Windows Explorer User Folder-properties (Customise) changing back to defaults after restart

Hi,

In Windows Explorer I have all of the 5 main user folders; Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, set to "General items" (Properties>Customise>Optimise this folder for).

However, after a restart, it's going back the the default settings, ie: the Videos folder is displaying thumbnails, etc.

This wasn't an issue until recently, so I'm assuming it's a recent update that's caused this.

Any idea if this is tweakable to make it behave as it previously did?

Cheers,

Mike.

Hi.

You could try one of our members. LesFerch’s, app - Folder View Painter

mingle said:

In Windows Explorer I have all of the 5 main user folders; Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, set to "General items" (Properties>Customise>Optimise this folder for).

However, after a restart, it's going back the the default settings, ie: the Videos folder is displaying thumbnails, etc.

This wasn't an issue until recently, so I'm assuming it's a recent update that's caused this.

Any idea if this is tweakable to make it behave as it previously did?

Click to expand...

The option Also apply this template to all subfolders is broken in Windows 11, unless you switch your Explorer to the Windows 10 version (aka Explorer Ribbon UI). There are many ways to do that, such as using SwitchExplorer.

That option did work with the original release of Windows 11, but it was broken a long time ago by the KB5008353 update (build 22000.469) on January 25, 2022 and has remained broken.

Instead of fighting Explorer to change your special folders, such as Videos, to type "General items", you can fix it one of two ways, depending on your preferences:

Option 1: Change Windows to make all folders generic (aka "General items", aka "NotSpecified"). If you really don't care about folder types, then this is a good option, but note that it makes everything a General items view, so even a special folder like Fonts will be in the same General items view. This option will also disable Explorer's automatic folder type discovery.

Option 2: Change Windows defaults for the various folder types to your preferred defaults. This option retain Explorer's automatic folder type discovery.

As per the link posted by @antspants, you can use WinSetView to do Option 1 or 2. To be precise, WinSetView sets your preferred folder defaults (i.e. Option 2) and you can optionally check the box for "Make all folders Generic" in order to get Option 1 above.

Note: FolderViewPainter was mentioned, but that's a separate tool for copying and pasting folder views.