File associations in Vista

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  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I can't associate particular filetypes with the programs I want in Vista. It
doesn't work using Explorer, nor does it work with the Control Panel defaults
mini-program. In either case, when I browse to the program I want to use and
click OK, that program never shows up in the list. I want to associate all my
..txt text files with "Textpad," my favorite ASCII editor. I've done it for 12
years now with all earlier versions of Windows, but, I can't get it to work
with Vista.
Thanks.
 
Spenceation said:
You will need to either right click a file of that type and select open with
and browse to the program (textpad) or use the default program utility and
manually browse to the program yourself. The following link will explain the
default program utility better.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/6ef5399f-a0b6-4133-ac76-41cda36b1ca21033.mspx
Click to expand...
No, that's my point. None of those choices work. And, in Start/Default
Programs, I don't see anywhere to ADD other programs. All it shows me is a
list of the regular, garden-variety Windows programs. How do I add to that
list?

Thanks.
 
No, that's my point. None of those "features" work. They don't allow me to
choose TextPad to the list of default programs, and, when I browse to TextPad
and click OK, it never shows up in the list of available programs.
 
I'm sorry for this mess. I'm just not used to this interface.

The TechRepublic link didn't help me either. No matter what I do, Vista is
NOT respecting any "new" program that I'm trying to add as a useable program.
The list of "default" programs is bare bones. It doesn't even show Notepad.
 
I have been able to establish association but haven't figured out how to
"break" them. After upgrading to Vista my MSN mail reader (MSN Browser)
quit opening .email attachments. The MSKB suggested that I associate the
email type with NotePad which I did. That's pretty ugly and I want to
remove the association but not replace it with another program yet.

Any idea how to do that?

Howard
=======================================
 
This doesn't really answer your question, but you might find this of
interest:

INFO: Using MSN's client on Windows Vista
http://kurtsh.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DA410C7F7E038D!1953.entry

To completely un-associate an .eml extension, if that's what you mean (e.g.,
double-clicking on a file with that extension opens Notepad), in the
Registry Editor, go to

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.eml

(Export the key as a backup to undo your change, if you decide later that
you want things the way they were.) In the right-hand pane, right-click on
Default, under the column Name, (which probably has eml_auto_file as its
Value), and choose Delete. Close the Registry Editor. You may have to Log
Off and back On, or Restart, to see the change.
 
Thanks. I had the latest MSN software before I upgraded so I never noticed
the Vista compatibility issue. There's no way to send a message or comment
to his blog or I would ask him how he was doing reading e-mail attachments.
Maybe I'm the only one that has the problem.

I tried the registry change and while I was able to delete the default value
for .email I couldn't make any changes at all to the .eml entry. I get the
dreaded "don't have permission" error. For the life of me I don't
understand why that is. But I can see that a lot of other folks are
stumbling across it as well. Here are the current entries. Any idea how I
can make changes to them?

Key Name: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.eml
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 7/12/2007 - 10:38 PM

Key Name: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.eml\shellex
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 7/10/2007 - 5:37 PM

Key Name:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.eml\shellex\{8895B1C6-B41F-4C1C-A562-0D564250836F}
Class Name: <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time: 7/11/2007 - 3:54 PM
Value 0
Name: <NO NAME>
Type: REG_SZ
Data: {b9815375-5d7f-4ce2-9245-c9d4da436930}

===============================================
 
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