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Offline PidgeDR

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Can't arrange Icons
« on: April 13, 2014, 05:12:25 pm »
Hello,
I am running XP Pro - SP3 and I downloaded the Windows Repair v2.5.1 to help me get my Security Center and Firewall  working after removing Mcafee and installing another all in one Malware/Virus program.  I followed your directions exactly and everything in the Security Center works!
Thanks so Much!!!!
Now my long term (3 years or more) annoying problem that you may have a fix for. If I try to arrange my icons by "Align to Grid" (right click on desktop, highlight "Arrange Icons By" and click on "Align to Grid") they still "Auto Arrange".  There is a check mark next to "Align to Grid", but if I move them they stay where I put them until the screen refreshes and they return to their Auto Arrange position.
In the Windows Repair Program there are a couple of repairs that deal with icons. Will either of them be likely to correct this problem? If so, are there any other repairs that need to be done at the same time?
Thanks for your help,
Pidge Gill
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Offline Shane

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2014, 10:02:01 am »
So the check mark is not on the auto arrange option on the right click menu correct?


Shane
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Offline PidgeDR

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2014, 04:05:33 pm »
Correct. The "Auto Arrange" Does NOT have a check mark and the "Align to Grid" DOES have a check mark next to it. I have tried all combinations of check marks, even no check marks and they still auto arrange in alphabetical order.
When this first happened I had the Norton Security package that was included with my DSL installed and running. Around the same time I noticed the Icons were moved, Norton notified me that it had removed a virus of some sort. I did not have any other noticeable issues with the computer anywhere around that time.
Thanks again for your help.
Pidge Gill
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Offline Shane

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2014, 04:41:48 pm »
OK open regedit and go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop

There you will see FFlags

What is it current set to?

There are some of the vaules that it could be, i want to know which it is or if it is different than these.

Quote
Auto Arrange off, Align to Grid off:
"FFlags"=dword:00000220

Auto Arrange on:
"FFlags"=dword:00000221

Auto Arrange off - align to Grid On:
"FFlags"=dword:00000224

Auto Arange on, Align to Grid on:
"FFlags"=dword:00000225

Hide Desktop Icons:
"FFlags"=dword:00001220

Shane
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Offline PidgeDR

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2014, 06:51:29 pm »
I could not copy it, but this is what it shows. Hope this helps.

               Name       Type          Data
That line says    FFlags      REG_DWORD      0x00000224 (548)

Thanks,
Pidge
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Offline Shane

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2014, 09:22:11 am »
OK that looks fine as well.

Are you able to drag a icon on the desktop and move it to a different spot or does it get put right back?

Reason why I ask is I have noticed on Windows when the icons auto arrange they keep auto arranging till I manually move 1 icon and then it stops.

Shane
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Offline PidgeDR

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2014, 03:30:11 pm »
Yes I can drag an Icon to a different position and it will stay in that position until I either do something that causes the screen to refresh or until I shut down the computer. Either way the Icons will always go back to the alphabetical auto arrange position. I can add new icons no problem and they, upon shutdown or refresh find their way into auto arrange alphabetical order.
I've scratched my head on this one for years and was just hoping that something got corrupted that your windows repair utility could or would repair.
Thanks again for your help on this issue!
Pidge Gill
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Offline Shane

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2014, 03:40:35 pm »
I have had that happen to me as well.

Once you move a icon I want you to right click on a blank spot on the desktop and then click refresh.

When you do that Windows should write the icon positions to the registry. If that doesnt work then I think the problem is Windows isnt writing the locations like it should and it isnt a auto arrange problem but a not saving locations problem.

Lets see if that refresh trick works first. :wink:

Shane
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Offline PidgeDR

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #8 on: April 15, 2014, 03:58:45 pm »
I did as you instructed and they fly right back into their original position.
Thanks,
Pidge
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Offline Shane

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2014, 04:11:06 pm »
Ok so it looks like Windows isnt saving the icon positions.

Open regedit and go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop

Right click on that and click export and save it. Attach that reg file for me so I can see if the regkey is holding anything for the icons.

There would be a item based on your screen resolution such as ItemPos1920x1080 and in those keys is the position for the icons are stored.

Shane
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Offline PidgeDR

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2014, 06:59:49 pm »
I have attached the Desktop file.
In case you need it my screen resolution is 1280x768.
I hope this helps!
Thanks,
Pidge
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Offline Shane

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2014, 07:55:57 am »
Odd, the reg file is empty that you posted.

Lets try this, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\ and then delete the desktop folder or rename it to desktop old, then close the regedit and reboot.

Lets reboot and see how things work and then see if Windows recreates that desktop folder in the registry :-)

Shane
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Offline PidgeDR

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2014, 03:28:37 pm »
Shane,
I changed "Desktop" to "Desktopold" and exported it to the desktop. Then I closed Regedit and rebooted.
I went back into regedit and there was no new desktop folder created. I tried rearranging the icons and as soon as I refreshed they went back into the alphabetical auto arrange position..
Next I went back into regedit and deleted Desktopold and rebooted.
After rebooting I went back into regedit and checked. No new desktop folder was created. Again I tested the icons. Same result.
I then copied "desktopold" from the desktop back into the "1" folder in regedit.
That is all that I have done.
Thanks,
Pidge
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Offline Shane

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2014, 04:05:57 pm »
This is bugging me lol

We have covered all the bases that have to do with the icon layout on the desktop.

I did see during my research that other users who had the problem that it turned out to be their video card drivers for some odd reason.

There are two more things we can do to test.

1. Create a new user account, log into the profile and see if it works there. That will tell use if it is at least something with the profile.
2. Change the screen resolution to something else, anything, and see if it holds.

And of course if BOTH of those fail then I say seeing if there is any updated video drivers wont hurt to try :-)

Shane
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Offline PidgeDR

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2014, 07:20:44 pm »
Shane,
I tried both suggestions, I used the Guest profile. No change.
Then I spent 2 hours searching the HP web site and found the latest driver and installed it.
You guessed it, no change.
This is really not that big a deal. I have lived with it for years now and I can continue. It is at worst a minor irritation not a major problem.
I really appreciate all the time you spent trying!
If something else comes to you, by all means let me know. Until then I am sure there are other projects that are more worthy of your amazing expertise!
Again thanks,
Pidge
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Offline Shane

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #15 on: April 17, 2014, 12:58:42 pm »
Lets check one more thing! lol

there is a regkey that can be set to tell Windows to not save and remeber the icon layou. So lets check that. You will need to check two locations

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

And look for "NoSaveSettings"

If you have that in either spot, delete it and then reboot :-)

Shane
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Offline PidgeDR

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #16 on: April 17, 2014, 05:44:33 pm »
Hi Shane,
I did not find "NoSaveSettings"  in either of those locations. What I found was interesting though. In   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer,  there were 3 lines,
"Default"   REG_SZ    (value not set)
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"    REG_DWORD       0x00000091 (145)
"NoresolveTrack"   REG_DWORD       0x00000001 (1)

now the interesting part, in  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer  there were (are) 2 Explorer folders. The first one seems to start with a single blank space.
The first "Explorer" folder has 2 lines,
"Default"   REG_SZ    (value not set)
"StartMenuLogoff"   REG_DWORD  0x00000001 (1)
The second "Explorer" folder has 2 lines,
"Default"   REG_SZ    (value not set)
"MemCheckBoxInRunDlg"   REG_DWORD     0x00000001 (1)

Fearing that maybe I missed the "NoSaveSettings" somehow I did a "Find" for the whole Registry and came up with only one instance of its use. That was in,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Program Manager\Restrictions. It has 7 lines the 6th one is,
"NoSaveSettings"  REG_DWORD  0x00000000 (0)
There were no other instances of "NoSaveSettings".
I don't know if any of this means anything. I pass it along in case it may mean something to you.
Thanks again for your help,
Pidge Gill
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Offline Shane

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #17 on: April 18, 2014, 09:23:41 am »
Ok I did some more digging and of course there is even more regkeys that can impact it. Holy crap MS get this under control LOL

Anyways I attached a reg file. Save it and then run it and then reboot. If you want to see what the reg file will do just right click on it and click edit after you save it.

We know what ever happening is system wide and not to your profile, making the new profile proved that. Regkeys that start with HKEY_CURRENT_USER are only for the currently logged in profile. Things start are system wide get stored under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. So I think that is where our problem may be. I think you have a reg setting that shouldnt be under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE that is effecting it.

So in the reg file you will see some that have a - at the start, that means it will remove those entries.

Lets see how it does :-)

Shane
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Offline PidgeDR

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #18 on: April 18, 2014, 06:55:50 pm »
Shane,
I am sorry to report that the Icons still Auto Arrange as soon as the screen refreshes, no change.
Thanks for not giving up!
Pidge
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Offline Shane

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Re: Can't arrange Icons
« Reply #19 on: April 20, 2014, 02:34:36 pm »
Well what the flarp! lol

Ok it is Easter Sunday so hit me up tomorrow when I am in my office and I will see if I can find any other registry keys that have to do with it :-)

Shane
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