30 replies to this topic

[Roulette]

Having just been given a laptop with Vista, I'm having a few problems. That's probably because I'm used to XP. I'm a file and folder neatnick. It was easy in XP to keep my files and folders shipshape, but Vista has me beat. When I bring up W. Explorer, I get a window with the following folders on it:

My name
Public
Computer
Network
Internet Explorer
Control Panel
Recycle Bin
This is followed by a string of shortcuts

To find my C: drive, I double click on 'Computer' and get another window with:

SQ004585V03 (C:)
DVD RW drive (D:)
TOSHIBA SYSTEM VOLUME (G:)
My Sharing Folders

Then I have to double click on SQ004...(C:) to get to the files and folders on my C: drive.

In XP, I get this right off the bat, with two panes, to boot. As I'm sure you all know, the left pane lists the folders and the right pane has the subfolders and/or files. Why can't I get this setup on Vista? I'm planning to move some folders from my desktop with a flash drive and I'm afraid I won't be able to locate them where I want them. I've looked everywhere on Vista and can't find any way to change the W. Explorer format. Is there a way?

When I plug in my flash drive, it appears on the list of drives (above). I double click on the flash drive and my flash drive folders appear in a new window. I don't know how to move these folders to the C: drive.

[Broni]

Right click on Windows Explorer, click "Properties", then "Shortcut" tab, put this into "Target:" box:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /e, c:

OK your way out.
Restart Windows Explorer and it'll open to C: drive.

[Berton]

Or right-click the drive icon or a particular Folder and drag to the Desktop, choose Create Shortcut Here. That shortcut can be put on the Quick Launch Toolbar or Pinned to the Start Menu.

[Roulette]

Thanks, Broni, that worked fine. But I'm still doing something wrong. Now, when I open Explorer, it shows the C: drive in the left pane and the C: drive folders in the right pane, which is fine. When I click on the flash drive, however, the flash drive folders appear in a new window instead of replacing the C: drive folders in the right pane. Consequently, I still don't know how to move the flash drive folders to the C: drive. Furthermore, when I try to backup, I lose the drives and have to restart Explorer to get them back.

[Broni]

With my settings, I assume, you see something like this?



As for the drive opening in a new window, go Tools>Folder options>General tab and make sure, you have a "tick" in "Open each folder in the same window".

[Roulette]

Yes, that's what it looks like. "Open each folder in the same window" was already checked.

After fooling around a bit, I found that if I right-clicked the flash drive and went to properties/customize/choose file, a window would come up that allowed me to copy the folders to the C: drive. This works, but it's a very awkward way of doing it.

[Broni]

You sure, you don't double click on flash drive letter, instead of a single click?

[Roulette]

No, it's a single right click. I just tried it again.

[Broni]

What do you mean by "right click"?
To see the content of your flash drive, you should just LEFT click on it, once.

[Roulette]

When I right click, I get a little window with a list of choices and the bottom one is "properties," just like you do when you right click almost anything.

[Broni]

Why do you right click?
LEFT click once on flash drive letter and you should see its content in right pane.

[Roulette]

But, that's the problem. When I left-click the flash drive, the folders appear in a new window, not in the pane on the right. I right-clicked just to see what would happen if I went to "properties."

Anyway, I think I solved my problem (with your help). I just noticed the tiny triangles to the left of the drives. When I clicked the one next to the flash drive, the folders appeared below the drive letter. Sorry I didn't notice that before; I'm used to seeing a little plus or minus. I guess when you go to a new version of Windows, you have to learn everything all over again.

Thanks for your help.

[Broni]

Still, there is something wrong there
When you left click on flash drive once, you should see flash drive folders in right pane.
It must be some registry setting.

Check this...
Click Start, choose Run and execute regedit. Navigate to: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] Look for a value called NoFolderOptions on the right panel Right click on the NoFolderOptions value and choose delete Navigate to: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] Right click on NoFolderOptions on the right pane and choose Delete

[Roulette]

I didn't get very far. After [...\Windows\CurrentVersion] I have a choice of going to "Policies" which contains only "System", or I can go to "Explorer" which has a long list of items. If I click on "Explorer" there is a list of values in the right panel, but none of them is NoFolderOptions.

[Broni]

Please download SystemLook from one of the links below and save it to your Desktop.
Download Mirror #1
Download Mirror #2

• Double-click SystemLook.exe to run it.
  
• Vista users:: Right click on SystemLook.exe, click Run As Administrator
  
• Copy the content of the following box into the main textfield:
  

  :reg
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer /s
  

  
  
• Click the Look button to start the scan.
  
• When finished, a notepad window will open with the results of the scan. Please post this log in your next reply.

Note: The log can also be found on your Desktop entitled SystemLook.txt

[Roulette]

I did what you instructed and obtained the following log. I hope I attached it correctly.

 SystemLook.txt   3.76MB   21 downloads

[Broni]

Make sure, you have hidden files view enabled.
See, if you have autorun.inf file in root C:\ directory

[Roulette]

I ignored Windows dire warnings and enabled the hidden system files. There is no autorun.inf.

[Broni]

Using SystemLook, run following script:

:filefind
autorun*

Post the log.

[Roulette]

Here's the second SystemLook.txt file

 SystemLook.txt   1.49K   11 downloads