This article describes how Windows stores View preferences for the
desktop and windows that you open. View preferences include icon size,
position, layout, and so on.
Windows stores up to 28 entries containing View preferences for the
desktop and windows that you open in a most-recently-used (MRU) list.
When you close a window, the View preferences are written to subkeys
with the names 0, 1, 2, and so on, located in the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams
The MRUList in the following registry key defines the order of the 28
entries:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StreamMRU
When the desktop or one of the window is no longer included in the MRU
list, the desktop or window uses the default settings the next time the
desktop or window is redrawn or refreshed.
When you make a change to the desktop or a window, the View preferences
for the desktop or window are moved to the top of the MRU list. That item
remains on the MRU list until it reaches the 28th spot. When an item
reaches the 28th spot and another window is closed, the 28th item is
removed from the MRU list.