{"id":1001,"date":"2010-02-18T19:04:39","date_gmt":"2010-02-18T13:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=1001"},"modified":"2019-05-12T03:04:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T03:04:07","slug":"disable-full-row-select-explorer-windows-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/disable-full-row-select-explorer-windows-7\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Disable Full Row Select in Explorer in Windows 7?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m writing this article specifically for Windows 7, because the FullRowSelect<\/b> registry value that you used in Windows Vista, doesn’t work in Windows 7. (REF: Enable or Disable Full Row Select feature in Explorer in Windows Vista<\/a>). After some of our readers reported that setting FullRowSelect to 0 doesn’t do anything in Windows 7, I decided to have a look at this issue. Playing with different bitmask values, I finally got what I wanted – to disable full row select feature in Windows Explorer (Details mode) in Windows 7, but with a minor side-effect which is explained in the later part of the article.<\/p>\n

MSDN article on FOLDERFLAGS Enumerated Type<\/a> tells that when the FWF_FULLROWSELECT 0x00200000 (Windows Vista and later) bit is set, when an item is selected, the item and all its sub-items are highlighted. However, in my Windows 7 system, the FWF_FULLROWSELECT wasn’t set, yet the full row select feature is still enabled. It appears that Windows 7 doesn’t honor 0x00200000. Perhaps Raymond Chen or someone from the MS Shell team can provide an expert insight on this?<\/i><\/p>\n

Automate Using Script<\/h2>\n

Update:<\/b> I just converted the registry edits to a Script file that does all the work. Works in Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows 10.<\/p>\n

Check out my recent post<\/u> How to Disable Full Row Select and Auto Arrange in Folders in Windows 10?<\/a><\/p>\n

To Disabling Full Row Select Manually<\/h2>\n

After testing with several values, I could finally disable the full row select feature by including 0x02000000<\/b> (FWF_EXTENDEDTILES) and applying the setting for Generic folders. Here are the detailed instructions (accompanied by a REG file) if you want to try it out:<\/p>\n

1. Reset the saved folder views (Ref: Reset the Folder Views in Windows 7\/Vista<\/a>) and restart the shell<\/b><\/u> as specified in the linked article.<\/p>\n

2. Download w7-fullrowsel.zip<\/a><\/b>, unzip and apply the disablefullrowselect.reg file.<\/p>\n

3. Open My Computer<\/b> and then close it.<\/p>\n

This is how the registry branch will look like, now:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

4. Logoff and login back. (Alternately, you could terminate the shell cleanly and restart it. REF:<\/b> Terminate and Restart Explorer.exe Process Cleanly in Windows 7 & Windows Vista<\/a>).<\/p>\n

This should disable full row select in Explorer.<\/p>\n

More (Geeky) Information<\/h2>\n

The registry edit above creates GUID folders under the AllFolders\\Shell<\/b> branch (each GUID pertaining to a folder type), sets the FFlags<\/b> DWORD value for the following folder types to 43000001<\/b>. Also, it sets the FolderType<\/b> value accordingly to prevent incorrect folder type sniffing by Windows. The latter step is important so that the special folders don’t lose their special buttons and columns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Folder Template<\/b><\/td>\nGUID<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Generic<\/td>\n{5C4F28B5-F869-4E84-8E60-F11DB97C5CC7}<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Documents<\/td>\n{7D49D726-3C21-4F05-99AA-FDC2C9474656}<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Music<\/td>\n{94D6DDCC-4A68-4175-A374-BD584A510B78}<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pictures<\/td>\n{B3690E58-E961-423B-B687-386EBFD83239}<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Videos<\/td>\n{5FA96407-7E77-483C-AC93-691D05850DE8}<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Contacts<\/td>\n{DE2B70EC-9BF7-4A93-BD3D-243F7881D492}<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

For other GUIDs, check out the following Folder Types registry key here, just in case you want to test the above hack for Libraries and other special folders.<\/p>\n

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\ SOFTWARE \\ Microsoft \\ Windows \\ CurrentVersion \\ Explorer \\ FolderTypes<\/div>\n

Here is the location of the AllFolders registry key:<\/p>\n

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \\ Software \\ Classes \\ Local Settings \\ Software \\ Microsoft \\ Windows \\ Shell \\ Bags \\ AllFolders<\/div>\n

Screenshots<\/h2>\n

With full row select feature enabled (default)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With full row select feature disabled.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Minor Side-Effect<\/h2>\n

The above hack also causes a little glitch which you can notice only if you enable the Preview pane in Explorer. When you double-click on a text file (or any text based file which has the Text Preview handler enabled), it simply goes into the rename mode. That is, if you want to open a text file, you must first select the file by single clicking on it, and then double-clicking the file to open it. Three clicks, totally. Again, this is observed only for .txt files and only if the Preview pane is enabled in Windows Explorer.<\/p>\n

(Update: Feb 28 2010 – Additional note added below)<\/b><\/p>\n

Other Interesting Observations of this Magical Registry Hack<\/h2>\n

Our vigilant reader Anon<\/i><\/b> reported some interesting observations after running the above edit. This edit seems to force Windows 7 to use the standard list view control used in Windows Vista, instead of DirectUIHWND. Therefore, there are also other UI changes (as in the following screenshots) after running this edit.<\/p>\n

#1:<\/b> Blue-colored column header is back!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

#2:<\/b>  Extended Tiles view option is added instead of Tiles (some may find this annoying)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

#3:<\/b> Selecting a file when in list view highlights the entire length (of the longest file name in that row)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

#4:<\/b> Auto arrange  menu option is back. Atlast, you can disable Auto arrange option when in "icons" view. This wasn’t possible in Windows 7 earlier.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m writing this article specifically for Windows 7, because the FullRowSelect registry value that you used in Windows Vista, doesn’t work in Windows 7. (REF: Enable or Disable Full Row Select feature in Explorer in Windows Vista). After some of our readers reported that setting FullRowSelect to 0 doesn’t do anything in Windows 7, I … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-1001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-7","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1079,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/disable-auto-arrange-folders-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":1001,"position":0},"title":"How to Disable Auto Arrange in Folders in Windows 7?","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows 7 doesn't include an option wherein you can disable auto arrange in folders (icons view). Sometime back I created a magical registry hack (FFlags DWORD 43000001) that disabled the \"Full Row Select\" functionality in folders in Windows 7. I also posted some interesting observations in article How to Disable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 7"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1546,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/disable-full-row-select-auto-arrange-folders-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1001,"position":1},"title":"How to Disable Full Row Select and Auto Arrange in Windows 10?","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The magical registry edits that I provided several years back to disable auto-arrange and full row select features in Windows 7, also work fine in Windows 10 just as they did in Windows 7. For a detailed explanation about the registry edits (fflags values), check out my earlier posts How\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows 10"","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/fullrowsel-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":954,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/disable-taskbar-thumbnail-preview-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":1001,"position":2},"title":"How To Disable Taskbar Thumbnail Preview in Windows 10 & Earlier","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows does not have a GUI option to disable the taskbar thumbnail preview feature. I've experimented with the registry setting TaskbarNoThumbnail and its equivalent GPO Turn off taskbar thumbnails. 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One of the options, \"Undo Copy\", \"Undo Move\", \"Undo Rename\", or \"Undo Delete\" is shown in the context menu. 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