Windows XP “open with” not allowing a custom option

file associationnotepadwindows xp

Up until today I had text files set to open with Notepad++.

Today I moved my Notepad++ installation, and after that I am no longer to use "open with" to get a text file open in Notepad++, even though the program still works fine and I can load a text file by manually launching the program and then doing a File > Open.

If I go to Tools > Folder Options > File Types > Advanced, then I can manually type in the exact path to the executable that I want to use for opening txt files. However, if I enter the path to Notepad++ and click ok, after closing the window, if I re-open it the field has been automatically restored to reflect the path to standard Windows notepad.

Any ideas? Never seen anything like this in 10+ years of using XP… 🙁

Best Answer

The program that you're pointing to isn't registered correctly.

In regedit: Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications and find your .exe name. Navigate under its name to shell>open>command. In the Default change its location to the actual location of the executable, hit okay and then try and reassociate the file type as you normally would.

Source: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/problems-with-file-association-in-windows-7-64-bit/8a84fcec-22df-4942-8e35-d98dbe96e327

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