Windows folder showing incorrectly as a video folder


marklyn

Member
Local time
4:55 AM
Posts
6
OS
Windows 11
I was recently rebuilding one of my PC's and I was doing a location change on my local video folder to my video folder located on my network drive (QNAP Windows folder share). Somehow, no clue as to how, I must have inadvertently caused another folder on my network (DATA folder) to now appear as a video folder. Everything is sorted out on actual folder locations now and the data is still fine in the DATA folder but I have, so far, been unsuccessful, in getting the folder icon to again look like a regular folder icon again like it always has been.
I've tried going into the properties to see if there is a change folder icon button but there isn't, probably because this folder exists on my QNAP file server as a Windows share.
It is a shared folder and all of my 4 home computers show the video folder icon representation. I can still add/remove/change items in the folder like normal but I want to change the icon back to a regular folder icon and don't have a clue how I messed it up in the first place.
If this isn't a "Windows" issue, I'll escalate to my file server support (QNAP) but I don't think it's on them since, at that time, I wasn't doing anything at all in regard to using the QNAP file manage app, etc. I was strictly working in a Windows environment.
Any help or suggestions or questions appreciated.
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
Windows 11 File Explorer chooses the folder type for you and is pretty bad at letting you override it. If that "Data" folder contains more than 50% video files it will be set as type Videos. If it doesn't, then you may be able to reset the folder type:

Right-click folder, select Properties, click Customize tab, select the type you want, such as General items and click OK.

If that works, and the "Data" folder contains subfolders that are also set as type Videos, try the same procedure, but also check the box Also apply this template to all subfolders, but be warned that option is generally broken on Windows 11, especially with removable and network drives.

If you can't get the folder type to the correct setting, you may want to install StartAllBack and select the option for the Windows 10 style ribbon. This has the nice side-effect of eliminating the folder type settings bugs in Windows 11. You may be able to get the same result with ExplorerPatcher, but I'm hesitant to recommend it, as I've had issues with it. Others are very happy with it.

FYI: Here's a video I made demonstrating the folder type setting bugs in Windows 11.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10/11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer
I did try the customize tab and tried to choose general items, which it was already set to, but no change. I also tried changing it to Documents but it never changed for that. There are several thousand files in subfolders of the DATA folder but maybe 1% of the subfolders might have videos, if that.
I'll look into the two apps you mention but it's weird this happened when I was doing the local video location change on one of my networked computers, or at least that's when I'm almost certain something happened then. Weird I'd need an app to fix this, right?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
I found both of the programs you mentioned and tried them out. No luck. Both programs seemed geared to a broader need of changing things about Windows File Explorer, customizing features, etc. but I could find nothing related to changing a folder icon.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
I found both of the programs you mentioned and tried them out. No luck. Both programs seemed geared to a broader need of changing things about Windows File Explorer, customizing features, etc. but I could find nothing related to changing a folder icon.
Those programs have no explicit options regarding folder types or icons. But installing them (at least StartAllBack which I've verified) causes File Explorer to behave as it does on Windows 10 in regards to setting folder types.

However, based on what you've stated, the problem you're seeing may be an icon/thumbnail cache issue, rather than a folder type setting issue.

Try rebuilding/resetting both your icon cache and thumbnail cache by following these tutorials:

 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10/11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer
Those programs have no explicit options regarding folder types or icons. But installing them (at least StartAllBack which I've verified) causes File Explorer to behave as it does on Windows 10 in regards to setting folder types.

However, based on what you've stated, the problem you're seeing may be an icon/thumbnail cache issue, rather than a folder type setting issue.

Try rebuilding/resetting both your icon cache and thumbnail cache by following these tutorials:

I haven't done this yet because it's still rattling around in my mind on where the problem lies. The folder with the video icon (DATA) is showing on all of my connected Windows computers with the video icon. So the thought occurred that your suggestion shouldn't work because of that fact. Does that make sense? If it were only showing up on one of my networked Windows PC's with the odd video icon but not the others I'd assume your suggestion might work. At least that is the way I'm thinking it through...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
I haven't done this yet because it's still rattling around in my mind on where the problem lies. The folder with the video icon (DATA) is showing on all of my connected Windows computers with the video icon. So the thought occurred that your suggestion shouldn't work because of that fact. Does that make sense? If it were only showing up on one of my networked Windows PC's with the odd video icon but not the others I'd assume your suggestion might work. At least that is the way I'm thinking it through...
Yeah, that makes sense. I'm at a loss. Hopefully someone else has an idea.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10/11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer

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