Set the standard size and list view for windows file open dialog permanently

Question

On a windows server 2003 system (I guess it would be the same solution on windows xp) the standard file open dialog of the operating system is used by most software, for example firefox.

Many times I resize the size of the dialog by dragging the lower right corner (blue in the screenshot) and also change from list to details view (red in the screenshot).

I want to make this permanent for all programs.

I hope there are registry settings or some other solution for both the standard size and the view type (which is list by default) to make these changes permanent and for all programs.

(I am not trying to set these values from the software that calls the windows file open dialog, this would be a different question. I do not want to recompile firefox ;) I want to change the default values which would affect all programs and has to be done on operating system level.)

Answer 1

There is a nice solution for this: FileOpenPatcher. Download it here: http://www.netcult.ch/elmue/ElmueSoft-en.htm

Notice that it's not just a simple registry tweak. this Patcher changes Comdlg32.dll in your windows folder. you can see all the info in the help file of the patch after you download it.

I've been using it for several months and it works well.