Dear Shawn,
I hope you are still out there, since this post is over 5 years old. This was a great help to me in fixing this weird problem, and I have used it several times whenever Windows started acting up.
I was hoping you could help with a related problem. Under the "Start" button, I have a "Favorites" tab. When I click on one of the favorites, the window opens in a way that I set when I first got my PC. If I change the window size, then quit, it does not remember the new setting. Is there a way to change/reset this particular setting?

Thanks in advance for your help.

PS - For some reason, the downloaded "automatic" fix does not work for me. It just opens a Notepad window listing regedit commands.

Very nice tutorial Brink. Thanks!

The exact cause of Vista losing it's memory on your folder view settings has not been found yet. This may just reset them for now to help Vista remember them again. It has been noticed that changing a lot of window folder view settings in combination with some unknown applications settings may be triggering this forgetfulness. Make sure that you do not have a setting in a 3rd party program set to clear the folder view setting cache when it is used. (EX: CCleaner - Window Size/Location cache option under Cleaner -> Advanced)

I was reading a post in a forum recently about the reasons why Vista sometimes "forgets" system settings. There are several. One is linked to System Restore, where after returning to a previous windows state the settings are dropped for some reason. But then, maintenance is an ongoing necessary evil, isn't it?

Hi Brink, this afternoon I tried all the options in this thread and My Folder positions still are not remembered by Windows.
I'm working on a large screen and I like to have the Folders & Open and Save dialogue boxes in the middle of my screen, but Windows doesn't remember their previous location, nor the size of the windows. I have done exactly as outlined in this tutorial + read a couple of other pages on Vista 64 & applied some of the tips but so far I can't fix this Windows error. I double, and some times triple checked before deleting Registry items and adding Key's etc, so I don't think I missed something... Could be tho LOL

I was wondering if you could help me out here mate?
TIA Carlo

Originally Posted by Brink

It sounds like you will need to double check in Default Programs to make sure that the .reg file extention has is it's "Current Default" program set as Registry Editor (C:\Windows\regedit.exe) for it to merge instead of open with a Notepad window.

Normally, folder view settings are remembered for only the location the folder was opend from (ex: Start Menu vs Windows Explorer vs Desktop) and as they were when the folder was last closed.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Originally Posted by Brink

Hello Carlo,

Unfortunately, the Open and Save type dialogs are pretty much unreliable for opening to last positions. You might see if this bit below from the top of the tutorial may help any with these.

   Information

This does not work with the sub Save As, Open With, Open in New Tab (Internet Explorer), etc.... type dialog windows through the File menu bar item though. These do not seem to be able to have their size or position remembered. For these, you can use the free program AutoSizer to resize them.

Folders opened in Windows Explorer from the same location should remember their views and positions from when last closed though.

Hi Brink, thanks for your swift reply.

Since my last post I have tried several things and now it seems to be OK with remembering the Folder location.
However, I can't use your tip about that tool called "AutoSizer 1.71" because the Vista 64 bit version is not out yet...

I found another tool that said something about resizing but haven't tried it out yet, its called FreeCommander.

Brink I tried Free Commander out and there's no tool or setting to adjust the location or size of folders, so its not really useful.
What I noticed is when I open/close folders that they indeed stay on the same location on my desktop but when I reboot and click on any of those folders again they appear on the left hand side of my desktop, instead of the middle where I closed that folder prior the reboot. So I guess Windows only remembers the location in a current session only, not after a reboot. Any ideas or tips mate?

Then the current session should be copied to my user profile and applied in next boot doesn't it?