How does Windows (7 or later) determine what folder view to apply to a known (special) folder?

Question

Problem:

I want to set the default folder view to Details for all folders on my Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit computer. I have partly solved this problem as follows:

Setting Default Folder View (for most folders)

1. Delete the following registry keys.

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags

2. Add the following registry entries.

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags]

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders]

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\ComDlg]

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\ComDlg\{5C4F28B5-F869-4E84-8E60-F11DB97C5CC7}]

   "Mode"=dword:00000004
   "Vid"="{137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
   

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\ComDlgLegacy]

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\ComDlgLegacy\{5C4F28B5-F869-4E84-8E60-F11DB97C5CC7}]

   "Mode"=dword:00000004
   "Vid"="{137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
   

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]

   "FolderType"="NotSpecified"
   

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell\{5C4F28B5-F869-4E84-8E60-F11DB97C5CC7}]

   "Mode"=dword:00000004
   "Vid"="{137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
   

Note if you try this, you'll need to restart explorer.exe for the folder view setting to take effect:

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe

I don't have a single reference that explains this; I've pieced it together from several references that might be incomplete or partly wrong.

Anyway, as I understand these entries (and please correct me if I'm wrong):

• Shell/ComDlg/ComDlgLegacy mean that I want these settings applied to Explorer and to file dialogs.

• {5C4F28B5-F869-4E84-8E60-F11DB97C5CC7} is the generic folder template, which you can find at:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes\{5c4f28b5-f869-4e84-8e60-f11db97c5cc7}

• {137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262} is the Details view. It seems you must specify both a view ID and mode, and for the Details view the corresponding mode value is 4. See this article; unfortunately I don't have a firmer reference (such as one from Microsoft).

• "FolderType"="NotSpecified" turns off automatic folder type discovery, which seems to interfere with this solution.

As far as I can tell this applies the Details folder view to all physical folders.

Known/Special Folders

However, it seems Windows has another type of folder called a "known" or "special" folder. Explorer usually shows some of these folders in the left pane or in a drop-down at the left of the address bar:

Here is a list of known folder IDs.

On your computer, you can find special folders listed in:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions

You can also view special folders on your computer with this tool.

I want to set the folder view for all special folders just as I have done for all physical folders. However, I cannot tell how Windows decides what folder view to apply to a special folder.

Here's what I do know. Suppose I open the special folder Libraries\Documents, which has FolderDescription GUID {7B0DB17D-9CD2-4A93-9733-46CC89022E7C}. Explorer shows this folder in Large Icons view, which contradicts the folder view I tried to set on all folders earlier.

When I refresh regedt32, I see that Windows has added the following registry entries:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Shell]

    "TV_FolderType"="{FBB3477E-C9E4-4B3B-A2BA-D3F5D3CD46F9}"
    "TV_TopViewID"="{82BA0782-5B7A-4569-B5D7-EC83085F08CC}"
    "TV_TopViewVersion"=dword:00000001

The TV_FolderType value refers to another folder template like the generic folder template we saw earlier. Its name is Documents.Library and it can be found at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes\{fbb3477e-c9e4-4b3b-a2ba-d3f5d3cd46f9}

Under that entry I see a key named TopViews, and under TopViews are six keys with GUID names, one of which matches the TV_TopViewID value we saw previously:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes\\{fbb3477e-c9e4-4b3b-a2ba-d3f5d3cd46f9}\TopViews\\{82ba0782-5b7a-4569-b5d7-ec83085f08cc}]
    "ColumnList"="prop:0(34)System.ItemNameDisplay;0System.DateModified;0System.ItemTypeText;0System.Size;1System.DateCreated;1System.ItemFolderPathDisplay;1System.Author;1System.Category;1System.Keywords;1System.Title"
    "Order"=dword:00000001
    "SortByList"="prop:System.ItemNameDisplay;-System.DateModified"
    "GroupBy"="System.ItemSearchLocation"
    "LogicalViewMode"=dword:00000001
    "PrimaryProperty"="System.ItemSearchLocation"
    "Name"="@shell32.dll,-34817"

The "Order" = 1 value suggests this view was chosen because it is ranked #1 for this folder template.

I don't know how Windows decides to apply the Large Icons folder view based on this "TopView" information. I searched the registry for "{82ba0782-5b7a-4569-b5d7-ec83085f08cc}", but it only appears as a TV_TopViewID value in Shell\Bags, or in the TopViews lists of other folder templates. It's not in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID.

Partial (Ugly) Solution

I have partly solved this problem as follows. I do not recommend trying this on your computer. If you do, please back up the entries in question first.

1. Delete the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes\{fbb3477e-c9e4-4b3b-a2ba-d3f5d3cd46f9}\TopViews

2. Add the following registry entries:

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes\{fbb3477e-c9e4-4b3b-a2ba-d3f5d3cd46f9}\TopViews]

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes\{fbb3477e-c9e4-4b3b-a2ba-d3f5d3cd46f9}\TopViews\{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}]

   "ColumnList"="prop:0(34)System.ItemNameDisplay;0System.DateModified;0System.ItemTypeText;0System.Size;1System.DateCreated;1System.Author;1System.Keywords;1System.Title"
   "Order"=dword:00000000
   "LogicalViewMode"=dword:00000001
   "Name"="NoName"
   

This makes it so the Documents.Library folder template has the same set of TopViews as the generic folder template. That causes Explorer to use the folder view I specified for the generic folder template back in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders.

Having to replace the TopViews list for every folder template seems crude (like I'm fixing the problem downstream of where I should) and possibly dangerous (because I don't know exactly how this all works).

Summary

To sum up, I want to tell Windows to apply a default folder view to all special/known folders as well as all physical folders.

I would also like to know:

• How Windows determines the FolderType (folder template) for a given FolderDescription (special folder).

• How Windows determines the folder view (Details, List, etc) for a given FolderType. I can infer that it looks up a TopView for the FolderType, but I don't know how it translates that to a folder view.

I've been searching, but I can't find this stuff documented anywhere.

Thank you and please let me know if I can provide additional information.

Edit: I said "Windows 7 or later" because I gather the registry entries in question changed between XP and 7.

Edit:

Better Solution

I found a better way to set the folder view for special folders, though it isn't as elegant as setting the folder view on normal folders.

Say I browse to the special folder Libraries\Documents. Windows creates the following registry entries if they do not exist:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell\{FBB3477E-C9E4-4B3B-A2BA-D3F5D3CD46F9}

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell\{FBB3477E-C9E4-4B3B-A2BA-D3F5D3CD46F9}\{82BA0782-5B7A-4569-B5D7-EC83085F08CC}

    "Rev"=dword:00000003
    "FFlags"=dword:41200001
    "Vid"="{0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}"
    "Mode"=dword:00000001
    "LogicalViewMode"=dword:00000001
    "IconSize"=dword:00000010
    "Sort"=hex:(omitted for brevity)
    "ColInfo"=hex:(omitted for brevity)

{FBB3477E-C9E4-4B3B-A2BA-D3F5D3CD46F9} is the folder template associated with Libraries\Documents.

{82BA0782-5B7A-4569-B5D7-EC83085F08CC} is the TopView with Order 1 associated with the folder template.

I do the following:

1. Leave the keys alone.

2. Delete all values except Vid and Mode.

3. Set Mode to 4 and Vid to {137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}.

4. The next time I browse to Libraries\Documents, it has the Details folder view. I do not even have to restart Explorer.

I am able to set the folder views for the other special folders the same way.

As it turns out, if I simply browse to all the special folders and set the folder view on each, I end up with the same registry entries as if I set them manually.

The good news is I can do that and then export HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders and deploy the .reg file to another machine.

However, it would still be better to set the folder view once for all special folders.