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?