[Spliff]

This problem has been around since Mac OS X 10.0 and Apple's "talented" software engineers still haven't been able to fix it.

When I change the Finder view of a particular folder (whether to Icon, List, or Column), I want the f**king settings to stick. But they rarely do.

I reformatted my HD and reinstalled Panther and set the Finder views to either column or list (which is my preference). But if I open a new Finder window and select a particular folder, like Applications or Downloads, it bounces back to Icon ****.



Why is this such an intractable problem for Apple to solve? I've tried the various proposed solutions, such as deleting the .DS store files and setting the Finder view as root, but none have worked.

Does anyone have other possible solutions to this annoying problem?

[Graymalkin]

Finder has three different "folder open" actions, one when you double click the hard drive icon on the desktop, another when you click Finder's icon in the Dock, and the last when you open a new window with a keyboard shortcut. As such perform these steps on windows opened in each fashion.

1) Open the window.
2) Set the view mode to whatever you please.
3) Press the zoom button twice, once to shrink the window and ones to bring it back to its original size.
4) Close the window.

Your window settings now ought to be set for that window type. I don't know why this works but I've found that it works reliably.

[Fredo]

A solution to this problem can be found on page 22 of the current (Aug) version of the magazine, MacAddict.
To quote: "...Settings are stored in .DS_Store files....The best way to reset the .DS_Store file on the root of your Mac's boot drive is to delete it and let the finder create a new one for you. To do this, open the Terminal, type: rm /.DS_Store. and press Return. Use the same command but add a path name to reset other folders or drives-you can reset your Documents folder, for example, by typing: rmusername/Documents/.DS_Store. From there, reopen those folders or drives, and set them to display however you want."
If you have tried this with no success, and a zap of the pram doesn't help, I would reinstall the OS.

[Shazaam!]

Originally posted by Spliff:


When I change the Finder view of a particular folder (whether to Icon, List, or Column), I want the settings to stick. But they rarely do.

Does anyone have other possible solutions to this annoying problem?

My Solution:

Drive A is my startup drive, Drive B is used as a storage/backup drive.

After starting up from Drive A, I reset the windows as described above.

Then, I restarted under Drive B, reset the Finder window (to column view) for each of the three ways to access: Finder in Dock, command-N, and Drive A icon double-click.

Then I restarted from Drive A. The window now opens in column view, not icon view.

My guess is that window info for Drive A is also stored on Drive B.