Windows 11 Folder View Bugs

Edwin · Dec 22, 2022

LesFerch said:
As in the folder view you set. However, I'm sure you cannot change the folder type on a removable drive on Windows 11. All folders will remain as type General items. Please confirm. Thanks.

Mine stick at what I set them to.

Lance1 · Dec 22, 2022

I moved three folders onto a USB with each one holding and named Music, Pictures, and Video. I then changed each one to their prospective setting and they all held their setting until I closed Explorer and then opened it again and yes! They all went back to the General setting! I ran throw it again and I got the same thing... Back to the General setting!

Lance1 · Dec 22, 2022

OK, I just ran throw it again. Music and Pictures reverted back to the General setting on the spot this time without closing explorer but videos held it setting! Alright, this is very odd...

LesFerch · Dec 22, 2022

Edwin said:
Mine stick at what I set them to.

View attachment 48173

I just did a bunch of tests with an SD card and still all folders reverted to General items. I did see that a folder, that does not contain any subfolders, will hold the folder type setting longer. When I set an empty folder to type Pictures, it remained at type Pictures until I restarted Explorer (or logged out and in). Folders with subfolders (where I checked Also apply this setting to all subfolders) reverted to General items right away in my tests.

So, try a logout/login and see if that folder is still set to Pictures.

Edwin · Dec 22, 2022

LesFerch said:
... try a logout/login and see if that folder is still set to Pictures.

All my view settings stay consistent to what I set them at after restarting Explorer, logging out and back in, rebooting, etc.

This is on Dev Build 25267.1000,
I am running StartAllBack in Windows 7 mode though,
I also run Old/New Explorer to maintain W7 drive groupings plus a couple other minor tweaks.

I set my views based on Icon View, I'm not concerned with what format the folders are optimized for, although they retain the views/formats I have chosen anyway, whether an internal drive, removable drive, etc.

I have not disabled Automatic Folder Type Discovery!

LesFerch · Dec 23, 2022

Edwin said:
All my view settings stay consistent to what I set them at after restarting Explorer, logging out and back in, rebooting, etc.

This is on Dev Build 25267.1000,
I am running StartAllBack in Windows 7 mode though,
I also run Old/New Explorer to maintain W7 drive groupings plus a couple other minor tweaks.

I built the same and continued to see the issue until I installed StartAllBack. Then the folder type changes stuck. I have to do some more testing to determine if it's only StartAllBack and if the choice of settings matter, but yeah, that appears to be the key difference.

IanMosley · Dec 23, 2022

LesFerch said:
The issue is that you cannot change the folder type on removable drives period (it's always stuck at type General items) and you cannot override the automatically detected folder type on fixed drives.

Not seeing this issue on my - multitude of - removeable drives.

LesFerch · Dec 23, 2022

IanMosley said:
Not seeing this issue on my - multitude of - removeable drives.

Do you have StartAllBack installed? I have confirmed that installing StartAllBack fixes the issue, presumably because it replaces Windows 11 File Explorer code with Windows 10 File Explorer code (TBD).

Lance1 · Dec 23, 2022

Explain my post #23. Why did two revert... But not the one?? I have no third-party installs. Just Windows 11 defaults. Explain that.

LesFerch · Dec 23, 2022

Lance1 said:
Explain my post #23. Why did two revert... But not the one?? I have no third-party installs. Just Windows 11 defaults. Explain that.

Without StartAllBack, I have only seen a non-General items folder type choice stick on a USB drive temporarily. Has that one stayed set, even after a logout/login? If it has, I can't explain that.

Lance1 · Dec 23, 2022

LesFerch said:
Without StartAllBack, I have only seen a non-General items folder type choice stick on a USB drive temporarily. Has that one stayed set, even after a logout/login? If it has, I can't explain that.

Yes, I ran this a number of times. I can't explain it either.

IanMosley · Dec 24, 2022

LesFerch said:
Do you have StartAllBack installed?

No.

LesFerch · Dec 24, 2022

IanMosley said:
No.

I suspect your "removable" drives are mounting as "Local Disk". That is, the removable media bit (RMB) is set to 0. I just tested a Western Digital "My Passport" drive and it came up as "Local Disk". In that case, it does not have the issue I described for removable drives, but it still has the issue I described for fixed drives. That is, automatic folder type discovery keeps running and therefore does not allow one to override the folder type setting.

Does your drive mount as "Local Disk"? Does Windows 11 ignore your request to change the folder type?

FYI, here are some RMB references:

How to make a disk drive "removable" - Windows 10 Help Forums

I have several devices - some USB flash memory, some USB external drives - that have the Removable Media bit set to non-removable. (And no, I don't know if it's actually just one bit but it seems to be documented as "RMB".) I am working with a p

www.tenforums.com

Removable USB Flash Drive as Local HDD in Windows | Windows OS Hub

In this article we’ll show you how to make a USB flash drive or an SD card to be identified in the Windows as a common local hard disk. Probably,…

woshub.com

LesFerch · Dec 24, 2022

Lance1 said:
Yes, I ran this a number of times. I can't explain it either.

Did that drive mount as "Local Disk" or "USB Drive"?

Lance1 · Dec 24, 2022

LesFerch said:
Did that drive mount as "Local Disk" or "USB Drive"?

USB.

LesFerch · Dec 24, 2022

Lance1 said:
OK, I just ran [through] it again. Music and Pictures reverted back to the General setting on the spot this time without closing explorer but videos held it setting! Alright, this is very odd...

I replicated the behavior using a USB flash drive without StartAllBack installed.

The key is setting the folder type to Videos (or Picture, etc.) and NOT clicking the option to "Also apply this template to all subfolders". You can also repeat these steps for each individual subfolder and the folder type will stick (most of the time). If you then go back to the top level folder and set the folder type with "Also apply this template to all subfolders" checked, the folder type will continue to stick for the top level folder. The subfolders will revert to General items.

My guess is that you clicked Apply or OK once without "Also apply this template to all subfolders" checked and then did it again with "Apply the template to all subfolders checked".

Does this explain what you saw?

P.S. Could this mean that a reliable workaround is to set the folder type for each individual folder in a tree without checking "Also apply this template to all subfolders"? No, I don't think so. Further testing has revealed that this does not always work. It may be affected by whether you have previously set a view for a folder, or moved or renamed a folder. It may be affected by whether you have a file of that type in the folder (even though folder type discovery is not supposed to apply to USB drives). It's too unpredictable to get a good handle on it. The only workaround I can recommend for now is to install StartAllBack.

Lance1 · Dec 24, 2022

LesFerch said:
I replicated the behavior using a USB flash drive without StartAllBack installed.

The key is setting the folder type to Videos (or Picture, etc.) and NOT clicking the option to "Also apply this template to all subfolders". You can also repeat these steps for each individual subfolder and the folder type will stick (most of the time). If you then go back to the top level folder and set the folder type with "Also apply this template to all subfolders" checked, the folder type will continue to stick for the top level folder. The subfolders will revert to General items.

My guess is that you clicked Apply or OK once without "Also apply this template to all subfolders" checked and then did it again with "Apply the template to all subfolders checked".

Does this explain what you saw?

P.S. Could this mean that a reliable workaround is to set the folder type for each individual folder in a tree without checking "Also apply this template to all subfolders"? No, I don't think so. Further testing has revealed that this does not always work. It may be affected by whether you have previously set a view for a folder, or moved or renamed a folder. It may be affected by whether you have a file of that type in the folder (even though folder type discovery is not supposed to apply to USB drives). It's too unpredictable to get a good handle on it. The only workaround I can recommend for now is to install StartAllBack.

Kind of... When I ran my tests, I did not have subfolders. So I would have to run my test again to account for those variables. I can't at this time run the test but I will post my findings when I do. Good work on the research, I'll check back on it when I start my test.

Edwin · Dec 24, 2022

LesFerch said:
It's too unpredictable to get a good handle on it.

Yup!
And..., it could be a bit different on different systems...

And..., if you rip a CD, it'll sort the view according to rip settings!

Edwin · Dec 24, 2022

The User Music folder is some times weird, I've had to set the view on an artist parent folder, sub-folder and the folder the mp3's are actually in, then the view will stick throughout, unless I occasionally import some music or rip a CD!

Lance1 · Dec 24, 2022

OK! So I ran a test and created a file structure on the USB. See the image below. At no time was I able to keep the customizations setting with or without "Also apply this template to all subfolders" on the main folder or subfolder level. It always reverted back to the General setting without closing and reopening. I ran the test a number of times and had the same results. Any input??