How do I add a custom Folder Type to use as a template in Windows Vista (or Windows 7)?

Question

I'm looking for a way to add a custom setting to the list of folder types in Vista (or Windows 7) so that I can use it as a template for other folders.

The template I'd like to add would be identical to All Items, except also have the Date Taken column displayed. How do I add to this list (see image below)?

Answer 1

I was really curious about this question as well so I tried to look everywhere I could. The farthest I got was this link on MSDN.

It looks like these data you're looking for are stored in the registry key here: hkey_local_machine/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/explorer/FolderTypes

Unfortunately I'm no registry expert so I only went so far as to search out the key and investigate. However, the FOLDERTYPEID constants specified by Microsoft do not appear to be in there. Sorry that's not a complete answer but I searched everywhere and all I could find was more questions on the same topic.

Answer 2

As one cannot find the names of the standard folder types in the registry, I believe that unfortunately they are built-into the Windows software.

As a proof I found, for example, "Pictures and Videos" as a unicode string inside shell32.dll. Moreover, it was found among other non-related strings. So it doesn't seem that there was any attempt to package together all the folder types, meaning that they were added one-by-one as new types were invented by the UI designers of Microsoft.

I am afraid that this sloppy and short-sighted manner of programming by Microsoft makes your request impossible. In any case, I don't believe you would want to hack shell32.dll.