Q. When you double-click a folder in Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2) the folder does not open and displays the Search Results window?

When you double-click a folder in Windows XP explorer, it is supposed to expand (open) the folder. Your Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2) computer displays the Search Results window instead.

NOTE: When you right-click the folder and press Open, the folder expands successfully.

This behavior will occur if a registry entry in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshell is corrupted.

I have scripted DirShell.bat and DirShell.reg to resolve this issue.

The syntax for using DirShell.bat is:

DirShell FolderName

Where FolderName is the fully qualified folder name where a backup of the existing HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshell registry entries will be created, as DirShellOld.reg.

NOTE: After running DirShell.bat, you MUST shutdown and restart Windows XP.

NOTE: DirShell.bat and DirShell.reg must be placed in the same folder.

DirShell.REG contains:

REGEDIT4[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshell][HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshell]@="none"[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellcmd]@="Open Command Window Here"[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellcmdcommand]@="cmd.exe /k "cd %L""[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellfind]"SuppressionPolicy"=dword:00000080[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellfindcommand]@=hex(2):25,53,79,73,74,65,6d,52,6f,6f,74,25,5c,45,78,70,6c,6f,72,65,72,2e,65,  78,65,00[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellfindddeexec]"NoActivateHandler"=""@="[FindFolder("%l", %I)]"[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellfindddeexecapplication]@="Folders"[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellfindddeexectopic]@="AppProperties"

DirShell.bat contains:

@echo offif {%1}=={} @echo Syntax: DirShell Folder&goto :EOFif not exist %1 @echo Syntax: DirShell - %1 does NOT exist.&goto :EOFif not exist "%~DP0DirShell.REG" @echo "%~DP0DirShell.REG" does NOT exist.&goto :EOFsetlocalset folder=%1#set folder=%folder:"=%set folder=%folder:#=%set folder=%folder:#=%if exist "%folder%DirShellOld.reg" del /q "%folder%DirShellOld.reg"regedit /a "%folder%DirShellOld.reg" "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshell"regedit /s "%~DP0DirShell.REG"