PowerShell issue prevents running WinSetView

AlterNate37 · Mar 11, 2025

LesFerch said:
What you can do for now is manually run the script. Since you already have your preferences saved, you can run a command like the following from any prompt, such as the Run box:

Ok, it worked in part.
First of all I had misunderstood and I thought I could run those commands from within powershell too, but it only opened those files in the notepad.
When I've run that line in Run, it all worked, BUT the Explorer Options aren't registered (Folder View Options are registered).
And column width isn't registered either. There I see that every time I start the WinSetView.exe the value in column width is again 34 for those first two and nothing for the rest.
I report it here first, because I'm not yet sure if it depends on the way I'm running the script of it's really something in your tool.
Let me know, and thanks, I glad it worked.
It's neat. I mean, I would have gotten the desired result in less time by doing it manually considering the amount of time we invested in this issue, but that's not why we investigate issues, is it?

LesFerch · Mar 11, 2025

AlterNate37 said:
Ok, it worked in part.
First of all I had misunderstood and I thought I could run those commands from within powershell too, but it only opened those files in the notepad.
When I've run that line in Run, it all worked, BUT the Explorer Options aren't registered (Folder View Options are registered).
And column width isn't registered either. There I see that every time I start the WinSetView.exe the value in column width is again 34 for those first two and nothing for the rest.
I report it here first, because I'm not yet sure if it depends on the way I'm running the script of it's really something in your tool.
Let me know, and thanks, I glad it worked.
It's neat. I mean, I would have gotten the desired result in less time by doing it manually considering the amount of time we invested in this issue, but that's not why we investigate issues, is it?

OK, that's some progress.

Make sure that you're using the correct INI file. If WinSetView is located in a protected folder such as Program Files (x86) , then the INI file with your settings is in %AppData%\WinSetView\AppData, but if you're running from an unprotected folder (like my C:\Tools example) then the INI file is in the AppData subfolder of the WinSetView folder.

Check the contents of the INI file with a text editor. For the Explorer options to be applied, ApplyOptions=1 should be present. The column widths should be whatever you set. The INI file is saved when you click Submit and OK (or by using "Save settings" in the Advanced interface), so I can't quite think of a scenario that fits with what you're seeing (or perhaps I should say not seeing).

AlterNate37 · Mar 11, 2025

LesFerch said:
OK, that's some progress.

Yes the folder is on the desktop, not protected.
I send you the INI as a txt here, I've found the entry you say so I can't understand why it's not working but maybe you find out something.

I've solved the columns width, I didn't know that the preferences get only saved after submitting.
I submitted (anyway it doesn't work, so in my case it's like a Save option) and it saved the preferences.
Anyway I still have to use the Explorer option to size all columns to fit. But it's good to have a reasonable starting point.

LesFerch · Mar 11, 2025

AlterNate37 said:
Yes the folder is on the desktop, not protected.
I send you the INI as a txt here, I've found the entry you say so I can't understand why it's not working but maybe you find out something.

I've solved the columns width, I didn't know that the preferences get only saved after submitting.
I submitted (anyway it doesn't work, so in my case it's like a Save option) and it saved the preferences.
Anyway I still have to use the Explorer option to size all columns to fit. But it's good to have a reasonable starting point.

It worked 100% for me. I saved your INI file as AlterNate37.ini and ran this command:

powershell "C:\Tools\WinSetView\WinSetView.ps1" "C:\Tools\WinSetView\AppData\AlterNate37.ini"

After running, hidden folders were displayed, so I know the Explorer options were applied and all my columns were really wide. I can't explain why your not getting everything applied. You set 49 ems for a whole bunch of columns. Is that not what you're getting? Is that really what you want?

Note that "size all columns to fit" cannot be set as a default because it's not a setting. It's only available as a command that can be applied as needed. You may have noticed that if you add a new file to a folder with a longer name, you have to click "size all columns to fit" again.

AlterNate37 · Mar 11, 2025

LesFerch said:
It worked 100% for me.

Well, I had already applied most of those changes like show hidden files through other means. You find them in the INI because I didn't know if submitting without selecting them would cause them to be changed back to default, so I selected them just in case.

The change I was hoping for and which doesn't come is to have Explorer start on This PC.
It's how I had it and at some point it reverted to the default (Home / Quick Access). It actually defaulted back during my attempts to make your tool work, ironically. So I was happy when I noticed this option. But it doesn't work.
Does that specific option work for you?

LesFerch · Mar 11, 2025

AlterNate37 said:
Well, I had already applied most of those changes like show hidden files through other means. You find them in the INI because I didn't know if submitting without selecting them would cause them to be changed back to default, so I selected them just in case.

The change I was hoping for and which doesn't come is to have Explorer start on This PC.
It's how I had it and at some point it reverted to the default (Home / Quick Access). It actually defaulted back during my attempts to make your tool work, ironically. So I was happy when I noticed this option. But it doesn't work.
Does that specific option work for you?

Yes. I always have Explorer set to start to C:\. After running WinSetView with your INI file, Explorer starts to This PC.

Note: On test machines where I haven't yet set the PowerShell execution policy, I explicitly bypass the policy like this:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Tools\WinSetView\WinSetView.ps1" "C:\Tools\WinSetView\AppData\AlterNate37.ini"

AlterNate37 · Mar 11, 2025

LesFerch said:
Yes. I always have Explorer set to start to C:\. After running WinSetView with your INI file, Explorer starts to This PC.

Ok, this confirms that the Explorer Options aren't being registered. Thanx.
Question: does your tool need Explorer legacy? Would the Explorer Options be registered if Explorer legacy has been removed?

LesFerch · Mar 11, 2025

AlterNate37 said:
Ok, this confirms that the Explorer Options aren't being registered. Thanx.
Question: does your tool need Explorer legacy? Would the Explorer Options be registered if Explorer legacy has been removed?

Explorer legacy or modern makes no difference.

AlterNate37 · Mar 11, 2025

LesFerch said:
Explorer legacy or modern makes no difference.

Ok, thanx.
And can you think at anything else that might be preventing the correct registration of the Explorer Options?

I wonder if it could be related to whatever is preventing PowerShell 32bit from starting, like I'm trying to solve in the other thread.

LesFerch · Mar 11, 2025

AlterNate37 said:
And can you think at anything else that might be preventing the correct registration of the Explorer Options?

I wonder if it could be related to whatever is preventing PowerShell 32bit from starting, like I'm trying to solve in the other thread.

Nothing else comes to mind, but are you sure it's all options? Can you try a simple check such as unchecking "Show hidden files and folders" and then see if that's checked after running the script?

When you run the script manually, you're running it with the 64bit PowerShell, so it would appear to be a different problem.

AlterNate37 · Mar 11, 2025

LesFerch said:
Nothing else comes to mind, but are you sure it's all options? Can you try a simple check such as unchecking "Show hidden files and folders" and then see if that's checked after running the script?

When you run the script manually, you're running it with the 64bit PowerShell, so it would appear to be a different problem.

Yeah I felt that same discomfort which wanted me to try this, and you're right, I did and it works.
So, it seems that what doesn't work is just the setting of This PC as start point of Explorer.
So weird because as said I had it already set like that and for some reason in the time when I was trying to make WinSetView work if defaulted to Home.

Bah, I give up, I'll just reinstall everything, even restorehealth failed, and now I have more issues actually, the start button and search icons don't do anything anymore. I have to start programs from Win+R.

Btw is there a log for WinSetView? You might want to have a look, the process was fast so I couldn't quite read but there was red (I presume errors) and something about Explorer can't be found.

LesFerch · Mar 11, 2025

AlterNate37 said:
Yeah I felt that same discomfort which wanted me to try this, and you're right, I did and it works.
So, it seems that what doesn't work is just the setting of This PC as start point of Explorer.
So weird because as said I had it already set like that and for some reason in the time when I was trying to make WinSetView work if defaulted to Home.

Bah, I give up, I'll just reinstall everything, even restorehealth failed, and now I have more issues actually, the start button and search icons don't do anything anymore. I have to start programs from Win+R.

Btw is there a log for WinSetView? You might want to have a look, the process was fast so I couldn't quite read but there was red (I presume errors) and something about Explorer can't be found.

It sounds like you should do a repair via Windows Update and, if that does not fix the issues, then a complete reinstall is in order.

WinSetView does not create a log (I may put that on the To Do list) but you could first open a Cmd prompt and enter the command there instead of using the Run box. Then the messages will remain on screen.

AlterNate37 · Mar 11, 2025

LesFerch said:
you could first open a Cmd prompt and enter the command there instead of using the Run box. Then the messages will remain on screen.

got this:
Reading the value of registry key SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine\PowerShellVersion causes the following Win32 error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

LesFerch · Mar 11, 2025

AlterNate37 said:
got this:
Reading the value of registry key SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\3\PowerShellEngine\PowerShellVersion causes the following Win32 error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

That's not even a key that my script is reading, so I assume it's part of PowerShell's initialization and further evidence that PowerShell 5.1 is corrupted.

AlterNate37 · Mar 11, 2025

Again, what's the etiquette in this Forum about the OP marking the thread as solved as soon as it becomes clear that there's no solution?
@Brink ?

pseymour · Mar 11, 2025

LesFerch said:
That's not even a key that my script is reading, so I assume it's part of PowerShell's initialization...

Yep.

PowerShell issue prevents running WinSetView

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