XP Windows Explorer opens separate windows

Hey all, I just rolled back my XP machine to original settings to fix a number of bugs, including that I couldn't install SP3. It worked and the machine runs much smoother now, but now I have some new problems I didn't have before. The most annoying is that Windows Explorer opens each folder separately (using "open" rather than "explore", that is, without folder view). I have repeatedly checked all radio buttons in the Folder Options settings, checked default action in File Types to "explore", and done everything else I can possibly think of, including googling for suggestions. I have never seen this before and it is driving me crazy. Any help would be appreciated.

 

You've got the default behaviour set to open each item in a separate window - even if you think you've covered all the bases. You'd be best off resetting the folders to their default options and then very carefully working your way through all of the various settings to see what's set to open items in separate windows.

 

You may be right, although I did that too before I posted. There was no change, in fact there has been no change in behavior no matter how I tweak the settings. It's like the registry is refusing to accept any changes to these settings. As I say, I have been through "all the various settings"...as far as I can see, the settings only reside in the two dialogs that I mentioned, under tools/folder options/general, and tools/folder options/view. Whether I've done that in the necessary order to get the changes to apply, I don't know.

I suspect this came about when I tried to change windows to always "explore" rather than "open", which has been one of the first tweaks I make to my xp machines for years and has never created a problem. I'm sitting at my xp desktop at work (which works correctly) comparing the settings, and there are a couple of differences. Under "view", "launch in a separate process" IS checked, and under "file types=folder", there is no "explore" default. I'll try applying those settings when I get home and see if they change anything. (Aside: does anyone know the difference between file type= file folder and file type = folder?) Anyway, I'd be grateful for any more thoughts on this.

 

check the following value in the registry

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell

if it's set to explore, remove that (not the key but the value).

 

Hm, I looked at my machine here at work (which as I say is working correctly) and the key is there with the value explore. There is also a sub heading of keys (is that the right term?) with an "explore" heading and its own set of keys. So thanks for the tip, and I'll try it but that isn't how this machine here is set up.

 

So I tried these suggestions last night and nothing worked. I finally had to roll back the system again, and it is working again, including my preferred "always explore" setting. I don't know what caused the problem. The only thing I did differently this time is that I did not update any of the Lenovo software, and I am more committed than ever to never use any of it (although I won't uninstall it because it is useful for the sole purpose of rolling back the system). I don't think that was the culprit though. I know this won't be of any help to anyone reading this but I thought I'd report anyway.