windowswindows-explorer
I have an XML file saved with the extension .xml. XML files are registered to open with Notepad++, and double-clicking the file opens it in Notepad++ as expected. However, the icon shows it to be an Excel file, and rightly so – the file is formated as SpreadsheetML.
I'm used to files being associated with a particular program to open them, but how does Windows Explorer know to show the Excel icon for that file?
I found this in Windows help:
To associate a file name extension with a file type:
- Open Folder Options in Control Panel.
- Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
- Double-click Folder Options.
- On the File Types tab, click New.
- Type a new or existing file name extension, and then click Advanced.
- In Associated File Type, select a different file type to associate with the extension.
If you click New and type in rrx, you can associate that with XML document, so you can then use the XML document default programs.
There is really simple program called Default Programs Editor available to download from here. It works good also for Windows 8.1 (not sure for Win 8).
Best Answer
I'm pretty sure what's happening is that when you install Office onto a Windows 7 computer it changes the XML icon path from a static path (see:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\xmlfile\DefaultIconin the registry), to a "%1" variable.In combination with the fact that the
xmlfileentry also has aShellEx\IconHandlerkey means that the icon is dynamically controlled by a DLL (or some other handler). If you look up the GUID in the IconHandler default value's data, you can figure out what program is being used to handle that icon.Mine happens to be {AB968F1E-E20B-403A-9EB8-72EB0EB6797E}, so I searched the registry until I found
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{AB968F1E-E20B-403A-9EB8-72EB0EB6797E}\InprocServer32Which lists "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE12\MSOXEV.DLL" as the program handling it. So when an XML is queried, the MSOXEV.DLL is checked, which interrogates the file deeply, and determines which icon to display.
There's also an excellent explanation in an answer to a similar question over at StackOverflow if you want to go check that out as well.