Setting the default folder view for all folders

To configure all folders to display the files the same way:

  1. Use Windows Explorer to browse to a folder, and configure how the folder should appear (Set the wanted View - Details/List/Tiles/Thumbnails, Select columns, Change column order, Resize column width etc.).
  2. In the Windows Explorer click the Tools-menu and select “Folder Options…”
  3. Change to the “View”-fan and press “Reset Folders” and then press the “Apply to all folders”-button

More Info MSDN - New Windows XP Shell Features
More Info MS KB812003

Changing the Folder Type template for a folder

Even after having configured all folder to look the same way, then some folders may still display differently, because the Folder type has been configured. To configure the Folder Type of a folder:

  1. Right click on the folder and select “Properties”

  2. Select the “Customize”-fan and here can you configure “What kind of folder do you want?” by changing what Folder Type to use as template.

    The different templates have different columns pre-configured and options available: - Pictures(best for many files) - Introduces a Filmstrip mode in the Windows Explorer View-menu.

Note Windows XP will automatically cache folder customization, so changes made to a single folder will be remembered when the folder is visited again.

Configure the default Folder Type template for all users

If having dynamic / roaming users and want and want to configure the default Folder view for all users through the registry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \ShellNoRoam \Bags \AllFolders \Shell]
WFlags = 0
Mode = 4
vid = “{137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}”

Note the following table can be used to configure the above values (WFlags should always be 0) <table border="1"><tr><th>View</th><th>Mode</th><th>vid</th></tr><tr><td>Icons</td><td>1</td><td>{0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}</td></tr><tr><td>List</td><td>3</td><td>{0E1FA5E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}</td></tr><tr><td>Details</td><td>4</td><td>{137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262}</td></tr><tr><td>Thumbnail</td><td>5</td><td>{8BEBB290-52D0-11D0-B7F4-00C04FD706EC}</td></tr><tr><td>Tiles</td><td>6</td><td>{65F125E5-7BE1-4810-BA9D-D271C8432CE3}</td></tr><tr><td>Filmstrip</td><td>7</td><td>{8EEFA624-D1E9-445B-94B7-74FBCE2EA11A}</td></tr></table>

Note if not wanting to show the status-bar in the default folder view:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \ShellNoRoam \Bags \AllFolders \Shell]
Status = 0