ShellFolderFix - Manage folder window positions/size

[jknauth]

Documentation and Up Directory Suggestions

I also want to thank Tweaker for his writing and continued support of
this very helpful tool.

A suggestion: Put some information about installation in the ReadMe.
For example, the response you just made about over-installing and about
exiting the application before installing an update. Also, some
explanation about manual installation vs. using the installer would be
helpful.

Since the "How To Use" documentation consists of the mouse hover popups
(and this forum), is there any Windows trick to make the popups stay up
longer, e.g., by holding down some key or mouse button? Some of the
popups disappear before I can finish reading them and I have to make
them pop up again.

Long ago someone posted here a request for a possible enhancement:
adding back the green Up Directory arrow that Windows 7 removed from
Explorer windows. In fact there is a Windows 7 keystroke combination
(Alt + up-arrow) that does this up to a point. It nicely retraces the
breadcrumbs and even goes at least one more to the left of the leftmost
displayed breadcrumb. Unfortunately it takes the path to Desktop
instead of the physical path back to the root directory of the physical
drive. But maybe this will help someone who was looking for the deleted
Explorer function. Jeff

 

[tweaker]

A suggestion: Put some information about installation in the ReadMe.
For example, the response you just made about over-installing and about
exiting the application before installing an update. Also, some
explanation about manual installation vs. using the installer would be
helpful.

I'm afraid putting it in the readme would be an after-the-fact situation, since you need to install to actually read it (or download an installer-less package and unzip it). But I'll update the first post with that info, it's due for an update anyway to remove the "first public test release" stuff.

is there any Windows trick to make the popups stay up
longer, e.g., by holding down some key or mouse button?

The popup time is defined locally in the app, don't think there's much that can be done from the "outside". I tried to pick a middle road to not show it annoyingly long if you already know what things are, but long enough so it only has to be re-shown 2 or 3 times for the longest tips. I can look into adding some solution for that, like holding a key or simply a checkbox that enables extended times.

 

[NoelC]

I almost hate to write to you about this, because I know you're not getting paid for this wonderful tool, but I've been seeing some strange things with the new version.

Specifically, on two occasions I found that when I opened my C:\ folder (from a desktop icon, set to open minimized), Shell Folder Fix positioned the window off-screen. Specifically, it was off screen to the upper-left, and when I did the Restore - Move trick to get it back on the screen it came on-screen as a very small window, a couple of hundred pixels on a side.

This was repeatable until I stopped and restarted the program.

Anything I can look for, a log I can report to you, etc. should it happen again?

Thanks.

-Noel

 

[tweaker]

Hmm strange, I don't remember having changed anything that should affect how that works. I'll look through the code again and review any changes made since last version to see if I can spot anything.

 

[Thorsen]

Many thanks, Tweaker. This looks awesome.

 

[Vector]

THANK YOU tweaker for this program! It works great. Can't believe Win 7 is missing this basic functionality

 

[toddsparrow]

SOLVED weeks of frustration - where's your tip jar?

These stupid Win7 Explorer windows were driving me nuts. Tweaker, your little app seems to be fixing all my problems.

I want to pay you for this app. Seriously. Post a link or PayPal or something.

 

[KremmenUK]

I must be in the minority here

I've installed the tool but all my desktop folders seem to be linked and whatever I do with the last one closed they all obey.

What have I done wrong?

Wonder if this is linked to my other problem where I cannot get the desktop folders on my account to display the inside 'sheets' of what is contained?

 

[tweaker]

I want to pay you for this app. Seriously. Post a link or PayPal or something.

Thanks that's very kind, but that's not necessary (I made this app for myself, so it wasn't that much more work to release it.)

What have I done wrong?

Wonder if this is linked to my other problem where I cannot get the desktop folders on my account to display the inside 'sheets' of what is contained?

It does indeed sound like the windows are "invisible" to the app. You can double check that by having a couple of folders open and then going into ShellFolderFix options, press the "Init defaults from >>" button and see if it lists any windows or it tells you that no windows are open (you don't actually have to select anything should it display a list, it's just to check if it tracks any windows or not).

It is possible that it's related to your other problem. Do I understand it right that the problem always happens, even if FolderFix isn't running? If so then maybe it's some other installed shell extension or damage windows installation, I don't really know.

 

[KremmenUK]

Thanks for the info, I'll post back at the weekend when I next have access to the PC.

 

[Fawkrin]

LOVELY!

The last tweak issue with W7 solved with this nice little tool!

Well, almost. I install it but it won't autostart properly. Neither can I change any settings. I get an error when I press OK. "Unable to create shortcut int Startup folder.". If I place a shortcut in Startup manually, it opens up non-minimized as my computer boots (even when that option set, incl run with Admin rights).

If I start it manually, it starts minimized and works - although only with the default settings.

What could be the problem?

I've moved and reset the Startup folder, I've made sure the reg key for it points to the right place. I also use ClassixShell to get the old version of the startmenu, but tried without that running, and still I get the same error.

(Win7/x64)

 

[tweaker]

Well, almost. I install it but it won't autostart properly. Neither can I change any settings. I get an error when I press OK. "Unable to create shortcut int Startup folder.". If I place a shortcut in Startup manually, it opens up non-minimized as my computer boots (even when that option set, incl run with Admin rights).

If I start it manually, it starts minimized and works - although only with the default settings.

What could be the problem?

That's very strange, sounds like some kind of issue with access rights for the process since you can't change settings (or have it write the shortcut). Those settings are written to the current user registry section, which you always should have write access to AFAIK.

The reason it doesn't start minimized is also due to it failing to write to the registry. You can bypass that particular effect by adding "/autostart" to the shortcut command line:

C:\...blabla...\ShellFolderFixUI.exe /autostart

However that's not an ideal solution since you'll still have the problem of it not writing other settings to registry.

I don't really know why it isn't allowed to write to the registry (or disk), do you have some other security software installed? The only thing to do, I can think of right now, is to open the Task Manager (right click on empty area of start menu and pick Start Task Manager) and look under "Processes" tab. Search for "ShellFolderFixUI.exe" in the list and see if the "User Name" column matches your user name.

 

[Fawkrin]

Very strange indeed, and I have no other similar issues. Or any issues really, except Win7 being what it is.

I can open and edit the registry, have done so to tweak the system (nothing that breaks it).

Security software is basically what comes along, apart from AVG v9. Tried with that disabled, same effect. Not that's a guarantee its actually off, this kind of software has the habit of not shutting down (which usually is a good thing).

ShellFolderFix is started and run by me yes. And surprise, the /autostart didn't really help. The main window still pops up. The other programs in startup does not.

Just to make sure, I double checked rights on all important folders, all ok, most allowed for write to "everyone", and read only not set.


Uhm, now I get another error when I try to change settings: "Unable to delete shortcut from Startup folder, reason unknown."

It's getting better...

Anyone having a clue? Can I get a sample or list of the usual registry entries? If so I can edit and import... I searched it, and found details about the installation and such, so it has definetely written to registry...

 

[tweaker]

ShellFolderFix is started and run by me yes. And surprise, the /autostart didn't really help. The main window still pops up. The other programs in startup does not.

Now that's really really strange, that should be technically impossible . The code to display the dialog is completely circumvented if /autostart is specified.

That it displayed it without /autostart made sense, because then it used a registry key to check if it's the first time run, and since it can't write to the registry it always thinks it's the first time, but with /autostart that doesn't happen. I'm stumped.

Uhm, now I get another error when I try to change settings: "Unable to delete shortcut from Startup folder, reason unknown."

It's getting better...

I don't think that is strange though. It doesn't have write access so it can't delete the shortcut, and since the default settings are used it thinks autostart should be disabled so it tries to delete it.


Hmm, if I understood it right you used the installer so this shouldn't be able to happen, but is there any chance it's running the 32-bit version? Check the task manager and see if it says "*32" next to ShellFolderFixUI.exe process.

Also did the process have the correct owner?

found details about the installation and such, so it has definetely written to registry

That's probably what the installer writes to the registry, not the application. If you want to look for what the application writes then look for HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/ShellFolderFix. I'm suspecting that isn't there at all.

 

[Fawkrin]

Hey

Nope, no *32 so its the 64 bit version, and I used the installer.

I have reg entries at that location;
Default - value not set
Dbsize - 0x000003e8 (1000)
FirstRun - x000000 (0)

Happy to be able to puzzle others too, not just myself...

 

[tweaker]

I have reg entries at that location;
Default - value not set
Dbsize - 0x000003e8 (1000)
FirstRun - x000000 (0)

Ok, that might help a little to determine what's happening (but still not why). I'm attaching a new exe which you can replace the current one with (just copy it over the existing one). I've added some numeric error codes to error message when it's creating/deleting the shortcut, hopefully that can help me on why that fails.

I also came to think about one other scenario where the dialog opens up on app start (even if /autostart is specified), and that is if the app is started while an instance of it is already running. Maybe for some reason it's double launched (related to ClassixShell?). In any case this is secondary, maybe it sorts itself out once the primary issue above is solved.

edit: attachment removed

 

[Fawkrin]

Problem solved. I suspected it was double launched, so we were both right. Nothing wrong with your app, it's just probably written to give errors where other apps just chooses to ignore errors... Or limits the number of times it can be launched.

As I want a clean and sorted Start Menu, I edit it. Part of that is making sure all entries are in the same location. As software have the habit of installing shortcuts at either the "user" area, or the "all user" area, I move them to where I want them ("user area"). When I did that after installing all software on my new W7 system, I MOVED the folder structure. That left the "all user" area without any folders. A simple empty "programs\startup" folder in the "all user" start menu solved the problem.

This has been the same since WinXP. If one of the two startup folders don't exist, Windows runs the one that exist twice. Just to be sure I guess.

So, I killed the Bruce Boxleitner in my system. For now...

Thanks for a great app, keep it up!

And THANKS for the effort of solving this, and making your app better. Wish that Microsoft had this kind of spirit instead of forcing us to do what they think is best. It IS a lifesaver in my W7 setup, and with the user created freeware Classic Start Menu app I run, it makes up 50% of my happiness with the system. M$ owes you money in my book.

 

[tweaker]

Ah great, that explains it. It failed to make shortcut because of the missing folder, and if it failed the shortcut it also aborted applying other settings (which I suspected was the reason for failure to apply settings so I changed that in the attached debug version above, so that settings always get applied regardless of shortcut success/failure).

I've added another specific error message for missing Startup directory, which will be included in the next version. Makes it easier to figure out should it happen to someone else in future.

Glad that got sorted out in a somewhat painless fashion (considering the seemingly strange behavior it could have been a lot harder)

 

[KremmenUK]

I want to pay you for this app. Seriously. Post a link or PayPal or something.

Thanks that's very kind, but that's not necessary (I made this app for myself, so it wasn't that much more work to release it.)

What have I done wrong?

Wonder if this is linked to my other problem where I cannot get the desktop folders on my account to display the inside 'sheets' of what is contained?

It does indeed sound like the windows are "invisible" to the app. You can double check that by having a couple of folders open and then going into ShellFolderFix options, press the "Init defaults from >>" button and see if it lists any windows or it tells you that no windows are open (you don't actually have to select anything should it display a list, it's just to check if it tracks any windows or not).

It is possible that it's related to your other problem. Do I understand it right that the problem always happens, even if FolderFix isn't running? If so then maybe it's some other installed shell extension or damage windows installation, I don't really know.

It was me, hopefully. By default the program is not set to auto start and I didn't change it.
Hopefully now it will remember.

I noticed in a previous post about the Navigation Pane. I also find it annoying that it is a global setting. I don't want it on my applications folders but I do want it on Windows Explorer/My Computer displays.

 

[NoelC]

Hi Tweaker,

I've just had another situation where ShellFolderFix has decided to start Explorer as a tiny window off-screen.

I've made a copy of ShellFolderFix.db... Is this the file you would need to see to determine what's being written in there?

Thanks.

-Noel