Windows Doesn't Remember Folder Settings
By: Arie SlobMany users are complaining that Windows doesn't seem to remember their specific folder settings. After a while, it seems that Windows switches back to the default (of large icons).
By default, Windows is designed to remember 400 different folder settings (200 local folders and 200 network folders, for a total of 400 folders). Windows will start to re-use these stored settings on a 'Most Recently Used' basis, once the folder limit has been exceeded.
To increase the number of folder settings Windows remembers:
- Start the Registry Editor
- Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Shell \
- Right-click an empty space in the right pane and select New > DWORD Value
- Name the new value BagMRU Size
- Double-click the BagMRU Size value, and set the Base to Decimal
- Now in the Value data field enter the number of folders for which Windows should remember the settings (I'd suggest 1,000 or more)
- Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ ShellNoRoam \
- Repeat steps 3-6
- Close the registry editor
If you prefer to remove all the settings Windows has saved so far, delete the following registry keys:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Shell \ BagMRU
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Shell \ Bags
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ ShellNoRoam \ BagMRU
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ ShellNoRoam \ Bags
Restart Windows.
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This is fixed in Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, which sets the value for BagMRU Size to 5000. |