What registry key do I need to change to remove "Group By" Downloads folder searches?

Solution 1:

First of all, the entries under:

• HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderTypes

are the machine-wide defaults, and it's a good idea to leave those intact. IIRC, you have to deal with ownership & permissions issues to edit them, and any edits you make are likely to be wiped out by an update.

Before going into the various registry mods, you should trouble-shoot why Apply to Folders doesn't seem to be working. It's quite effective in the absence of the following issues:

1. Maxed out on saved views. The default maximum for saved views is 5000. If you've hit this, saved views begin to disappear as explorer.exe will delete a previously saved view to make room for a new one. To check, copy and paste the following command into PowerShell window, then press <Enter>to execute.

   ((gp "HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU").Nodeslots).count  
   

   It will return the number of views that have been indexed in BagMRU:

   

   If that number is 5000, you need to delete these two registry keys:

   • HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU
   • HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags

   Be aware, this deletes all saved views.

   Because Explorer caches a lot of settings, you should perform these, and subsequent edits, with all Explorer windows closed and sign out and back in afterwards. The quicker shell restart is always tempting, but I've seen things get squirrelly with repeated edits/shell restarts.

2. Undesired dialog views were saved before Apply to Folders was executed. When you execute A2F for a given FolderType, it creates a binary verion of the ProertyBag for the view and saves it under:

   • HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Defaults

   in a FolderTypeID-named REG_BINARY value. The FolderTypeID for Downloads is {885a186e-a440-4ada-812b-db871b942259}.

   It then deletes all the Explorer views that use that FolderType, which ensures that your custom default is applied the next time the folder is viewed. But the Common Dialog views are not deleted, so their saved (and likely undesired) views are retained. So to ensure dialog views also use your custom default, run the following PowerShell command to delete all views that use the Downloads FolderType:

   ( gci 'HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags' -s | ? PSChildName -eq '{885a186e-a440-4ada-812b-db871b942259}' ) | ri -Recurse
   

   Sign out, Sign back in. Test.

Registry Mods to Alter Default Behavior

• Machine-Wide

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
  
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell\{885A186E-A440-4ADA-812B-DB871B942259}]
   "Mode"=dword:00000004
   "GroupView"=dword:00000000
  

  If you want different icon modes for the dialogs, you need a couple of additional keys:

   Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
  
   ; override GroupBy Date in Downloads FolderType
  
   ;
   ; Icon mode can be modified, but some also requre LogicalViewMode and IconSize. Study 
   : existing Bags for examples. 
   ;Name        LVM Mode Vid                                    IconSize
   ;----        --- ---- ---                                    --------
   ;Details     1   4    {137E7700-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262} 16
   ;Tiles       2   6    {65F125E5-7BE1-4810-BA9D-D271C8432CE3} 48
   ;SmIcons     3   1    {089000C0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262} 16..31
   ;Icons(M-XL) 3   1    {0057D0E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262} 33..256
   ;List        4   3    {0E1FA5E0-3573-11CF-AE69-08002B2E1262} 16
   ;Content     5   8    {30C2C434-0889-4C8D-985D-A9F71830B0A9} 32
  
  
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\ComDlg\{885a186e-a440-4ada-812b-db871b942259}]
   @="Downloads"
   "Mode"=dword:00000004
   "GroupView"=dword:00000000
  
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\ComDlgLegacy\{885a186e-a440-4ada-812b-db871b942259}]
   @="Downloads"
   "Mode"=dword:00000004
   "GroupView"=dword:00000000
  
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell\{885a186e-a440-4ada-812b-db871b942259}]
   @="Downloads"
   "Mode"=dword:00000004
   "GroupView"=dword:00000000
  

• Per-User

  The above .reg files can be converted to per-user modifications by performing a search & replacde, replaceing:

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE with
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Local Settings

  But the Shell settings will be deleted if A@F is later executed for the Downloads FolderType.