The View Setting of the Current Selected Folder Is Not Applied to Another Open Folder

When you try to use options in Windows Explorer to apply the view setting of the current (selected) folder to all of the folders that are on your computer, Windows XP may not apply the setting to another folder that is open.

This behavior can occur if more than one instance (copy) of Windows Explorer is running on your computer.

To work around this behavior, follow these steps:

1. Quit all instances of Windows Explorer, and then restart Windows Explorer so that only one instance of Windows Explorer is running.
2. Make the necessary changes to the view setting.
3. Click Folder Options on the Tools menu, and then click Like Current Folder on the View tab.
4. Quit Windows Explorer, and then start Windows Explorer again.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

In Windows XP, you can set the view setting of all the folders on a computer to match the view setting of the current (selected) folder by clicking Folder Options on the Tools menu in Windows Explorer and then clicking Like Current Folder on the View tab. However, if a folder other than the current folder is also open when you set the option, Windows XP may not apply the view setting of the current folder to the other open folder.