Disk Usage Bar not showing in Windows Server 2008

Question

In my Windows Server 2008 R2 system disk usage bar is not showing, when am using tiles view in My Computer.

Earlier it used to show the bar. In details view its showing total size and free space.

I already tried to solve it from these links:

1. http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/13797-disk-space-usage-bars-my-computer-missing.html
2. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/disk-space-usage-bar-in-my-computer-is-missing/457ab86b-54c4-4f11-ac52-49739978ad31
3. http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/147472-disk-usage-bar-my-computer.html

Nothing solved my issue. Please help.

Answer 1

Open registry editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive. On the right you should see a key named TileInfo. This is the key that defines what information will be shown next to the drive in Explorer when View is set to Tiles. From the screenshot you provided it looks like yours may be empty or non-existent (since it isn't displaying used/free space and filesystem either).

By default, the key contains something like this:

prop:*System.PercentFull;System.Computer.DecoratedFreeSpace;System.Volume.FileSystem

System.PercentFull; is the part that displays the disk usage bar - the other two displays the free space as text and the filesystem of the drive, respectively.

If the key does not exist, the steps to create it are as follows:

1. Right-click the blank/white space below the existing keys
2. Select New > String Value
3. Rename the key to TileInfo
4. Double-click the key and set its value to prop:*System.PercentFull;System.Computer.DecoratedFreeSpace;System.Volume.FileSystem
5. Click OK and close registry editor.

You may have to reboot after modifying/creating this key, although all I had to do was refresh the Explorer window I had open to see the changes.

Answer 2

You'll have to turn on Visual Styles on the server, which is an involved process, because, well, it is a server.

It's called Desktop Experience in Windows Server 2008, to get to it, go to Control Panel, and then, under Programs, click Turn Windows Features on or off.‌ Hit "Add Features" in the Features Summary section, then select the Desktop Experience check box. Click Add Required Features if prompted and then click Next and Install. You might have to restart your computer.

Step 2:

Enable the Themes service in Windows Server. Start->services.msc->[Enter] Scroll to "Themes" and go to properties. In the Startup type list, select Automatic, and Apply. Also hit the Start Service button to fire it up immediately.

Step 3:

Right click on Desktop and go to Personalization. Apply Aero theme and OK.

Step 4:

Reset Folder Views

Step 5:

Clear Registry folder cache:

reset-folders.bat

Reg Delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU" /F
Reg Delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags" /F
Reg Delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\Bags" /F
Reg Delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ShellNoRoam\BagMRU" /F
Reg Delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU" /F
Reg Delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags" /F
Reg Delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Wow6432Node\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags" /F
Reg Delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\Wow6432Node\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\BagMRU" /F

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe

If no bars show up for HDD by now you're out of luck.

Hope this helps.