Make ‘Folders View’ the Windows Explorer Default in Windows XP

August 1, 2008 at 7:19 pm - by Dale Dietrich

Categories: small office, utilities, windows xp

9 comments

1  Steve { 08.02.08 at 12:04 am }

When I double-click ‘My Documents’ on the XP desktop, I get the ‘common tasks view’ of the My Documents folder.

Compare this to launching ‘Windows Explorer’ (Start / Accessories / Windows Explorer), which automatically opens the ‘folders view’ of My Documents.

However, I like your solution because it means that XP will open each and every folder in ‘folders view’ — no extra step required

2  Dale Dietrich { 08.02.08 at 12:45 am }

I never use “My Documents” (I prefer to keep all my files in a c:\files hierarchy for easy backup and restore) so I’ve not tested that.

It’s odd that your Windows Explorer default folder view is different than ALL of the XP PC’s I’ve ever used (and there’s been probably 2 dozen of them over the last 7 years).

I wonder if you did something years ago to change your defaults?

…Dale

3  Lisa L { 08.21.08 at 4:44 pm }

Hi Dale.
Great clear comments, thanks. I’m delighted to find your site.
I’ve been having trouble with my shortcuts recently, and I’ve solved everything except one really annoying thing. Maybe you can help me.
I use WinXP Pro and a similar filing system to yours (i.e., I don’t use My Documents … and wish I could get rid of the file). I have a shortcut on my desktop to Windows Explorer which, until lately, worked just fine. When I double-clicked it, it took me to a full-screen view of Win Explorer in the FOLDERS view.
Now, after resetting the properties for that shortcut (and even creating a new one), I get to the non-FOLDERS view in Win Explorer. I’ve been trying everything, including your tip about making FOLDER view the default. It doesn’t seem to work.
Curiously, I have “File Folders” and “Folders” as file types on my system. I have set the default on “Folders” to “open” and on the “File Folders” to “explore.” Both open with explorer.exe in the Windows folder … but they both get me to that darned non-FOLDERS view.
I suspect that I may need a specific key after the .exe address, but I don’t know what it is.
Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.
Lisa

4  Lisa L { 08.21.08 at 7:20 pm }

Got it!
It was switches, and everything now works again, just as it should.

Here is a wonderful link:
http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/explorershortcuts.htm

Cheers.
Lisa

5  Dale Dietrich { 08.22.08 at 1:02 pm }

Excellent. Thanks for the heads up Lisa.

…Dale

6  Ricardo { 10.22.08 at 7:19 pm }

Hi.

I’ve been looking for a solution for this for some time now (apparently not hard enough, since a simple google search pointed me to this site… XD) and I can finally say that this problem is solved. But, in my case, it wasn’t solved by following these exact steps. Here’s what I had to do, in case it helps someone:

I have Windows Explorer set up to show “classic Windows folders”, so it never shows the “common tasks” pane. I chose this option since it was the only way I found to be able to get rid once and for all of the annoying “filmstrip view” for pictures. You can do it from Folder Options, in General, under Tasks.
This was very nice and all, but now all the windows open with no panels at all on the left side. Folders look really ugly this way, so I always click on the “Folders” button. Plus, I love the “Folders” tree view, I find it the main reason I prefer Win Explorer over Mac Finder.

The funny thing is that when I followed this guide, and set the default option for “Folders” to “open”, i not only do not get the Folder Tree View as default, but also when I double click a folder it always opens up in a new window.

The fix for this in my case was to set the default option to “explore” instead of “open”. This gives me the Tree View by default, and also opens folders in the same window when double clicked. The funny thing is that I thought that this was the way it was before, but apparently no option is set as default, not “open” and not “explore”. Anyway, I’m finally completely happy with the way my Explorer behaves ^o^

So, step by step, to get Explorer to work the way I have it:

1. From a Explorer window, open “Tools” and “Folder Options”.
2. In the “General” tab check “Use Windows Cassic Folders”.
3. in the “File Types” tab, click on the “(NONE) Folder” option and “Advanced”.
4. Click on “explore” and then “Set Default”.

And that’s it.

Thanks for this guide! Saved me a lot of trouble ^__^

Bye.

7  Dale Dietrich { 10.23.08 at 9:08 pm }

Thanks for the further insight Ricardo.

8  Neil Hinrichsen { 10.27.08 at 4:38 am }

Hi Dale

Was most excited when I discovered your tip. I have also clicked the “Folders” button a million times over the last four years since upgrading to XP from Windows 97, where this was the default behavior. Unfortunately though your tip did not work for me, nor did Ricardo’s version.

However, I followed Lisa L’s link suggestion, and found a solution there that DOES work (for me at least!)

Simply change the command in your shortcut for Windows Explorer to the following:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e ,c:

The /e switch specifies that Explorer should open in the double pane view.

As an aside, this is why I loathe Microsoft - four years to find a solution to this!!!!

9  maggie { 11.20.08 at 11:42 am }

thanks so much for the tip, though i actually had to set my default to ‘explore’ to get the folders view.

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