Recent Items - Turn On or Off

Brink · 08 Aug 2011

xiaolufer said:

thanks! dragging didnt work but changing the registry as u mentioned did :)

You're most welcome Xiaolufer. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted. :)

Ian108 · 06 Jan 2012

Thanks Brink

Excellent tutorial that solved this issue for me. Clearest I have found anywhere.

Brink · 06 Jan 2012

You're most welcome Ian. Thank you. :)

nalbe · 04 Mar 2012

Code:

 Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"Start_TrackProgs"=dword:00000001
; Store and display recently opened programs in the Start menu
"Start_TrackDocs"=dword:00000001
; Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar

or

Code:

@echo off
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v "Start_TrackProgs" /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v "Start_TrackDocs"  /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f
pause & exit

pantera25 · 20 Apr 2012

wow been searching for this fix thank you so much worked perfect for me

MattTINS · 07 Jun 2012

Thanks for this.

It fixed my issue which resulted by remoting into a Vista environment and apparently changing the profile's default setting for storing the recent items in the taskbar.

PatD · 17 Jun 2012

When I right-click on taskbar > Properties > Start Menu, I cannot check "Store and Display Recently Opened Items in the Start Menu and on the Taskbar" because it is grayed out.

I located the C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
and it appeared empty for some time, even though Properties indicates 2 folder and 30 files (none hidden).
Suddenly a subfolder appeared called CustomDestinations (modified just now) with 24 files with names ending in .customDestinations-ms
Listing them from a command window shows the other folder is called AutomaticDestinations with files ending in .automaticDestinations-ms Not too useful.

I even tried the registry fix but still cannot get "Recent Places" or "recent items" to work anywhere.

Brink · 17 Jun 2012

Hello Pat, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It sounds like you may have Recent Items disabled since the Store and Display Recently Opened Items in the Start Menu and on the Taskbar option is grayed out. See if doing step 2 in OPTION ONE of the tutorial below may be able to enable Recent Items and allow you to check/uncheck the option afterwards.

Recent Items - Enable or Disable

Hope this helps,
Shawn

PatD · 18 Jun 2012

Did that already but no change. "Start_TrackProgs" and "Start_TrackDocs" are both set to 1.

I noticed %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent goes to
my profile but displays as: Recent Items.

Brink · 18 Jun 2012

"Start_TrackProgs" and "Start_TrackDocs" is not what the tutorial to enable Recent Items sets. This is different setting instead. Please give step 2 in OPTION ONE a try to see if it may help afterwards. :)

Recent Items - Enable or Disable

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoRecentDocsHistory"=-

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoRecentDocsHistory"=-

Yep, it should be "Recent Items".