Some systems to not have a %windir%\ShellNew directory, so here are some links and observations on ShellNew entries in the registry.
Originally, I needed this for Creating a blank Visual Studio solution without a directory, and sln Format Version numbers but found a default installation did not have a %windir%\ShellNew directory.
A similar Windows 8.1 system had these files there:
On the Windows 10 system, these files were in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\vfs\Windows\SHELLNEW, so apparently, Windows 10 has moved more into a Virtual File System structure.
Machine wide registered extensions
The key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip\CompressedFolder\ShellNew on both systems has the below values, indicating you do not need a file template: a binary template in the registry suffices:
Data having REG_BINARY content of a 22-byte empty .zip fileItemName having a REG_EXPAND_SZ content pointing to @%SystemRoot%\system32\zipfldr.dll,-10194
The key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rtf\ShellNew on both systems has the below values, indicating you do not need a file template: a text template in the registry suffices:
Data having REG_SZ content of a 7 character file content {\rtf1}ItemName having a REG_EXPAND_SZ content pointing to @%ProgramFiles%\Windows NT\Accessories\WORDPAD.EXE,-213
The key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp\ShellNew on both systems has the below values, indicating you do not need a file template: a zero byte template in the registry suffices:
NullFile having an empty REG_SZItemName having a REG_EXPAND_SZ content pointing to @%systemroot%\system32\mspaint.exe,-59414
User wide registered extensions
At HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders, is a value named Templates having an absolute path which can be expanded from %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Templates.
That directory was empty, but it is connected to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes counterpart of HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT (the latter is an alias for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes).
So in stead of putting template files in %WinDir%\ShellNew plus registering them underHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, you can put them in %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Templates and register them under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes.
Empty Visual Studio solution files for the current user
Since people have requested empty solution files to be created without creating a directory for a long time ([WayBack] create solution without folder – Visual Studio) and Visual Studio still does not allow you to do that, I have amended the %WinDir%\ShellNew based solution I created some 7 years ago at Creating a blank Visual Studio solution without a directory, and sln Format Version numbers, to a current user based one:
[WayBack] jeroenp / wiert.me / commit / 01e4430712a6 — Bitbucket:
Amend empty Visual Studio templates to support%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Templates referenced from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes
Future
I might be able to morph this into a registry-only solution by using REG_MULTI_SZtyped values containing the actual .sln template content as multi-line strings separated by zero bytes. Some starting links on this for future reading:
Related
–jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 