Folder view setting won't stick

Question

On my Dell laptop (Latitude D820), I like to set my default folder view to 'details'. Yet, every time I restart the machine, the view(s) revert to 'icons'. So, every time I start the machine, I have to open a folder, set it to 'details', then go up to the 'tools' pulldown, pick 'folder options', click the 'view' tab, and hit the 'apply to all folders' button. I first suspected a dead internal battery, but the date/clock appears to be functioning. I next suspect a virus, but my virus software (NOD 32) hasn't found anything. Same with Adaware and Spywareblaster. Any ideas?

mombodog · Answer

Xp has a registry setting that controls how many folders it will remember the view setting for, if your PC has more than that many folders, it will start forgetting them past that point.   By default XPsp2 has a folder cache setting of 5,000 folders to remember view settings for each folder, if you have in excess of 5,000 folders (total of all harddrives) you have to make a registry change and up it to the maximum of 8,000, to do this Start-Run-regedit and navigate to these two folders   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ Shell     then go to   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ ShellNoRoam   in the right hand pane for each look for 'BagMRU size'  right click 'modify' and select 'decimal' and set 'value data' to 8,000 Do this in both locations, reboot to take effect   If you do not feel good about changing registry settings, enlist the help of a geek friend to help you.

mombodog · Answer

Yup, it will work until you have over 8,000 folders, then you will need Vista, it will do 20,000.   You are welcome.

ac3fac3 · Answer

Yes! That seems to have done it - thanks!

ac3fac3 · Answer

Looks like I spoke too soon. While it worked after restarting, it was back to its old tricks ('icons' rather than 'details') when I started it up over the weekend. In addition to this, all of my desktop icons were scattered around the desktop! Not sure what that was about, but it only happened once. I put them back the way I like them on Saturday. When I powered up on Sunday and Monday they remained in the same spots, but I had to reset the default folder views each time. Are there any other settings I could monkey with?

Windows General

Folder view setting won't stick

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