File Chooser details always seem to get reset

While this is not an earth-shaking problem, I have found that quite often, maybe after a restart, some File Chooser details get lost for some folders.

I reset the details and apply to all folders of that type, and then later the details become reset to defaults again. Even the folder defaults seem to get reset to defaults. (I use the General items for all my folders, even pictures, videos, etc.)

Here is an example for the Desktop folder. There are many paths to the desktop, so I take as many as I can think of and set them all.

Later they seem to go away for some paths but not for others.

Can't figure this one out, but I think it is a recent update issue.

I first mentioned it here:

Change Folder Template in Windows 10 - Page 5 - Windows 10 Customization Tutorials

Here is a sample of some different views for the Desktop:

I wonder if this has something to do with Explorer folder 'bags'?
Do they have some limits?
When I used one of the tutorial scripts to back them up, they are 12MB in size.
What would happen if I just deleted these bags and started explorer views from scratch?
Has anyone tried that?

Hey Jim, :)

Is this happening after installing updates from Windows Update? If so, they may be resetting them.

Deleting "bags" would be part of resetting folder views back to default using Option 1 below.

Reset Folder View Settings to Default in Windows 10 Windows 10 Customization Tutorials

Hi Brink,

No not after any particular update.

They just get lost at random.

I reset them one day and then a few days later they are lost, so I do it again.

Now I just ignore it all and live with whatever view comes up.

If you notice it happening after saving a file in the folder, then it could be automatic folder discovery optimizing the folder for that file type.

Perhaps that is it, but I thought I had all defaults set to 'unrecognized' or whatever it was called.

Anyway, I reset all the bags as in option 1 you mentioned earlier using that BAT file.

I set up the standard view I like and I'll see if it happens again.

Just for the record, after a restart things are fine and after using CCleaner things are still fine.
So I will see if there is one other common thing that causes it to happen and post it if I find out.

Fingers crossed.

Just for curiosity's sake, I wonder how this folder type business works.

I'm a bit old-fashioned, so I'd like EVERY folder view to look EXACTLY the same - pictures, videos, music, etc.

I try to do that and when I see some of them change I wonder why.

I know that the view relates somehow to the path, not really the folder. In other words, there's not a desktop.ini file in a folder that does this, right?

The path seems to be related to the 'bag' feature of the shell, saved in the registry.

Some of these registry setting have a new (?) FMTID: field setting. Is that part of it?

And, some default views use 'Item Type' others use 'Type' - is there any difference?

Also, for "Link target" I'd like to see the finally resolved destination for all types of reparse point - hard links, soft links, junctions, shortcuts, etc. Is there a way to see those?

This whole business has a somewhat hodge-podge nature to it, probably because I don't understand how these folder views and typal data is supposed to work.

Anyone care to help me out with some references?

One more set of questions that confuse me. I know there are several default folder type templates - general, documents, pictures, etc.

If I have a folder of one of these types, say pictures, I will see that view. But if I change that view to be like the General view in Folder Properties and then apply the view to all folders of that type, does that change the default type for all pictures?

In other words, are the templates built-in for the main types changed when I do this, or are just the current folders of that type changed?

And when I click on the inheritance feature, just what gets inherited - reparse points in the descending path don't inherit do they?

I know this is a complex topic, and I don't understand the subtleties. So when I try to figure out what is going wrong, I'm not sure what is 'broken'.