Backup folder settings from old version of windows 10

@MajorFoley I recreated your issue. If a folder view has just been set and that folder has not yet been closed when you run the backup, the new view will not be captured in the backup. I suspect that the Downloads folder view, that is not as expected, had just been set when you ran the backup. It can't be restored if it didn't get backed up.

Just to be clear, this is not a fault of the backup/restore scripts. Explorer doesn't update the BagMRU/Bags keys until you close the window. With all views set and all windows closed, every backup and restore test I ran successfully restored the views of all folders, including the Downloads folder.

@MajorFoley I also just skimmed through the old thread because I was trying to determine if you ever tried a restore of the Explorer views on your old build or if the restore was only attempted after updating Windows. It wasn't clear (there was a lot to read). Please try a restore on your existing build (1809 was it?) and see if ALL of the Downloads folder views have grouping turned off. Navigate there in every way possible (e.g. via This PC, via C:\, and via Open/Save dialogs).

LesFerch said:

@MajorFoley I recreated your issue. If a folder view has just been set and that folder has not yet been closed when you run the backup, the new view will not be captured in the backup. I suspect that the Downloads folder view, that is not as expected, had just been set when you ran the backup. It can't be restored if it didn't get backed up.

Just to be clear, this is not a fault of the backup/restore scripts. Explorer doesn't update the BagMRU/Bags keys until you close the window. With all views set and all windows closed, every backup and restore test I ran successfully restored the views of all folders, including the Downloads folder.

Huh but if i turned off my computer and attempted the backups after that wouldn't it have saved anyway? Your saying i should run the backup with practically EVERYTHING closed? Could have sworn I did that but i guess i can give it another shot... Won't be able to until the weekend though.

LesFerch said:

@MajorFoley I also just skimmed through the old thread because I was trying to determine if you ever tried a restore of the Explorer views on your old build or if the restore was only attempted after updating Windows. It wasn't clear (there was a lot to read). Please try a restore on your existing build (1809 was it?) and see if ALL of the Downloads folder views have grouping turned off. Navigate there in every way possible (e.g. via This PC, via C:\, and via Open/Save dialogs).

When I did the backup it was on 1809, when i did the restore it was on 1909, didn't attempt to use the restore at all on 1809 build.

MajorFoley said:

Huh but if i turned off my computer and attempted the backups after that wouldn't it have saved anyway? Your saying i should run the backup with practically EVERYTHING closed? Could have sworn I did that but i guess i can give it another shot... Won't be able to until the weekend though. When I did the backup it was on 1809, when i did the restore it was on 1909, didn't attempt to use the restore at all on 1809 build.

Once you close a window, it's view is saved in the registry, so maybe that's not the issue.

Could you send me a copy of your BagMRU and Bags registry backup files? I would like to see what got captured in those files. There's no personal information there, so it's safe to send. Security filters sometimes stop .reg files, so it's best to rename them to .txt, zip and send. Thanks.

LesFerch said:

Once you close a window, it's view is saved in the registry, so maybe that's not the issue.

Could you send me a copy of your BagMRU and Bags registry backup files? I would like to see what got captured in those files. There's no personal information there, so it's safe to send. Security filters sometimes stop .reg files, so it's best to rename them to .txt, zip and send. Thanks.

Uh do you want all 9 files? or just 2 specific ones? Because i apparently have 2 named bagMRU and bags files in this folder

Thanks for sending the files. The first thing that catches my attention is that they are really big, so I wonder if you hit the 5000 folder limit. It's probably a good idea to increase the BagMRU size on the target machine, as per: How to Increase Folder View Settings Cache Memory Size in Windows

The next thing I searched for was "SniffedFolderType"="Downloads" in the Bags registry backup. One entry would suggest only one view of Downloads is in the backup. Although, one view would be enough if you used the "Apply to folders" button to set the view the same for all Downloads views. But then, that should have transferred over. I should have asked to see the Streams/Defaults reg file as well. The presence of the GUID {885A186E-A440-4ADA-812B-DB871B942259} in that reg file would indicate that you used Apply to folders for Downloads.

So, what I think is worth trying is 1) Increase the BagMRU size value on the target machine, and 2) On your source machine, set the Downloads folder view the way you like, use the "Apply to folders" button to set all the other views of Downloads the same (and verify that it worked), close all open views, and make a fresh backup. If you can't make a fresh backup, well, you can do the same thing after doing the restore (i.e. correct any views by setting it once and then using "Apply to folders" to apply that view to folders of the same type. Not much extra work.

Hope this helps.

LesFerch said:

Thanks for sending the files. The first thing that catches my attention is that they are really big, so I wonder if you hit the 5000 folder limit. It's probably a good idea to increase the BagMRU size on the target machine, as per: How to Increase Folder View Settings Cache Memory Size in Windows

The next thing I searched for was "SniffedFolderType"="Downloads" in the Bags registry backup. One entry would suggest only one view of Downloads is in the backup. Although, one view would be enough if you used the "Apply to folders" button to set the view the same for all Downloads views. But then, that should have transferred over. I should have asked to see the Streams/Defaults reg file as well. The presence of the GUID {885A186E-A440-4ADA-812B-DB871B942259} in that reg file would indicate that you used Apply to folders for Downloads.

So, what I think is worth trying is 1) Increase the BagMRU size value on the target machine, and 2) On your source machine, set the Downloads folder view the way you like, use the "Apply to folders" button to set all the other views of Downloads the same (and verify that it worked), close all open views, and make a fresh backup. If you can't make a fresh backup, well, you can do the same thing after doing the restore (i.e. correct any views by setting it once and then using "Apply to folders" to apply that view to folders of the same type. Not much extra work.

Hope this helps.

I've only ever maybe pressed it once though how is it doing it for 5000 folders?
Also i only ever changed the one that you see by using the downloads shortcut in the sidebar or when selecting it via windows search, if i were to go to the c:\users\downloads, it does have a different view set to it, i think its medium or big icons as opposed to detailed view instead. Same with saying using the chrome save as window. I can send you that other file? Although i dont see a streams/defaults file saved from the backup.

Also looking at that guide, when i get to the shell folder all i see is a (default) on the right side pane not even a BagMRU despite there being a bagMRU folder under shell in the left pane. Guide does mention to manually create it though. But did you want to look at that file first?

Okay, I had to go back and reread. I thought just some of your folder views weren't being restored. If I understand correctly, NONE of the views are being restored. Can you describe the method by which you are upgrading Windows? Maybe I can try the same thing in a VM to understand better what's gong on.

LesFerch said:

Okay, I had to go back and reread. I thought just some of your folder views weren't being restored. If I understand correctly, NONE of the views are being restored. Can you describe the method by which you are upgrading Windows? Maybe I can try the same thing in a VM to understand better what's gong on.

Via windows updates.

MajorFoley said:

Via windows updates.

I just did the following:
- Installed Windows 10 1809 in a VM
- Set several folders to views that differed from the defaults. I changed Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Downloads, and a few generic folders, such as C:\
- Saved a backup using the batch file.
- Tested the restore on 1809 (it worked fine).
- Updated to Windows 10 1909

After the update, all of the views were retained except for Downloads, which reverted back to Microsoft's default view. This is not unexpected, as I've seen many posts complaining about the same thing.

The interesting thing is that running the restore did not restore the view for Downloads. Not sure why. Still investigating...

In your case, if I understand correctly, ALL folder views reverted to Windows defaults after the update. I guess that's related to the large number of saved views, but I can't be sure. Have you checked your number of saved views using the following Powershell command?

Code:

((Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU").Nodeslots).count