If you find Elizabeth23 straightforward solution doesn’t work, which you should try first - the reason will almost certainly be too many folders, which is likely from the system you are describing.
This is a standard problem if you are using XP on a server or if you installed XP many years ago. I installed my XP system in 2006.
It is all because Microsoft designed XP for computer that were much slower and with much smaller hard drives than the Raid Solid state and 4ghz cpu’s that are very often running XP now. It was all about keeping the registry small.
To solve your problem:
The problem with Windows is that, by default, it only remembers those view settings for the first 5000 folders you apply these settings on. After that, the settings are no longer remembered! Yep, even if you stop using a folder, its settings are remembered and not replaced. Very dumb. You’d think the oldest of 5000 entries would periodically be replaced by newer versions, but nope, Microsoft did not want that.
A word of warning:
Messing up things in the Registry can cause your system to crash. Know what you are doing before attempting these instructions. I will not be responsible for any damage you cause to your system/files/health/kittens if you decide to do those steps. But! I can tell you they work since I’ve done them myself to fix this problem.
Also, if you do these instructions, you will lose the view settings you currently have on existing folders. Not the folders or their contents, just the view settings i.e. “Sort by Date” for e.g. will be reset to default “Sort by Name”.
The symptoms are:
- Folder settings chosen using View or Sort By are not remembered when you close a folder and open it again. Applies mainly to newly created folders.
- Thumbnail images don’t appear or incorrect thumbnail is displayed
BEFORE YOU START YOU REALLY SHOULD BE USING BACK UP SOFTWARE AND A SPARE DISK LIKE AN ESATA DEVICE.
Best Back up software is Ghost, it is expensive, but good. But you can have it for free here.
https://ulozto.net/file/WMzCCbeEi5hm/ghost32-exe
Ok, instructions! Here they are:
- Open the Run dialog box, either by typing “run” in the Start Menu searchbox (the Orb’s search menu) or using Winkey+R
- Type “regedit“, or if you’re using Regalyzer, just run it.
- Navigate to each of the following paths by using the sidebar. You will need to repeat instructions for each of those paths:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Wow6432Node\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell (only if you are using a 64-bit version of Windows)
- For each of those paths, repeat these steps:
- Under the “Shell” or “ShellNoRoam” folders, delete these two folders by right-clicking on them and choosing Delete:
§
Bags
§
BagMRU
- Re-create these two folders: Right-click “Shell” or “ShellNoRoam” folders from the sidebar and select New → Key. Create two such keys:
§
Bags
§
BagMRU
- At each of those paths, right-click “Shell” or “ShellNoRoam” folders from the sidebar and select New → DWORD. Type “BagMRU Size” as the name.
§ From the right-pane, double-click on the newly created “
BagMRU Size” key, select “
Decimal” and type “2
0000” as value. So instead of remembering 5000 folders, XP/Vista/ Win7 now remembers 20000 folders. Don’t go overboard with that value – it’ll increase the size of your registry and slow things down.
§ (Actually, this BagMRU Size key could be created at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell only since that’s where Vista/7 read this information. I just wanted to make sure it gets read by including it at all 4 locations. You don’t need to if you don’t want.)
That’s it. When you reboot Windows next time (I didn’t need to), the settings will be remembered for folders you choose, and more folders will now be remembered. Remember, existing view settings will be lost, so you might want to re-create them. Hopefully now, XP will be remembering your settings.
