Today I was trying to copy files in Windows Explorer and ran into a rather nasty little bug. Explorer wouldn’t let me select multiple files. I couldn’t Shift+Click to select a range or Ctrl+Click to select individual files. Keyboard shortcuts didn’t work, and the Edit | Select All menu option was disabled.
This appears to be a bug in Windows Explorer, although I’ve seen conflicting information. Microsoft’s knowledge base article about the problem says, “This problem occurs because certain applications add a key to the registry. The key prevents you from selecting multiple items in Windows Explorer.” Their recommended solution is to reset the view. That didn’t work for me.
The solution I found requires editing the registry. You have to start RegEdit and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell, and delete the BagMRU and Bags registry keys. Before you do that, you should close all Windows Explorer windows. If you’re uncomfortable fiddling with the registry, it’s probably a good idea to set a system restore point before you start.
I don’t have the time (or the inclination, truth to be told) to dig in and figure out what Bags and BagMRU do. It seems odd, though, that “certain applications” would be able to cause this behavior, unless they were malicious–deliberately trying to cause grief. Is this a bug in the Vista version of Windows Explorer?
Can’t Select Multiple Files in Windows Vista…
There is an interesting post over at blog.mischel.com…
This certainly is interesting! Do you have any clue as to what program modified the registry in that way? I would like to know so I can stay away from it! It’s not obvious to me why Microsoft would want to allow programs to disable multiple selection… Maybe in case a program wants to implement it itself? Although that seems rootkit-like, and I didn’t think Microsoft really wanted to support that kind of thing, especially now in their 64-bit version how they’re locking it down from rootkits and making anti-virus companies mad…
Well anyway, please let us all know if you find out anything more about this!
And keep up the great blog! Somehow, these random notes often apply to my life and the kinds of computer things I’m going through, and I find most of your posts interesting or informative in some way – which is the goal, I guess.
-Ricky C.
Oh, sorry, I didn’t finish my thought…
“Maybe in case a program wants to implement [multiple selection] itself…” and so it would disable the default behavior to prevent conflict. But otherwise, why would multiple selection ever be unwanted, especially since it requires a keyboard shortcut (or mouse drag) to activate?
:)
-Ricky C.
I came across this problem myself. I found the only fix was to go to “Organise”, “Folder and Search Options”, “View” and “Reset to Defaults”. Problem is that every type of folder has it’s own saved view, so I’ve had to do this multiple times.
Gotta love Vista.
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