Unable to get File Explorer to stop displaying video files as icons

hsehestedt · Mar 6, 2022

I have a HDD that has a single folder. Within that folder are many files and subfolders. All of the files are either music or video files.

The issue is that I want ALL files and folders to be displayed in list view, but Windows keeps insisting on displaying many folders as icons.

Here is what I have done:

1) Right-click on the drive in File Explorer and select Properties > Customize tab > Optimize this folder for: General items > Also apply this template to all subfolders > OK

2) While in the root of the drive, select View > List, then ... > Options > View > Apply to folders.

For some reason, even after doing this, subfolders and files insist on showing up as icons. I can change individual folders but there are many hundreds of them.

Any suggestions on how to apply these settings to the entire drive?

Ghot · Mar 6, 2022

hsehestedt said:
I have a HDD that has a single folder. Within that folder are many files and subfolders. All of the files are either music or video files.

The issue is that I want ALL files and folders to be displayed in list view, but Windows keeps insisting on displaying many folders as icons.

Here is what I have done:

1) Right-click on the drive in File Explorer and select Properties > Customize tab > Optimize this folder for: General items > Also apply this template to all subfolders > OK

2) While in the root of the drive, select View > List, then ... > Options > View > Apply to folders.

For some reason, even after doing this, subfolders and files insist on showing up as icons. I can change individual folders but there are many hundreds of them.

Any suggestions on how to apply these settings to the entire drive?

I think you need to choose "Details" not List.
Nope, that's not it. That just changes it from one column to many columns.

Maybe one of these check boxes?

With those check boxes... I get this view on List... (Win 10 and Win 11)
I have no One Drive, no syncing, no sharing. <---- I don't know if any of this makes any difference.

hsehestedt · Mar 6, 2022

No, that's not doing it for me. It's like it is ignoring the settings.

Ghot · Mar 6, 2022

hsehestedt said:
No, that's not doing it for me. It's like it is ignoring the settings.

I think the only other things I did was the ribbon bar tweak and the context menus tweak.

TheMystic · Mar 7, 2022

hsehestedt said:
No, that's not doing it for me. It's like it is ignoring the settings.

Try resetting file explorer.

glasskuter · Mar 7, 2022

I think you will find you can achieve what you want by first setting "view" as either list or details and then using the view by/sort by settings to change it from there.

TairikuOkami · Mar 7, 2022

Remove settings for specified folders first, apply notspecified template, setup the desired view, restart explorer.

Code:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags" /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU" /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Wow6432Node\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags" /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Wow6432Node\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU" /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags" /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU" /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags" /f
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU" /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell" /v "FolderType" /t REG_SZ /d "NotSpecified" /f

There is also GitHub - LesFerch/WinSetView: Globally Set Explorer Folder Views

LesFerch · Sep 17, 2022

hsehestedt said:
I have a HDD that has a single folder. Within that folder are many files and subfolders. All of the files are either music or video files.

The issue is that I want ALL files and folders to be displayed in list view, but Windows keeps insisting on displaying many folders as icons.

Here is what I have done:

1) Right-click on the drive in File Explorer and select Properties > Customize tab > Optimize this folder for: General items > Also apply this template to all subfolders > OK

2) While in the root of the drive, select View > List, then ... > Options > View > Apply to folders.

For some reason, even after doing this, subfolders and files insist on showing up as icons. I can change individual folders but there are many hundreds of them.

Any suggestions on how to apply these settings to the entire drive?

Sorry I'm very late to the thread here. As TairikuOkami suggested, WinSetView will fix this issue for you. Just use it to set all your preferred default folder views and that folder of music and videos will be all in List view (or whatever you choose) and stay that way. WinSetView also includes the option (under the Advanced interface) to make all folders generic (General items) but it's usually unnecessary to do that.

Fabler2 · Sep 18, 2022

What happens if you change the properties of the folder to Documents?

LesFerch · Sep 18, 2022

Fabler2 said:
What happens if you change the properties of the folder to Documents?

The OP had already tried setting the whole folder tree to General items. Choosing the Documents folder type would have made no difference. The corrupted keys need to be deleted in such cases. That can be done manually, but it makes more sense to use WinSetView as it will clear those keys and set your preferred defaults at the same time.

Berton · Sep 18, 2022

If I'm reading correctly I get the film-clip type icon when I use Large or Extra-large icon setting in File Explorer. I always set my computers to show file extensions.

Fabler2 · Sep 18, 2022

Those that keep showing icons or thumbnails I would keep changing them back to list via the bottom right list icon until Windows eventually remembers.

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Unable to get File Explorer to stop displaying video files as icons

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