Setting Folder View Options in WinXP-SP3

[BobH]

Is it possible to set options in CP=>Folder Options that will cause File Explorer to display in a user-preferred manner?

I prefer to see Explorer windows with Drive and Folder Names in a column on the left and the currently selected folder and file names in a column on the right. I get the Folders to display by choosing View=>Explorer Bar=>Folders, but I can't get WinXP to use this as the default for all uses of Explorer.

I've been into CP=>Folder Options, View tab and clicked the Apply to All Folders, but it does no good.

What am I doing wrong?

[JoeP]

Given the myriad ways in which Windows Explorer can be started I think it is impossible to have it start the way you wish for each circumstance.

Joe

[Leif]

Is it possible to set options in CP=>Folder Options that will cause File Explorer to display in a user-preferred manner?

Not that I have successfully found. I tend to use shortcuts with switches - e.g. %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n, /e,c:\ - to get the view I want.

(See How To Customize the Windows Explorer Views in Windows XP)

[Bigaldoc]

I may be misunderstanding the question, but starting Windows Explorer with the Windows-E keystroke brings up Explorer in the "View-Folders" mode except that it's on My Computer rather than the root of the C: drive as in Leif's example. I usually just continue navigating from that point.

[stuck]

If the view you set in Explorer doesn't stick, have you got the tick box highlighted in the screen dump below ticked?

Ken

[DaveA]

What you are wanting is with the "Navigation" page one the left. In Windows XP, there is the "Folder" icon, which will toggle between the Nav pane and the Action (blue) pane. Once you set things up the way you want them it displayed, go to Tools, Options and View tab and the the "Apply to All folders" button.

This should over right ALL setting regardless of how you open Windows Explorer.

[BobH]

If the view you set in Explorer doesn't stick, have you got the tick box highlighted in the screen dump below ticked?

Ken

I've tried setting the Folder View both with the option shown selected and with it de-selected. I get the same result either way. Every time I display a folder, the Explorer Bar pane is gone. I don't know how to make it always appear.

I recall that I used to have all folders appear with the Explorer Bar pane, and I thought I did it by setting the options Ken shows; however that doesn't seem to work any more for me.

[stuck]

I open Explorer using a shortcut with a target of:
C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe /e,X:\...
where X:\... is the drive letter and full path to my default folder. It always opens with the folder pane on the left and the content of the selected folder on the right, see screen dump attached.

My view of the content of the folder depends on what I've set in the dialog box I posted above.

Ken

[Doc Watson]

Quick and dirty.... set the window to the view you want, hold down the Shift key and click on the "X" in the upper right corner. The view should stick.