Opening explorer to specific look (SP2)

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This is seemingly trivial, I guess, but it is one of those little things that continues to annoy me! When Windows Explorer comes up, I always have to hit the “Folders” button to get to the display I want; that is, the windows treeview in the left pane, and the detail of a folder in the right pane. I can’t seem to get Windows to remember this setting, nor can I find an option that controls it. Is there such a way?

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Hi Mark,

Try creating a shortcut with a target like the following:

explorer.exe /e, C:Access

The /e switch tells explorer to open in Explorer mode instead of in My Computer mode, i.e. with a folder tree on the left hand side. Substitute the correct path.

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Thanks Hans. That did it. I changed by shortcuts so that instead of just pointing to the folder, they point to Explorer.exe instead, and then added the /e option.

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Using the shortcut method, is there a switch to make the picture folder to always open in “thumbnails”?

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No, the only command line options available are
a) Specifying “My Computer” look vs “Windows Explorer” look.
Specifying a folder to open.
c) Specifying a root level above which the user cannot go.

For example, the comman line

Explorer.exe /e,/root,d:,d:data

specifies Windows Explorer look, the D: drive as root (so the user cannot go up to My Computer or Desktop), and D:Data as folder to display.

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Okay, it was just a thought! Too bad it doesn’t work the way I was hoping but for the explanation.

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The short answer is NO. Here is a KB artcle: Explorer.exe Command-Line Options for Windows XP.

Joe

--Joe

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Thanks Joe! I appreciate the link to knowledge!

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Would this be helpful?

Q: How do I set XP to open Windows Explorer to always open in Details view and not Icons view?

A: Set your preferences on how you want your folders to appear on one typical folder and then apply this as the default setting for Explorer. You can add more columns to the detailed view by clicking on View, Choose Details and also select the column width and order.

When you are happy with the layout, apply this to all folders. This is done from Tools, Folder Options, View and click on Apply to All Folders.

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Almost, but not quite. It still didn’t hold the setting of the Folders button.

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But there’s a trap for young players. Go into Tools / Folder Options / View. If “remember each folder’s view settings” is on, ApplyAllFolders doesn’t seem to work.

The answer is easy, of course. Turn off “remember each folder’s view settings”.

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Yup… been covered before at some length, for those who are interested in details. So much for user friendliness!!

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I don’t know if this is a general XP feature or the result of some particular settings on my PC, but I find that my favourite way of opening explorer, the keyboard shortcut (Winkey+E), always results in the two pane view.

George

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The shortcut you mentioned has done just that since its introduction. Explorer vs. My Computer view, two ways of looking at the file system – and the key combination is for Explorer view, which is the two-paned view.

You can force the other view to always be two panes by first displaying the folder tree, and then going in to Folder Options and selecting “Apply to all folders” (text may vary based on Windows version).

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