viewing Android files on pc in details view

[Andrew]

With Windows 10 I know how to view the computer's files in a folder in
"details" view. And how to ensure a folder always opens in "details" view.
I connect my Android Galaxy Note 10 to my Windows computer using a USB
lead. Using Windows file explorer, or whatever they call it these days,
all the folders on the phone open in "tiles" mode. I am able to manually
change the view to "details" but the next time I connect my phone it
reverts to "tiles" again.
Is there any setting I can apply so that the folders on the phone ALWAYS
open in "details" view? Is there a registry setting?

This is probably better asked on the Windows newsgroups but I tried it with
my phone and it remembered that "details" setting per folder in this test.
1. Connect USB to Windows 10 and then connect the Android phone to the USB
2. Click on Windows "My Computer | Phone | Internal storage | Android"
3. The default view was "View | Tiles" for that folder
4. I changed the view to "View | Details" for that folder
5. I closed the window and returned to that spot the exact same way
6. It reverted back to "View | Tiles" so I closed it and tried again
7. I used the same steps when I changed it back to "View | Details"
8. But this time I went one level deeper by clicking on "media"
9. Now when I went back to the Android folder, it was "View | Details"
10. To check, I unplugged the USB from the Android phone & plugged it back in
11. I went to "My Computer | Phone | Internal storage | Android"
12. It remembered the "View | Details" that I had previously set up

That's remarkable! My first attempt following your instructions worked!!
I'll need to have another go tomorrow morning to confirm it, but I'm
astonished.
Why does it work? It seems such a convoluted approach.

Don't ask me how Android works with Windows that way. It just does.
Like I said, it's something better asked on the Windows newsgroup.
I just cc'd them so maybe they can explain what's going on.

[Andrew]

Is there any setting I can apply so that the folders on the phone ALWAYS
open in "details" view? Is there a registry setting?

This is probably better asked on the Windows newsgroups but I tried it with
my phone and it remembered that "details" setting per folder in this test.
1. Connect USB to Windows 10 and then connect the Android phone to the USB
2. Click on W:indows "My Computer | Phone | Internal storage | Android"
3. The default view was "View | Tiles" for that folder
4. I changed the view to "View | Details for that folder
5. I closed the window and returned to that spot the same way
6. It reverted back to "View | Tiles"
7. I changed it back to "View | Details"
8. And then I went one level deeper by clicking on "media"
9. Now when I went back to the Android folder, it was "View | Details"
10. Now I unplugged the USB from the Android phone & plugged it back in
11. I went to "My Computer | Phone | Internal storage | Android"
12. It remembered the "View | Details" that I had previously set up

Not sure what you mean by "went one level deeper by clicking on media".
Is it perhaps to select between PTP and MTP mode for Android storage?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_Transfer_Protocol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol
Where to find the USB mode setting (charge-only, PTP, MTP) is different
on each phone, and we don't know what phone the OP is using. Can't find
the setting on my current phone, but remember seeing the settings on a
prior phone.
https://www.howtogeek.com/192732/android-usb-connections-explained-mtp-ptp-and-usb-mass-storage/
https://www.howtogeek.com/how-to-get-your-android-device-to-show-up-in-file-explorer/
(also mentions the Android driver many need to be updated on Windows)

Sorry for not being explicit about it but the OP (Malone) understood,
because he was actually doing the steps. You were just reading them.

You were trying to guess what Malone and I actually saw.
You can't guess this stuff.

There's a /reason/ I chose that folder.
It's because I /knew/ it would be on Malone's phone (yours too!).

When he clicked on the steps, when he saw me say "one level deeper" he too
might not have known at first what I had meant, but I chose that folder
specifically because there only four subfolders inside of that directory.

So I knew he'd see "media" (even as that was arbitrary).
I could have chosen "data", "obb" or "obj" but I randomly picked "media".

What's happening is Windows is doing something /different/ when you set the
Windows Explorer "View | Details" for any given folder versus if you /also/
step one level deeper into a sub-folder after setting "View | Details" for
any given folder.

Don't ask me why it works that way.
Ask the Windows people.

It seems that Windows doesn't do what you want it to do unless you step
down into a folder after doing it. Why? I don't know why. It just does.

The OP "Malone" confirmed that it works that way.

I haven't managed to find out my USB mode on my Galaxy Note 10 but I
suspect it is MTP.
The situation at the moment is that if I open one of the first level
folders - the ones including the "Android" folder - right click - view
and select "details" the view changes to "details" but doesn't stick. If
I now go into a subfolder of "Android", say "media" and do the same,
this time the views do stick when I disconnect and reconnect my phone.
And if I do the same for another first level folder, say "DCIM" I can
also get the views to stick. It seems to me rather odd, but it works.
And I can do exactly the same on my Galaxy Tab A8.

[Paul]

Post by Andrew

Is there any setting I can apply so that the folders on the phone ALWAYS
open in "details" view? Is there a registry setting?

This is probably better asked on the Windows newsgroups but I tried it with
my phone and it remembered that "details" setting per folder in this test.
1. Connect USB to Windows 10 and then connect the Android phone to the USB
2. Click on W:indows "My Computer | Phone | Internal storage | Android"
3. The default view was "View | Tiles" for that folder
4. I changed the view to "View | Details for that folder
5. I closed the window and returned to that spot the same way
6. It reverted back to "View | Tiles"
7. I changed it back to "View | Details"
8. And then I went one level deeper by clicking on "media"
9. Now when I went back to the Android folder, it was "View | Details"
10. Now I unplugged the USB from the Android phone & plugged it back in
11. I went to "My Computer | Phone | Internal storage | Android"
12. It remembered the "View | Details" that I had previously set up

Not sure what you mean by "went one level deeper by clicking on media".
Is it perhaps to select between PTP and MTP mode for Android storage?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_Transfer_Protocol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol
Where to find the USB mode setting (charge-only, PTP, MTP) is different
on each phone, and we don't know what phone the OP is using. Can't find
the setting on my current phone, but remember seeing the settings on a
prior phone.
https://www.howtogeek.com/192732/android-usb-connections-explained-mtp-ptp-and-usb-mass-storage/
https://www.howtogeek.com/how-to-get-your-android-device-to-show-up-in-file-explorer/
(also mentions the Android driver many need to be updated on Windows)

Sorry for not being explicit about it but the OP (Malone) understood,
because he was actually doing the steps. You were just reading them.
You were trying to guess what Malone and I actually saw.
You can't guess this stuff.
There's a /reason/ I chose that folder.
It's because I /knew/ it would be on Malone's phone (yours too!).
When he clicked on the steps, when he saw me say "one level deeper" he too
might not have known at first what I had meant, but I chose that folder
specifically because there only four subfolders inside of that directory.
So I knew he'd see "media" (even as that was arbitrary).
I could have chosen "data", "obb" or "obj" but I randomly picked "media".
What's happening is Windows is doing something /different/ when you set the
Windows Explorer "View | Details" for any given folder versus if you /also/
step one level deeper into a sub-folder after setting "View | Details" for
any given folder.
Don't ask me why it works that way.
Ask the Windows people.
It seems that Windows doesn't do what you want it to do unless you step
down into a folder after doing it. Why? I don't know why. It just does.
The OP "Malone" confirmed that it works that way.

I haven't managed to find out my USB mode on my Galaxy Note 10 but I
suspect it is MTP.
The situation at the moment is that if I open one of the first level
folders - the ones including the "Android" folder - right click - view
and select "details" the view changes to "details" but doesn't stick. If
I now go into a subfolder of "Android", say "media" and do the same,
this time the views do stick when I disconnect and reconnect my phone.
And if I do the same for another first level folder, say "DCIM" I can
also get the views to stick. It seems to me rather odd, but it works.
And I can do exactly the same on my Galaxy Tab A8.

There is desktop.ini in a regular (native) folder.
There is shellbags, but I don't know if shellbags also
handles mounts or shares. I suppose it does.

Windows has "inheritance" as a property that can be applied
for permissions, but that has nothing to do with views.

What happens in a folder, can also be determine by contents,
such as starting a thumbs.db if enough files in a folder
are image files.

In any case, in File Explorer in Windows, you have to use
Options to turn on the ability to "view hidden files", and
then you can see you've got a desktop.ini and you can open
that with Notepad for a look.

It's pretty hard to speculate on what happens when an Android
is connected... when you don't own an Android. The protocol
might be MTP, the successor in a way of PTP, rather than
using USB Mass Storage (which would have performed faster).
Without an Android, you could use some other PTP device.
On RPi, only one of the designs is suited to experiments
like this, assuming you can find a decent OS for it.

My camera uses USB Mass Storage, so it's no good for this purpose
of protocol/presentation testing.

*******

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_bags_view.html

https://www.stark4n6.com/2019/02/shellbags-folder-views-and-windows.html

"A fix to change the unchangeable default view in Windows Explorer for USB/MTP/PTP Devices"

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/17ue0u2/a_fix_to_change_the_unchangeable_default_view_in/

https://xdaforums.com/t/windows-10-change-default-details-view-for-mtp-devices.3771487/

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\
AllFolders\Shell\{5C4F28B5-F869-4E84-8E60-F11DB97C5CC7}]

The poster in xdaforums also provides a .reg file for adding those details,
without doing hand-edits. But of course it isn't labeled as a .reg file
that I can see, but that is what this header means...

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 <=== string at the beginning of a .reg file
<=== right-clicking a .reg file gives a "Merge" option to install it
<=== it does not say install, it says merge instead.

For a Windows user this is an Advanced topic.
That means doing a backup, before you test.
If you don't like the results, then restore from backup.

Some .reg files are simple affairs, one or two entries kind of thing,
and some of those style of .reg files, there are two .reg files,
an Apply one and an Undo one. For such well equipped setups, you don't
need a backup. But for the lengthy little item in XDA, that
is way too long for blind application, without a safety net.
That's why you could use a Backup, if you were as lazy as I am.

Paul