Keep Vista from Changing Folder View
I've been running Windows Vista since it came out in November 2006. By and large I'm happy with it and wouldn't go back to XP, which I'm still running on some other PCs. However, once annoyance that I've finally gotten fed up enough with to track down the fix is the constantly changing folder view issue. For instance, say you're a developer, which probably isn't a stretch since you're reading my blog. And further, say you're a *web* developer, and your web application has a bunch of files in it, some of which are likely images. Now let's say that one of your cohorts was working on said files, and you quickly want to see which file(s) were most recently touched. Well, usually you just open up Windows Explorer and sort by Date Modified, but no, if Vista finds that somebody has added an image to the folder, suddenly it wants to show you thumbnails and let you tag all of our .cs files. After about the 10th time of seeing this kind of asinine behavior (or maybe you really just want to sort your *pictures* by their last modified date so you can archive them - another thing that's more difficult than it need be), you start getting frustrated and hating your computer.
There is a fix, and it's not terribly difficult. Simply follow these steps, which when complete should leave you with a registry looking like this:
I just did it and everything seems to be working as expected now. When you do legitimately want to change the folder view, you still can. And to save the settings you can go to Folder and Search Options, View tab, and click Apply to Folders. Without this fix, copying a file into a folder would prompt Vista to change its view - now that control is in your hands and won't happen automagically.
Comments
Michael K. Campbell said on 01 Sep 2008 at 12:45 PM
I'm still a bit flabbergasted that MS won't address or fix this issue. It's easily the #1 problem that people have with Vista, shows up in tons of blog posts and articles on 'fixing what suxs'... yet MS pretends like it's a complete non-issue.
Geeks like us can tackle the registry fairly easily... but what about all the 'typical' users MS is targeting with Vista (such as the folks in their 'project mojave' experiment/shennanigans)?
Jason Haley said on 01 Sep 2008 at 2:53 PM
Thanks for posting this ... that has been driving me nuts for awhile.
Rachel said on 01 Sep 2008 at 3:09 PM
This issue has irritated me from time to time and I have always opted to fight with Vista rather than fix it (go figure). Thanks for the post, now I am actually going to fix it.
Rach
Brian Noyes said on 02 Sep 2008 at 10:39 AM
Hallelujah. Fixed at last!
yuren said on 05 Sep 2008 at 9:52 AM
Good trick, thanks, steve..
Mike said on 20 Dec 2008 at 4:41 AM
I think that this neat trick will definitely help me.
busby seo test said on 20 Dec 2008 at 11:16 AM
Thanks for posting this ... that has been driving me nuts for awhile.
Speed Dating in New York said on 02 Jan 2009 at 2:08 AM
I have been having this problem. That's why I keep doing most of my development in my other PC running XP. Now that I have a solution to the problem, maybe I will be more prolific since I rather spend more time on my PC running Vista. Thanks.
Wordpress Magazine Theme said on 06 Jan 2009 at 7:55 AM
I have this problem and other problem when using Vista. But to bad, I found this tips to late. Now I change my Vista to XP :D
Free Download said on 06 Jan 2009 at 8:03 AM
Since my laptop just have 1GB ram that is very minimum requirement to install Vista, until now iam still pretend my xp there. because vista to consume lot of RAM :(
SusieHaz said on 11 Jan 2009 at 9:01 PM
Thank you so much for this article! I've been fighting this for so long and finally vowed to find a solution.
London Tours said on 14 Jan 2009 at 6:20 AM
I am new to Vista but really like it, I have this problem all the time when developing and am thankful to have found this post. Thanks.
Free Windows Registry Repair said on 13 Feb 2009 at 8:50 PM
That's nice. Now we got a permanent solution to that problem. Thanks a lot, its really a great help.
Meeting rooms said on 17 Feb 2009 at 11:30 AM
MS operating systems are always a pain. This issue has irritated me from time to time and I have always opted to fight with Vista rather than fix it (go figure). Thanks for the post, now I am actually going to fix it.
john deer said on 24 Feb 2009 at 6:02 AM
thank you! thank you! This has been frustrating me for so long! Great fix and great tutorial
Savings said on 02 Mar 2009 at 7:35 AM
I definately agree about XP being good enough and I also think businesses learned years ago that jumping into the newest OS's is not worth the risk. Vista is great but XP is very good and it will be years before all the programs are updated to work with Vista. I imagine we will see a strong push over the next two years as companies move to Server 2008 and service pack 1 hits.
mark said on 13 Apr 2009 at 5:52 PM
Hi there, thanks for sharing.
Tnomeralc Web Design Toys said on 24 Apr 2009 at 3:19 AM
Nice tweak. Don't forget backing up the reg before doing so.
dead sea salt said on 25 Apr 2009 at 12:03 AM
I actually like that feature of vista
PK said on 04 May 2009 at 12:57 PM
Would like to thank you, Steve, but I don't have the "All Folders" folder under Bags - only a bunch of folders with numbers. Perhaps it's relative to the version? I'm thinking it's about time I install SP1 maybe, but community sez all the SP1 stuff has already come in via Updates...
biofir said on 06 May 2009 at 5:19 PM
finally i can fix my problem, thanks for the share
Simulation pret said on 14 May 2009 at 12:06 AM
Thanks for sharing this great idea. It will help me fix it.
susunan kabinet 2009 said on 08 Jun 2009 at 6:35 PM
I also use Vista, but now I'm waiting Windows 7. It looks better than Vista.
Donn said on 10 Jun 2009 at 10:40 AM
Nice find. I'm on Win7 now and haven't had this issue (yet)... however on Vista this used to drive me bonkers. Good one. I'm bookmarking this one!
Donn
Hadi Hariri said on 10 Jun 2009 at 10:45 AM
Thanks dude! Works on Windows 7 also
Hadi Hariri said on 10 Jun 2009 at 10:45 AM
Thanks dude. Works on Windows 7 too
matthew said on 12 Jun 2009 at 7:10 AM
This issue has irritated me from time to time and I have always opted to fight with Vista rather than fix it (go figure)
Simon Wilby said on 18 Jun 2009 at 10:15 PM
A nice simple reg tweak.
Magicien said on 19 Jun 2009 at 4:16 AM
Thanks a lot, its really a great help.
Helen Denver said on 06 Jul 2009 at 7:52 AM
This is one of the features I really dislike with Vista. Yesterday, the Vista crashed when I plug it to the screen (??). Lol, I really regret XP.
By the way, thanks for the tip.
G said on 09 Jul 2009 at 2:30 AM
Thanks, this has been bugging the crap out of me since Vista came out. Any idea how to make this change default behavior for all users?
Alessandra said on 20 Jul 2009 at 2:23 AM
Thanks for this tip, however, I can't get the same view of my registry editor, I'm on the 64 bit version of Vista Home Premium and I followed your steps and when I go to the "Bags" folder in the editor, I click the little arrow and all I see are alot of folders that have numbers on them it doesn't show what yours shows, is this only on the 32 bit versions of Vista? Vista really drives me nuts with that, one time I'll have the right folder view, the next it will change it, another bug I find is that it will move my icons around on my desktop in spots that I wouldn't want my icon and I have to place my icon back, it's annoying but I cope with it, is there a way to do this on the 64 bit version of Vista?
New Jersey Speed Dating said on 11 Aug 2009 at 5:08 AM
I am on the 32 bit version, I wish I could help Alessandra with her problem, but maybe you should try switching versions altogether.
EDI said on 11 Aug 2009 at 5:10 AM
I just want to add that I am afraid to messing with the registry because I did it in the past and my entire machine got really troublesome.