000030
"WinPos1024x768(1).top"=dword:00000040
"WinPos1024x768(1).right"=dword:000001e0
"WinPos1024x768(1).bottom"=dword:000001f0
"ScrollPos1024x768(1).x"=dword:00000000
"ScrollPos1024x768(1).y"=dword:00000000
"WinPos1280x1024(1).left"=dword:00000030
"WinPos1280x1024(1).top"=dword:00000040
"WinPos1280x1024(1).right"=dword:000001e0
"WinPos1280x1024(1).bottom"=dword:000001f0
"ScrollPos1280x1024(1).x"=dword:00000000
"ScrollPos1280x1024(1).y"=dword:00000000

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It took less time than i anticipated, but here's the registry patch to make My Computer view settings apply to all folders. Both registry edits (the one above and this one) i apply to the Default User profile (change HKEY_CURRENT_USER as necessary) so that they affect new users. I haven't tested yet what these edits do to an existing user; i'll leave that to someone else since i'm using these in an install CD and so won't have to deal with the problem of pre-existing users.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Applies My Computer view settings to all folders.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams]
"Settings"=hex(3):08,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,E0,D0,57,00,73,35,CF,11,AE,\
 69,08,00,2B,2E,12,62,04,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,43,00,00,00

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
  • 11 months later...

I'm using RegMon to capture changes to the registry in real-time. Just google for RegMon, the first result should direct you to a microsoft-website. Thats where you get it (yes, its a microsoft tool ;)

This is "My Computer": HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell\

Each colum has its own number (doesn't matter if column is shown or not), so "Sort" can be

0 = Name

1 = Type

2 = whole space

3 = free space

4 = filesystem

5 = commentary

Ascending/Descending is saved in "SortDir" and can be

1 = Ascending (A -> B -> .... -> Y -> Z)

4294967295 = Descending (Z -> Y -> .... -> B -> A)

Example:

To sort by Name ascending, you use:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell\Sort "0"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell\SortDir "1"

To sort by Name descending, you use:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell\Sort "0"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell\SortDir "4294967295"

To sort by commentary ascending, you use:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell\Sort "5"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell\SortDir "1"

To sort by commentary descending, you use:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell\Sort "5"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell\SortDir "4294967295"

Sort and SortDir are both REG_DWORD and data is inserted as Decimal!

Edited by an3k
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The information about width of each column, which column is shown and if shown in groups (or not) is saved in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags\1\Shell\ColInfo

How do i do:

1) setup the view in "My Computer" like you want it to be (eg. no group view, sorted by name ascending, smallest width for column name, type, whole space and free space, disabled column filesystem and commentary)

2) log off

3) log in

4) save the registry path named above

5) remove everything except the ColInfo entry and save the file

To test if that works i totally mixed up the view in "My Computer" (used to small width for columns, disabled column type, free space and enabled filetype and commentary), then i logged off and in again, then i applied the modified and saved reg file i made some minutes ago (see above). then i logged off and in again and "My Computer" looks like i setup it up before!

Awesome :)

Edited by an3k
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...