Contents of the Open and Save As Dialog Boxes Sorted Incorrectly

ID: Q233526

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

When you use the Open command or the Save As command in one of the following utilities in Windows 98, the items in the Open or Save As dialog boxes may be sorted incorrectly:

Notepad

Browse window

Paint

WordPad

For example, files may be listed before folders, items may be sorted in descending order, and so on.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the ShellState value in the registry has been changed or is incorrect.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).
To resolve this issue, set the ShellState value in the registry to the default value. To do so, use Registry Editor to view the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

If needed, edit the "ShellState" value to match the following value:

1C 00 00 00 A7 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00

NOTE: This value has been wrapped for readability purposes, it must be typed as one line. Also, you do not have to restart your computer for these changes to take effect.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbenv kbtool kbui win95 win98
Version : WINDOWS:95
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb