.xps files default to Firefox :-)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Daniel Noll
  • Start date Start date
D

Daniel Noll

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


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
 
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 said:
Addendum:

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

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

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

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

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

Daniel
 
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