# Modern USB sticks not remembering settings



## HareBrain (Aug 18, 2010)

My first, now-kaput, USB stick would remember the Windows Explorer display settings I'd previously selected for it (details format, with most recent at the top). But the two I've bought since revert to their defaults (thumbnail, in name-order) whenever I plug them into the PC, meaning several mouse-maneuvers before I can find the files I want to transfer. On my laptop, especially, this is pretty irritating. Anyone know (ideally from experience) how to get the display settings to "stick", or know of a brand where this doesn't happen?


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## Vertigo (Aug 18, 2010)

Not promising this will solve the problem but it could be it:

In Internet Explorer go to Tools - Folder Options and then the View tab. Scroll down a little an tick "Remember each folder's view settings". If that's already ticked then it could be you have installed some sort of management software that came with the stick (I never install any of the software that comes with sticks and USB drives). It may be this that is doing it. In which case you need to find some way of changing the settings for that software or uninstall it. You shouldn't need to install any software to get USB sticks or drives to work. If no such software is installed then the stick shoudl not be able to override the normal Windows settings.


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## HareBrain (Aug 18, 2010)

Thanks Vertigo, but that box is already ticked, and no, I didn't install any software that came on either of the new sticks.


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## Vertigo (Aug 18, 2010)

Strange - I'm afraid I have no explanation then  Windows does sometimes seem to have a mind of its own.


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## Ursa major (Aug 18, 2010)

My stick view as is just how I like it when plugged into my Vista laptop, but forgets it when plugged into my XP desktop.

(It forgets it each and every time that I access a folder on the stick - even multiple accesses of the same folder, but I haven't checked into the box ticking business that Vertigo mentioned.)


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## vector7 (Oct 17, 2010)

Its more of the problem with the OS kind of thing. What OS were you operating when you had the 





> first, now-kaput, USB stick?



And what OS do you use now? Windows XP or is it a Mac?


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## HareBrain (Oct 17, 2010)

Hi Vector7

XP Pro in both cases. I had both sticks running at the same time for a while on the same machine, and only the newer one had the problem.


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## vector7 (Oct 17, 2010)

Hmmm. It seems from what I could gather. Windows XP saves only the settings of the 400 odd last-viewed files. There is no valid reason on how it changes from stick to stick. Why don't you try this if you think you can handle some techy-stuff??

Getting Windows to remember Folder settings


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## Pyan (Oct 18, 2010)

Vertigo said:


> Windows does sometimes seem to have a mind of its own.



Yep, usually that of a two-year old toddler that's just dropped its ice-cream on the floor....


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## Ursa major (Oct 18, 2010)

The patch - which I can't download because the computer where this is an issue is not (and won't be) connected to the Internet - can't be dealing with the whole story.

I have a number of USB sticks, but only two with decent capacity. The older one has the problem being discussed; the more recent one does not, so there must be something else going on. (Perhaps the newer stick imposes its "recollection" of how the files should be viewed.) What I haven't yet done - if I remember, I'll do it today - is to view files on the newer stick with the computer's own file system, rather than using the one the stick offers up.



(By the way, I've already done what Vertigo suggested in post#2 and it didn't work.)


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## HareBrain (Oct 18, 2010)

A development! I discovered by chance this morning that the OS remembers the stick's folder settings if the stick is being viewed in Windows Explorer when it is removed. The display then reverts to Control Panel, but the next time the stick is inserted and clicked on, it uses the folder settings that were in use when it was removed.

This isn't a solution at all, as it's just as much trouble to change the settings before removal as it is when inserting it, but it might help someone technical minded to work out what's going on.


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## Deathpool (Dec 28, 2010)

That's a strange problem, but I normally just use the default settings anyway. I'm not sure if this will work, but maybe you could try setting the folder settings in Windows and in the drive itself. For example C Drive can be set with different folder settings than the desktop.


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