Discussion on:

How do I... Change file extension associations in Windows Vista?

I had discovered the processes described here during my lengthy investigations of Windows Vista.

BUT one thing I never found, was the equivalent, in Windows Vista, to creating extra actions against a given filetype in Windows XP.

For example, I often use Wordpad to read the text of files that may not primarily be intended for reading, such as a BAT or CMD file, or even a VBS file. Under XP I could create a new action, say, named "Wordpad", and assign the action to Wordpad. Thus, files may not only be "opened" but "wordpadded" (i.e. edited), an the extra action shows when a file of the type concerned is subject to a right mouse click.
Where is that facility for creating such extra actions in Windows Vista ?

Keneth Spencer

After searching everywhere in Vista for a way to add an action, I ended up putting the printdir.bat file into the Send To folder just so I could print a directory listing with right-click!

Hey guys... For example, to change the default program for edit vbs files, open the registry and goto : HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VBSFile\Shell\Edit\Command
There change the default key to something like this:
C:\Program Files\NoteTab Light\Notetab.exe %1
To let NoteTab to edit these files.
Big hug.

There is no interface for doing this in Vista however there is a powertool that can do it.

Download it here...
http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/

Cheers,

I don't mean that in a derogatory way at all, Anthony. Powertools are great but why do I need a powertool in Vista to do what I could do routinely from within Folder Options in XP? Thanks for the resource, though!

I totally agree. Its silly that this isn't easily configurable within the operating system. If you look at the tool they created for managing the associations in the control panel it really makes you wonder why they would go to the trouble of making that and not having this particular feature.

Oh well. Atleast it can be done.

Sorry, Anthony, I couldn't help myself! I have a tech podcast and play the bass guitar, too...I guess that makes me a Bass Babe Tekkie Chick, huh?

Yep, I've found plenty of Vista annoyances in the month I've been using it and most all of them have been with features a casual user wouldn't even miss.

I found my latest annoyance...

The XNA XBOX development platform isn't ready for Vista.

So much for my dreams of writing the next blockbuster title for the XBOX 360.

Anthony

What happend to the advanced edit file type settings.

Thank you for sharing your expertise. I followed your instructions but my settings seem to be in order but I still cannot open ".pdf" files. I AM NOT a "computer person" so please bear with me. I had XP on my old Gateway and have (#%@$#&) VISTA on my new Gateway; all the old data has been transferred to the new machine. I never had a problem with .pdf files but I do now. I can't get help from MS, Gateway or the store where I bought the new computer so I am hoping you can help. I followed your instructions and found that the .pdf extension is already assoicated with Adobe. I deleted the old Adobe and downloaded Adobe 8.1. Still no joy! If I save the .pdf file to my desktop I can open it from there but this is a pain in the rear. Any ideas? Thanks. Don

Didn't work for me! It associated my Bryce Studio files with Acrobat Reader! And It won't let me re-associate them with the correct executable. Reinstall of Bryce should fix this, methinks. Boy, a rollback to XP is looking better, and better

I associated an extension to a program that is not able to open it. i would like to remove the association without associating to a different one. i want it back to "no association" which results in windows giving me the option to search the web, etc

I followed these steps but I'm guessing I need to buy a program to change .mov files to a file compatible with Windows Movie Maker or Windows Media Player? These are videos coming right off my digital camera; I guess I must have accidently or unknowingly associated these videos with Quicktime, I never use Quicktime. I could resave them if I had not already deleted them from my camera!

what file extention do I asscociate this file (.sys) with? Somewhow this file has been accidentally asscociated with AOL

You can get to the appropriate tools via Internet Explorer. This assumes you are running IE 7.

Select Tools -> Internet Options -> Programs -> Set Programs -> Associate a file type or protocol with a program. From there, it's pretty much point, click, Change program.

The only problem is if you do not have the correct application installed to handle the associated file extension.

I also read someplace last night that M$ in their infinite paranoia have altered certain file extensions so they are no longer associated with the correct program/application. For example, a '.vbe' file is a Visual Basic Encoded Script file and should be handled by VB runtime. However, M$ has it snagged by Notepad.exe by default. It is pretty useless in Notepad. Particularly annoying if you own an HP machine and they send the update/patch files with the '.vbe' as the first file to execute for the update.

Cheers,

rexb

very helpful... however ... i have a power point file sent as an attachment in e-mail that will open fine once saved to documents but will still not open direct from mail. I went and checked and power point is checked as program assoc with .ppt file extensions.. so why do i have to save document to open it? and when i try i still get the mess "this file does not have a program etc."

For me the solution was on site: http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/231/1/An-utility-to-unassociate-file-types-in-Windows-Vista.html - works for doc files as well.

This didn't answer the question. In order to change a single file extension Go to start> Control Panel> Switch to Classic View> Go to Folder Options> Click on view tab> Un-select hide extension for known files> Apply. This will allow you to change a single file format to any extension you need.

How to do so as a file extension should NOT be associated with any program? (necessary because some programs "hijack" extensions -e.g.,Nero ShowTime hijacks .dat files)

This was NOT useful at all. It does not tell me how to change the file extention in Windows Vista! It does not tell me how to change the file extention, for an example: Change a .doc file to a .txt file.

if all you want to do is change the file extension go into Windows Explorer, single click on the filename to select it (but not open it), press F2, move the cursor to the end of the name and do the renaming.

But, simply doing this type of extension change is going to result in mostly unreadable crap, the binary transliteration of the DOC file formatting information. If you want to extract the text content of the DOC FILE into a TXT file then in Word do a File, Save As and select file type TXT.

I have Windows Vista OS and Office 2007.
I am unable to open Excel 2003 files directly by clicking on the file with Excel 2007. I checked the 'Set Associations' tab and the default for 'xls' files is Excel 2007. So it seems there is some other problem. Surprisingly I dont face this problem with Word or Powerpoint where I can easily open files of earlier versions directly.

They tell me that later this year Windows Vista is to be replaced by a new system called Windows 8 or some such name. So it might well save trouble to wait until the new OS comes along before monkeying with Vista file extension associations, etc.
Yours sincerely, Gerald.

I have not found an easy way to remove the file association - (without an extra application)
not replace the file association.
I have had this to work only the first time, once you try to associate a file the second time after choosing the default in Windows - it seems to stick with what you have manually associated it with.

You may want to use registry edit to check the default value name in hkey classes root, because once you have associated the file type with
assoc .jpg= (or whatever extension) with = and enter nothing, the file type default value is empty in hkey classes root. Even after re-associating the file in the Open With context menu.
Mic..soft making it difficult.

If you don't want a .jpg to open with Windows photo Gallery and you want to select from a list.
Or you want to be prompted open with for each time you want to open a particular file type.
(always being sure to remove the "always use the selected program" check box)
From a command prompt -
Get there by choosing Start > All programs - Accessories - right click on the Command Prompt, left click on Run as Administrator -
Use the Assoc command:
example: at C:\... prompt key in
assoc .jpg=.eyesak ^
(^ = carriage return or Enter)
(Instead of .eyesak you can use some text that you know is not associated with a file type)

Now .jpg file that was associated with whatever program grabbed it, or whatever you selected and did not see the "always use the selected program" check box - will prompt you with what program to open with.
I hope - Note# I want to re-iterate this worked for the first de-association for me - after that I chose the default program, and I was not able to de-associate the file with an application. To do it the second time you may have to use the program mentioned in these posts, I have used it before on another Windows install and it worked well. Your mileage may vary.
eyesak

Every PDF file requires me to Save Attachments in order for me to read it. I've used Set Associatons to set Adobe Reader 8.1 to display as PDF but it still does not work. Any ideas?

my pictures used to open in a particular folder in picturemanager. I followed these instructions to get it to open in picture manager but now I have to chose the folder. can you help?

Somehow in my laptop .lnk was associated with Notepad, now all my links/shortcuts stopped working

Can someone tell me how can I remove that association or reset it back to default?

Thanks,

thanks this sure helps!

something messed up. opening .exe file goes to notepad somehow. need proper assoication

that was not the question, what you need to to is hit "alt", then select tools, then folder options, next click the view tab, finaly right below the hidden options uncheck "hide known file extensions".
you will now be able to change the extensions just by renameing it(ex. .zip to .ipsw (ipod firmware))

Good tutorial, this guide is particularly helpful when troubleshooting problems associated with file extensions. Though we can follow this step-by-step process of changing file associations, there's actually a more easy way to do it.

Some errors occur as a result of incorrect information being relayed to or from the Windows registry. It's possible to manually correct them using your above method, but I think it will be a long, arduous and tedious journey every time, especially if there's too much outdated file extensions to repair. As for me, I just use a certain software to automatically do it for me. I got it free from this site that talks about file extension.