Backup folder settings from old version of windows 10

MajorFoley said:

Which file am I comparing the bat file or the registry files they create?

Compare the REG files unless you are familiar with batch files.

Matthew Wai said:

Compare the REG files unless you are familiar with batch files.

Right so i am making a backup of 1909 and then comparing with the 1809 saves? Or am i restoring the 1809 saves and then saving the 1909 ones after restoration and comparing with the old 1809 ones?

What difference do you want to find out?

Paul Black said:

Hello @MajorFoley,




First, a brief description of Notepad++ . . .

 Notepad++

Basically, Notepad++ it is a text and source code editor that is more powerful than the basic Notepad editor. One advantage that I find extremely useful on a regular basis is that it can Compare text files and Highlights the differences between two or more files. To use the Compare feature you will need to download the Compare Plugin.

Notepad++ and the Compare Plugin are FREE.

> Website & Download => Notepad++ [ Download ]
> Compare Plugin Download => Notepad++ [ Compare Plugin ] - SourceForge.Net

---

Once you have ALSO downloaded the Compare Plugin , to Compare TWO or MORE files, you simply right-click the files and select Edit with Notepad++. It will give + and - signs along with the highlighted differences.

---

I hope this helps.

Yup i have those so... What would you like me to show you? Because it seems to be highlighting what looks like HEX numbers? It does show differences? Are you asking me to compare what i backed up from 1809, and then when i back get to 1909 make a backup of THAT one and then compare that backup to a 1809 backup?

Bump, ok i posted a of screenshot of one of the files and compared them (one of seven reg files). The HKCU_Software_Classes_LocalSettings_Software_Microsoft_Windows_Shell_BagMRU file.
On the left is the one backed up from 1809. The other was when i did a backup on 1909 (no restoration using the bat yet) Only one area seems to be red (which i assume is a massive change). There some smaller sections that are yellow or a line thats green

Do you guys want me to activate the backup from 1809 and then compare on 1909 to see if anything actually does change? I guess this thread was also moved from customization into backup and restore? Why I thought this would be more of a customization issue

As far as I can determine, the registry comparison just confirms what you already know. That is, when you restore your Explorer views from backup, the Downloads folder reverts to grouping by date. I really doubt you're going to get to the bottom of this. Trying to troubleshoot Explorer folder view issues by examining differences with the BagMRU/Bags keys, is darn near impossible.

While it's annoying that the Explorer views weren't restored perfectly from the backup, I'm not surprised Downloads reverted to Group by Date. I've seen that plenty of times myself. That was one of the motivations to make my WinSetView tool. I wanted to set views that stay set, period. It works because it changes the defaults (specifically a copy of the defaults in the user's part of the registry) instead of dealing with the volatile BagMRU/Bags keys.

Unless there's a bigger picture I'm missing, I think you're best off upgrading Windows and not worry that Downloads goes back to group by date. Use my tool if you want to banish group by date forever.

LesFerch said:

As far as I can determine, the registry comparison just confirms what you already know. That is, when you restore your Explorer views from backup, the Downloads folder reverts to grouping by date. I really doubt you're going to get to the bottom of this. Trying to troubleshoot Explorer folder view issues by examining differences with the BagMRU/Bags keys, is darn near impossible.

While it's annoying that the Explorer views weren't restored perfectly from the backup, I'm not surprised Downloads reverted to Group by Date. I've seen that plenty of times myself. That was one of the motivations to make my WinSetView tool. I wanted to set views that stay set, period. It works because it changes the defaults (specifically a copy of the defaults in the user's part of the registry) instead of dealing with the volatile BagMRU/Bags keys.
Unless there's a bigger picture I'm missing, I think you're best off upgrading Windows and not worry that Downloads goes back to group by date. Use my tool if you want to banish group by date forever.

Damn near impossible because its like 6 different registry files being created now! Saw there were more changes to the bat file i assume you did?

MajorFoley said:

Damn near impossible because its like 6 different registry files being created now! Saw there were more changes to the bat file i assume you did?

The new versions I made (there's both a batch version and a Powershell version) combine everything into a single file, which will make comparisons easier, but IMO it won't make it any easier to solve. If I were stepping through the issue on your machine, I would verify that all different views of Downloads are the same on the old build, verify that all those views were captured in the backup file, and verify that all those views were restored to the registry on the new build (before opening any views to the Downloads folder). I would then open the views to Downloads and see which ones remain with no grouping and which ones don't. Assuming all looked correct in the registry until I actually opened the Downloads folder in one particular view, all that will tell me is that, for some reason, Explorer is ignoring one or more of the saved Downloads views and reverting it back to its default. That's the point where you pretty much need the Windows developers to step through the Explorer source code to see what's going on. If you're Bill Gates you could probably get them to do that.