Windows 10: Enable or Disable Auto Arrange in Folders in Windows 10

Which download did you use? I'll do some testing with it.

 

I used the one you referred me to in this thread for Win 8.1. I do have this computer setup for multiple displays (TV and PC). The BAT file works fine on the Win 8 / 10 computer. I wonder if something is different about the upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 that has created this problem?

 

I've never had it affect the desktop before.

You might see if enabling/disabling auto arrange again may toggle it to work properly for you.

 

Brink, I tried it and it’s still not working right.


I had tried a REG file (disableautoarrange.reg) before I found your post and that didn’t’ work right and then I tried your first BAT file, that didn’t work and then the Win 8 BAT file did work.

I think in the process my Registry has become corrupt. I tried to undo all I’ve done first by clicking on the UNDO.REG which came with disableautoarrange.reg Then I tried to restore everything back to normal by using this BAT of yours:
Enable_Auto_Arrange_in_File_Explorer.bat
Isn’t that what it’s for?

I then used this BAT:
Disable_Windows_8_Explorer_Auto_Arrange.bat - Still same problem.


I saw some posts about this behavior and someone said the registry likely has become corrupt. So I think the easy thing to do since you’re not seeing this type of behavior, is for me to revert to an image file before I started this, backup the registry file, and then only do your Win 8 BAT. Let me know if you have other suggestions before I revert.


Thanks for all your outstanding help!

 

It sounds like you may have some other issue at hand. Step 5 in this tutorial will completely undo the changes made by the disable auto arrange .reg file, then resets folder views back to default.

Reverting back to a previous image would be the fastest and easiest way to sort whatever this issue is.

 

I reverted to 2/20/16 image. Just to be safe, I changed Nvidia to use 1 display, not 2 displays with the TV+PC. Then I double clicked disable_windows_8_explorer_auto_arrange.bat I then rebooted the computer. The icons positions were again lost. I toggled auto arrange on and off on the desktop View. I then rebooted the computer. The icons positions were again lost. This is a strange one for sure. If you think of anything else let me know.

 

The positions were lost since the .bat will restart explorer to apply the changes, but also causes the desktop to be refreshed. I'm not sure about why your desktop icon get auto arranged after restarting the computer though.

Check to see if you have auto arrange turned on for your "C:\Users\(user-name)\Desktop" folder to see if that may be causing it.

 

I think you may be on to something. It didn't occur to me to mention that I always move my desktop to my E drive. Yet I've noticed some desktop icons seem to come from the Users area. I'm not sure how I can check the settings for these desktop folders. I can't right click Desktop and find any settings. I wonder if I need to temporarily move my desktop folder back to the default and after I do this BAT then move it back?

 

Browse to and open the actual folder to see if you may have the setting there instead.

 

Ok I ran
Disable_Windows_8_Explorer_Auto_Arrange.bat
rebooted, used iconoid to fix icons, then it auto arranged by itself a 2nd time.

I went to this directory and right clicked and chose view small icons, uncheck align to grid and check and unchecked auto arrange

C:\users\gerry peters\desktop

did the same for
C:/public/desktop
and
e:\desktop

I found this folder, which only had desktop.ini in it from win 7
c:\desktop win7 (should I delete this folder?)
After these changes I rebooted and have same icon problem

Any ideas? Maybe I need to go back to the default settings for desktop and move it back to C. What are the default desktop locations?

 

The problem is that the desktop has always been notorious about auto arranging your icons when it gets refreshed for whatever reason.

In your situation, it may be best to use the 3rd party program you mentioned to restore your desktop arrangement when it gets changed. *Sad

 

Thanks for all your help. I've heard others complain about these desktop auto arrange quirks, so for whatever reason, I've gotten afflicted. I’ll likely just revert to an earlier image file and just keep this BAT file for my other computer which works fine with it

 

You're welcome. I hope it'll behave for you soon.

 

Hello Brink ,

just wanted to say thank you for those awesome tutorials and BAT files to allow us non-tech people the joy of arranging our files in whatever way we enjoy again. Microsoft really droped the ball not giving its users the option to turn it on or off.

Litte question from my side. I am running Windows 10 Home and used your above linked Bat file for Win. 8.1 that allows me to keep the normal view of the drives in "This PC" folder. Works like a charm even under Win 10. However, is there a way to modify the default view to Medium icons instead of details and also keep auto-arrange on by default? Basically the Option 3 A) from your windows 10 tutorial but maintaining the normal view in the "This PC" folder?

This is the tutorial I am refering to: Auto Arrange in Folders - Enable or Disable in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Having the default view on medium icons would be a nice bonus but most important for me would be the option of having auto-arrange on by default so I can switch it off when needed instead of vice versa *Smile (which is the case when running that win 8.1 bat file) Would this be possible? Or is it too much work on your side to ask for?

Kind Regards

Max

 

Hello Max, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

If you like, you could set one folder to use medium icons, and then use apply to folders to do so. When you disable auto arrange, the .bat sets all folders to use the "General Items" folder template to make this possible to do.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3...dows-10-a.html