Folders always shown in Details view

When I open Windows Explorer in Vista Basic it opens in "Details" view. I
change it to "List" and most of the time it opens in List view after that,
but not always. Is there a way to change all folders to open in "List" view
instead of changing each one as I open it?

In Vista, separate view information is retained for each folder type -- 'All
Items', 'Documents', etc. So you need to set a folder to your preferred
view & then use:

'Organize' - 'Folder & Search Options' -> 'View' tab -> 'Apply to Folders'

once for each folder type. You can do this fairly quickly by creating a new
folder on the desktop, setting the view to list, then using 'Apply to
Folders'. This will set the view defaults for the 'All Items' template.
Then, from the 'Customize' tab in the folder's Properties dialog, change the
template to 'Documents' and repeat these steps. Do once for each folder
type.

If you want to go one step further and override content-sniffing (where
Explorer makes its best guess at which template to use), here are my
instructions to force the 'All Items' template on all folders.


Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as a .reg file.
Watch out for line wrap -- [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line,
there is a space between 'Local' and 'Settings'.


--------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00


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


--------------------------------------------------


Merging the .reg file will set the 'All Items' template for any folders that
don't currently have a view saved with a different template. You can clear
all saved views by deleting the


"HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags"


key BEFORE merging the .reg file. If any folders open with a different
template after clearing the 'Bags' key & merging the .reg file, they most
likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file (a rare
situation).


--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]



"Dennis Duke" <kb4xn@amsat.org> wrote in message
news:4790da78$0$5179$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> When I open Windows Explorer in Vista Basic it opens in "Details" view. I
> change it to "List" and most of the time it opens in List view after that,
> but not always. Is there a way to change all folders to open in "List"
> view instead of changing each one as I open it?