Vista - .xps files default to Firefox :-)

I've recently noticed that whenever you double-click an XPS file, it
opens in the default web browser, i.e. Mozilla Firefox. As there is no
Firefox plugin the browser than asks you to save the file.

Pretty amusing, I thought.

On checking the file association, .xps files are associated with "XPS
Viewer". Yet they open in Firefox anyway. :-)

Workaround is to bind them explicitly to IE, but IMO the XPS Viewer
should be a separate lightweight app, not sure why it isn't.

Daniel

Addendum:

..xps file association fix is here:
http://www.winhelponline.com/fileasso/xpsfix_vista.zip

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


"Daniel Noll" <daniel@nuix.com> wrote in message news:eMwWCfxeHHA.3632@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
I've recently noticed that whenever you double-click an XPS file, it
opens in the default web browser, i.e. Mozilla Firefox. As there is no
Firefox plugin the browser than asks you to save the file.

Pretty amusing, I thought.

On checking the file association, .xps files are associated with "XPS
Viewer". Yet they open in Firefox anyway. :-)

Workaround is to bind them explicitly to IE, but IMO the XPS Viewer
should be a separate lightweight app, not sure why it isn't.

Daniel

Ramesh, MS-MVP wrote:
> Addendum:
>
> .xps file association fix is here:
> http://www.winhelponline.com/fileasso/xpsfix_vista.zip

That doesn't seem to work for me.

On closer inspection the path it points to in the .reg file
(C:\Windows\System32\XPS Viewer) doesn't exist on my system.

Daniel

Click Start, type "optionalfeatures.exe" and press ENTER
Expand "Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0"
Enable the "XPS Viewer" checkbox, and click OK.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


"Daniel Noll" <daniel@nuix.com> wrote in message news:%23hIADEJfHHA.4020@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
Ramesh, MS-MVP wrote:
> Addendum:
>
> .xps file association fix is here:
> http://www.winhelponline.com/fileasso/xpsfix_vista.zip

That doesn't seem to work for me.

On closer inspection the path it points to in the .reg file
(C:\Windows\System32\XPS Viewer) doesn't exist on my system.

Daniel

Ramesh, MS-MVP wrote:
> Click Start, type "optionalfeatures.exe" and press ENTER
> Expand "Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0"
> Enable the "XPS Viewer" checkbox, and click OK.

It's already got a tick next to it. I tried removing it, going OK, then
re-adding it and going OK again, but it doesn't seem to have an effect.

I do seem to have an XPSViewer under Windows\SysWOW64 rather than
Windows\System32 though, so it's possible that .reg file was simply
incorrect.

Daniel

That .REG file applies only to 32-bit versions of Vista then. SysWow64 folder is in 64-bit versions.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


"Daniel Noll" <daniel@nuix.com> wrote in message news:%23OToE8YfHHA.588@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
Ramesh, MS-MVP wrote:
> Click Start, type "optionalfeatures.exe" and press ENTER
> Expand "Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0"
> Enable the "XPS Viewer" checkbox, and click OK.

It's already got a tick next to it. I tried removing it, going OK, then
re-adding it and going OK again, but it doesn't seem to have an effect.

I do seem to have an XPSViewer under Windows\SysWOW64 rather than
Windows\System32 though, so it's possible that .reg file was simply
incorrect.

Daniel

Ramesh, MS-MVP wrote:
> That .REG file applies only to 32-bit versions of Vista then. SysWow64 folder is in 64-bit versions.

Yeah, I guess there is just no 64-bit version of the XPS viewer yet,
hence it being in the WOW folder.

Daniel

Ramesh, thanks for the fix, it looks like just what i need, but when i
double click on xpsfix_vista.reg i get an error message

"Cannot import C:\Users\Alex\Desktop\xpsfix_vista.reg: Not all the data
was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the
system or other processes."

Am i supposed to drop this file directly into the registry editor?


--
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