Solved Recycle bin folder view settings will not stick

[ignatzatsonic]

I want to keep a "details" view in the recycle bin of Windows 7 Home Premium. I had no trouble doing that until a couple of days ago.

Now, the recycle bin wants to show "tiles" view. Always.

There is a dropdown list on the upper right of the recycle bin where you can choose the setting. That's the first place I looked and found it set to "tiles"---although I have always had details view until 2 days ago and certainly have not looked at that dropdown in at least 6 months.

If I set the dropdown to details, close the recycle bin, and immediately reopen it, the dropdown is set to tiles.

I remember going through recycle bin folder view hell on XP and I think Vista as well. Is this also a known issue on Windows 7 and does anyone have any suggestions?

The only thing I can recall that I have done to my system in the last few days is get the most recent 4 "important" Window updates.

 

[Bill2]

Strange. I just checked and the recycle bin folder view stays at details, even when closed and opened. And my computer has the latest updates.

1) Try the following.

Click on Start, type desktop icons into the search box, and then click Show or hide common icons on the desktop.

In the Desktop Icon Settings dialog box, clear the Recycle Bin check box, now select the Recycle Bin check box.

Click OK.

2) It may be a corrupted user profile.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows7/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I am going to bump this up one time. Am I the only one on the planet experiencing this issue?


Bill: I tried those fixes, but no help.

The problem persists and is somewhat intermittent---a "details" setting for the recycle bin might stick for a day or two and then disappear again.

A system restore to a date prior to the problem's first appearance did not help.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I think I have solved this and thought I would post the answer in case anyone else runs into this problem.

This issue persisted for months. No matter what view setting was chosen for the recycle bin, it would not stick. You never knew what view you would see when the recycle bin was opened. I wanted to see the "details" view, but usually got either "tiles" or "list".

This appears to have solved it---at least for the last few days, during which time I have opened the recycle bin 15 or 20 times:

View system and hidden files so you can see the recycle bin folder for the C partition in Windows Explorer.

Right click the C recycle bin. Choose properties.

Chose customize tab. Notice the “optimize this folder for” option.

In my case, it was set to "general". I changed that setting to "documents" and got no relief.

So I tried the “pictures” setting and that seems to have worked. I could then choose "details" view within the recycle bin and have it persist.

I can only assume that it was set to "pictures" at one time and somehow got changed to "general".

I have 2 hard drives containing 3 partitions: C and D on one HD and E on another.

D:\Recycle is set to "general". I did not change this and assume this is Windows default?

E:\Recycle is set to "pictures". I did not change this.

C:\Recycle is the only one I changed--from "general" to "pictures".

 

[Brink]

Hello Ignatzatsonic,

If that fails on you, then you might see if resetting all folder views to default may be able to help.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Thanks for that Shawn. I'll keep it in mind as a last resort.

Can I assume your registry suggestions do more than the "restore defaults" choice in tools/folder options as shown below? I tried that with no improvement.

I remember fighting this issue and the "BagsMRU" registry thing from prior OSes. Strange that it remains a problem since the XP days.

 

[Brink]

It's a lot better in Windows 7 than it was in Vista, but you might still run into a folder view issue every once in a blue moon.

The reset REG file will reset everything related to the folder views in Windows Explorer to the default views for each folder template.

 

[pmokover]

Ignatzatsonic,

Thanks. Changing to Pictures seems to be working for me too although I have no idea why that works.

Peter

 

[Wizzzzard]

I have just come across this problem and found my deleted files showing as tiles every time I opened the recycle bin, I tried to follow ignatzatsonic's instructions to fix but without an image it makes it hard, I could not find the “optimize this folder for” option, I have included an image to show that it is not present!

What I did do was click the "Restore Default" button and that seems to have fixed my problem so i thought i would share the information for others to try.

 

[darkblue]

I have just come across this problem and found my deleted files showing as tiles every time I opened the recycle bin, I tried to follow ignatzatsonic's instructions to fix but without an image it makes it hard, I could not find the “optimize this folder for” option, I have included an image to show that it is not present!

What I did do was click the "Restore Default" button and that seems to have fixed my problem so i thought i would share the information for others to try.

Thank you. It worked for me too

 

[csnet]

This worked for me today to stop Windows 7 Pro 64 bit from showing unwanted Tiles instead of Details. I have not seen it mentioned as a possible fix.

Click on Recycle Bin in Explorer
Set view to Details
Navigate to Tools - Folder Options - View
Click Apply to Folders

Note that the description of Apply to Folders is "You can apply the view (such as Details or Icons) that you are using for this folder to all folders of this type." I confirmed that Apply to Folders changed only my recycle bin and all my other folders retained their current view settings.

My GUESS (no proof) why this may work is this: My single recycle bin serves 4 different physical hard drive hidden recycle bin files so possibly Apply to Folders in this case described above causes Windows to set all 4 of these recycle bin files to use Details, while just setting the view without Apply to Folders will only set the view of one or more of the recycle bin files that are not empty at the time the view is set. Therefore, the next time the Recycle Bin is viewed, it may be setting the view to an unwanted view from a recycle bin that was empty or not set to Details the last time the view setting was changed in Explorer without using Apply to Folders.

 

[Cobracon]

Finally!!!

Many thanks for this post...

I have suffered from this annoying problem for more than a year. I have tried everything I could find online regarding this issue, e.g. resetting BagMRUSize, etc. but nothing resolved the problem.

I also suspected that it might be connected with settings of "hidden" Recycle Bins from other hard drives, but never thought to follow it up as you did.

Solution is so easy and, thinking about it, logical.

Brilliant! Many thanks again for sharing.

 

[csnet]

You're very welcome. Glad to hear it worked for you too.