Windows 10: File Chooser details always seem to get reset

What am I looking for? *Confused

 

I don't think CCleaner is at fault here.

As you can see, every conceivable desktop path and library resource has my custom folder view.

Running CCleaner does not change anything.

I think tomorrow some one of these views will change, but I don't know what will change it.

All my drives are set with Customize - General Items - apply to subfolders.

The C drive does not have that tab in its properties.

I just wanted to show you that, as far as I know, every drive, folder and path on my drives has a single consistent folder view. It isn't easy to make all this happen and I've gone through this many, many times.

This is going to be the last time. Unless it isn't.*Smile Depends on my energy level.

 

I'd rather not move things from J to C.

It will ruin a lot of my workflows, backup strategies, sync methods, etc.

 

Ok. For now, I suppose keep an eye on your folder views to see if it happens to change after any specific action.

 

After seeing that video, this reminded me of settings that I follow after a Windows re-installation. I need to manually browse to a certain folder for it to keep its settings correct. If I type the address in the address bar, the folder view settings may not be the same

Remake a shortcut to the Desktop that has the "correct view settings". Link all your Desktop shortcuts to this certain shortcut file.

 

Every time I traverse a path and end up with a different folder view, I change the view to the way I like and then apply that view to all folders of it's type.

How many types are there? Isn't changing the Shell FolderType as below supposed to turn off the shell discovery method that forces that sort of change?

I don't understand the way Explorer does it's magic, but I would like to turn if off and make every possible view exactly the same.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]"FolderType"="NotSpecified"

 

Here's an example of the problem:




This happened in the last few minutes, because you can see a different Libraries view on the video I just made.

After the video I did these things:

Copied it from Camtasia's folder to my local FTP site folder (on the G drive).
Use Filezilla to upload the video to my FTP site.
Browse it in VLC and using Chrome.
Do these posts.

One of these may have done the mischief.

 

I changed it back again.
Let's see how many minutes this lasts:

 

Just to show you how insane this is, I just saw this change:



It wasn't like that a minute ago,

I feel like I'm losing my mind!!!

 

Here we go again. I changed this view:



Applied those settings to all views of it's type.
And now I see this:




I must be doing something incredibly stupid, but I just don't see it.

 

Just to note, the default folder view you apply to all folders will not get applied to libraries. This would be why libraries may have a different view.

 

Does anyone know what view has 'Item type' instead of 'Type' . Whatever imposes that view seems to be at the root of the problem.

To me it seems that the software that changes folder views is very complex and there is some sneak path of unintended consequences.

I keep going in circles of change with no point of stability.

All I want is really very simple - I want a single folder view for every explorer shell display no matter what I'm looking at and no matter how I get there.

If I could blast away some registry templates and make only one I'd do that, but that sort of change will probably only last until the next Windows Update.

I feel I'm not getting anywhere here, so I will stop now.

 

I'm not aware of a folder template that has "Item Type" instead of "Type" unless you may have added the column.

With the exception of libraries, This PC, and open and save as dialog box locations, the default view you applied should be applied everywhere.

You'll have to manually set the folder view for those locations. I'm not aware of a way to 100% apply to all folders everywhere in one shot.

 

I did not add this, I've never used 'Item Type' as far as I know, and yet it is frequently in the column view for the views that get 'reset'. It may have something to do with Libraries which seem to be a neglected area of Windows development.

I don't know the difference between 'Item type' and 'Type'.

I don't know where this list of file attributes for the column choices is maintained or what they mean. It is obvious that some are meta tags, but others?

And what about my favorite - Link target - does it follow all types of links or just some types of links?

Sorry, because I've spent so much time on this, I find a lot of it a bit irritating because I have to guess about so much of how it works.

I just wish I could be happy with the default views and forget all about this. *chuckle

 

I'm not sure what could be resetting them like that.

As a test, when one resets, set it back to how you wanted, and use "Apply to Folders" again to see if it applies it to all the reset folders again.

*Arrow Set Default Folder View for all Folders in Windows 10 Windows 10 Customization Tutorials