Windows 11
I've been running into the "bug" when trying to set the default view type of removable drives in file explorer...
I've read a few post on the forum of people running into this issue.
@LesFerch had a fairly detailed post & video regarding this issue.
I was wondering if anyone has figured out a fix for this? I've tried all the common ways to set a default view type in Explorer and tried using WinSetView but with no luck.
Using the Windows 11 Explorer, you will just get the default view for folder type "General items" for your USB drive folders.
Note that removable drives that mount as "local disk", and are formatted NTFS, will behave like drive C. That is, the folder type for each folder will be determined by the majority content of each folder (and possibly some logic that prioritizes one type over another). The folders on removable drives that mount as "USB drive" will all be type "General items". That is, assuming you are using the Windows 11 Explorer and haven't switched to the Windows 10 Explorer.
If you want to set the folder type for all folders and subfolders on a drive of type "USB drive" to something other than General items, you'll have to go back to a Windows 11 build prior to 22000.469 (i.e. back to 2021) or use the Windows 10 Explorer. If you use the Windows 10 Explorer, you can then use "Also apply this template to all subfolders" to set the folder type, but you have to continue to use the old Explorer. If you switch back to the Windows 11 Explorer, it will ignore that setting. If you wish to test this, you can use
SwitchExplorer to quickly switch between the two Explorer types. If you are already using ExplorerPatcher, StartAllBack, or WindHawk, you can also use any one of those tools to switch to the old Explorer.
If your removable drive is type "local disk" and is formatted NTFS, then, as mentioned, the folders types will be set automatically. If you want to force them to one type and keep using the Windows 11 Explorer, there is one other option. You can set the folder type for each folder with a hidden "deskop.ini" file. You can use my
SetFolderType tool to do that for you.
If your removable drive is type "local disk", but is formatted to something other than NTFS, such as ExFAT, then I recommend reformatting it to NTFS so you get automatic folder type discovery and have the option to use the
SetFolderType tool . You'll have to copy your files to another drive to reformat. You can't change the format type while keeping the data.
