It first occurred for the first time several weeks ago. Now, it’s each time I try to update my copy of Windows Vista. What is it? It’s the dreaded error code 80073712!

So, like the average person, the first thing I did was wait for it to fix itself. Seriously, it’s shocking what can change after a reboot. After that failed, I set out to fix this issue myself. My first step was to search Google for the issue. The plus side? Lots of results to look at. The down side? It’s terrible that so many other people are having the same issue!

Once the major annoyances of Vista is the way it changes the folder view based on the files inside of it. Add some pictures and suddenly your downloads folder turns into a picture template. Arg! Anyways, after some searching, I found a solution here.

Copy the text between the lines below into notepad & save as AllItemsView.reg file. (Or download this one).

Watch out for line wrap — [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Shell] is all one line, there is a space between ‘Local’ and ‘Settings’.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders\Shell]
“FolderType”=”NotSpecified”

Merging the AllItemsView.reg file will set the ‘All Items’ template for any folders that don’t currently have a view saved with a different template.

You can clear all saved views by deleting the “HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags” key BEFORE merging the AllItemsView.reg file. (Using Start->Run->RegEdit).

If any folders open with a different template after clearing the ‘Bags’ key & merging the .reg file, they most likely have a template specified via their desktop.ini file.