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Fix Windows Vista's Folder Templates

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Windows Vista finds itself making assumptions about your folders' content - we all know how we were told in school to remember the spelling right? Assume? Don't assume; you'll make an ass out of u and me. Something the Microsoft engineers forgot to take into account.

I can't count the times I open a folder and find that Vista thinks it should contain pictures, so it shows the columns Name, Date taken, Tags, Size and Rating. The example below shows a partition (in this case not a folder) containing Microsoft Virtual Machines and Virtual Hard Drives (part of Microsoft Virtual PC) that Windows Vista assumes to be pictures.

Vista's Folder Template


You should know that the way Vista determines the view of a folder also depends on the view of its parent folder(s). If no view for a folder is specified, Vista will work its way back up the folder path to see if any of the parents' views have an 'Inherit' set (this is how 'Also apply this template to all subfolders works). If there are none, then Vista will check for an AllFolders setting which we will set below. If the AllFolders key exists in the registry and specifies a template, that template is assigned. If no template is specified and no 'AllFolders' setting exist, then Vista's so called 'content sniffing' kicks in. This is where Vista will look at the content of the folder and decides to use a template that would fit the content.

The quick way to get the view I personally prefer is to get to the Properties of the folder (or partition in this case), and from the Customize tab change the folder template to All Items. If you have sub-folders you wish to apply the same customization to, check the Also apply this template to all subfolders.

Vista's Folder Template


You can also give Vista a default template to use for new folders (which is the template Vista will use if no current template has been saved for the folder):

  1. Start the Registry Editor
  2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Classes \ Local Settings \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Shell \ Bags
  3. From the menu, click Edit > New > Key
  4. Name the new key AllFolders (and keep this key selected)
  5. From the menu, click Edit > New > Key
  6. Name the new key Shell (and keep this key selected)
  7. From the menu, click Edit > New > String Value
  8. Name the new value FolderType, right-click it and choose Modify. Enter NotSpecified as the Value data
  9. Close the registry editor

This will make all folders for which you have not set a template (via right-click > Properties > Customize) to be displayed without a template applied.

Now, if you want to reset ALL folders that you have customized in the past, follow the instructions below:

  1. Start the Registry Editor
  2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Classes \ Local Settings \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Shell
  3. Expand the Shell key and delete the Bags key
  4. Close the registry editor (for good measure, close all open Windows Explorer windows, or log off and back on to Windows)

Note: You'll have to re-apply the above AllFolders modification after you delete the Bags key.

By default, Vista will remember 10000 folder settings, 5000 local folders and 5000 network folders. If you think you'll need to have Vista remember more folder's settings, change either one or both of these registry settings:

  1. Start the Registry Editor
  2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Shell \
  3. Double-click the BagMRU Size value, and set the Base to Decimal
  4. Now in the Value data field enter the number of folders for which Windows should remember the settings
  5. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ ShellNoRoam \
  6. Repeat steps 3-6
  7. Close the registry editor

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Shell \ is the key for local files, while HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ ShellNoRoam \ applies to network folders.


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Last Updated: March 5, 2008