Solved Can't set file associations

hsrstud

New Member
I have Vista x64 installed on my system. For some reason, Windows has dropped some of my default file associations and won't let me change them back to their original configuration.

For instance, if I right click a .doc file and select "Open with..." then "Select a program from a list of installed programs" Microsoft Word is not listed in the list of programs. If I click on "Browse..." and select Word manually, I'm returned to the list of programs from which to to choose, but Word still isn't available.

I've also tried setting file associations through the control panel. Again, in the "Set Associations" window, if I click on "Change program..." I experience the same issue.

The issue is not limited to .doc files. For instance, Vista reset my .txt file association to Vista's Notepad, however; I previuosly had the default file assocation set to Notepad++. When I try change the default file association back to Notepad++ I experience the same issue as for the .doc file type.
 

My Computer

Hello Hsrstud,

When in Default Programs and you have selected "Change Program" for the file extenstion, are you trying to select the EXE file for the program after clicking on "Browse"?

For example, I have Office 10 installed, so the path to Word for me is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\WINWORD.EXE".

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Right, I'm selecting the .exe file.

I should add that for some reason, Windows keeps creating hidden %AppData% folders everywhere. I'm not sure what this is about.

Thanks for your help!
 

My Computer

That's strange. As a test, create another administrator account and see if it works ok in it instead.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
apply write permission for all the subkeys in hkey class root.

and try.

Open regedit, by typing regedit i run and right click on hkey class root give administrators full control, make the permission to inherit for all the subkeys.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Wipro
    Motherboard
    Intel dq35j0
    Memory
    8 Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    inter express chipset
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Wipro
    Screen Resolution
    1024*768
    Hard Drives
    500 gb
    Keyboard
    DELL
    Mouse
    Dell
    Internet Speed
    100 mbps(office lan)
I tried creating a new Administrative account and everything was back to normal when I signed in under this account.

I also tried delphin's suggestion. Now I receive the following error message when I double click on a word document. Please see the attached screen shot. Unfortunately, I still can't change the file association for text files.

Just to be clear, I tried delphin's suggestion on the old administrative account.
 

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My Computer

If the new Admin. account is good it may be best to migrate into it and ignore or delete the old account.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Compaq/SR5130NX
    CPU
    AMD AthlonTM 64x2 3800+
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE
I suggest copying the folders in your < Username > folder to DVD then from DVD copy the folder contents into the equivalent folders in the new account.
When through you'll have made the transfer and have an extra backup on DVD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Compaq/SR5130NX
    CPU
    AMD AthlonTM 64x2 3800+
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE
Whatever you've done to personalize will need to be redone. I'm always
concerned that having Windows transfer settings will import the problems.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Compaq/SR5130NX
    CPU
    AMD AthlonTM 64x2 3800+
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE
I seem to have resolved this problem for the most part by doing two things:

1. Went to winword.exe and unchecked "Run this program as an administrator." Word now opens when double clicking .doc files without having to set the file association in Windows.

2. Opened Notepad++, went into Settings...Preferences...File Association and move .txt from the Supported exts box to the Registered exts box. This allowed me to associate .txt files using the regular Windows file associations method.

I'm not sure what messed things up for me, but I think I've got a handle on the situation now. I'll wait to see if the random %AppData% folder issue is resolved now. I have a feeling it has something to do with Notepad++, so I uninstalled and reinstalled program. Hopefully, this resolved the issue.

Thanks for your help.
 

My Computer

Hsrstud,

I'm happy to hear that it seems to be sorted for you. :)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Unfortunately, the hidden %AppData% folders are still appearing. Any other ideas on what may be causing this behavior? It seems to appear wherever I run a program, for example C:\Program Files (x86)\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\%APPDATA%
 

My Computer

Hsrstud,

Double check to make sure that system files are still set to be hidden in Folder Options.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/86163-hidden-files-folders.html


If they only appear when you are browsing your files from within these programs and not Windows Explorer, then some programs will still see the hidden files even though they are to be hidden. Is this what is happening?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Sorry, I meant they appear in Windows Explorer in the folders where the .exe files are stored. In other words, if I choose to run "fancy_program.exe", a translucent %AppData% folder will appear in C:\Program Files\fancy_program folder\

As you point out, the %AppData% folder that appears is translucent, because it is considered a system file and I have Vista set to display system files. I could just hide these folders (i.e. system files), but I'm wondering why they are being generated. I've always had system files displayed and never run into this before.

I hope my writing is more clear this time.
 

My Computer

I have never seen that happen before. Since it is a system file, see if running a sfc /scannow command may be able to fix what is wrong with it.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
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