Hi, I hope this doesn't end up being a stupid question, like "where is the 'any' key"? ...

While trying to reinstall a program that was somehow deleted, I apparently messed up all my program file associations. Now when I try to open any program from the XP Start menu or via a desktop shortcut, the "Open with" dialog box pops up. After searching on Google, it looks to me like all the .lnk associations are missing.

I'm trying to edit the registry with the following instructions I found, but I don't understand step #1 under "To manually enter the information...". When they say "select the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT subkey", what do they mean by "subkey"? I see lots of keys under the root folder, but if I'm supposed to select one of them, how do I know which one?:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/172053

One other question ...should I back up the entire HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder before trying this?

BTW, the system is clean; no viruses or spyware.

- Thanks

This is the way I have done it - there may be an easier way, I'm sure one of our very knowledgeable tech team members will be along shortly to instruct you.

But I do know enough to tell you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T mess with your registry....if you don't know what you are doing you can really bork your computer.

Use ERUNT to back up your registry regardless of what you do.

You can repair your file associations by doing this:

In Windows Explorer, (window key + E) click on Tools > Folder Options. Then click on the File Types tab.

Windows will look for all file types on your system and display them.

Scroll down and find the file type you need to associate with a program.

To edit it, highlight the file type and click "Change". Select the program from the list to open the file type with.

If the program you need is not displayed, click "Browse" and go find the EXE file of the program you want to open the file with.

Save your changes with the "OK" button.

Hope this helps

CB

This post has been edited by CatByte: Feb 22 2009, 08:20 PM

Thanks for responding.

Because ALL of my start program file associations are borked, I think fixing them via "File Types" would be a very long and tedious way of repairing this, and I don't know if it would fix my desktop shortcuts.

I'm fairly comfortable with editing the registry; I have done it in the past with no major drama. I think that the Microsoft instructions would do the trick if I could just figure out the first step.

As for the backup, I just wondered if I needed to export the entire root folder (via regedit).

I suppose installing ERUNT is a good idea, but I don't really trust it. I used to use NTREGOPT to optimize the registry, but one day it did some fairly heavy damage to a hive, requiring a Windows Repair Install. I suspect it was because NTREGOPT hasn't been updated since 2005 ...maybe it doesn't get along with the later XP Service Packs.

Hi

Have you tried see if there is a restore point you can restore to, before this
happened?

Regards

Yes - that was the first thing I tried, but it had no effect. I tried "Last Known Good Configuration" too, but that didn't help either.

Ok. Was worth a try.

Before we go ahead fix anything in the registry, I would still say you should download
Erunt for backup purposes, and then just don't use NTREGOPT. (I've never been hot on that feature
either) More for peace of mind if anything goes wrong, and because it is the clever thing to do

I remember a line from some MS paper;

"Real men don't take backups, real men cry a lot"

I will have to get my fix confirmed by some senoir staff, as we don't just go ahead recommend
various fixes for the registry. Its a policy we have to ensure that no one gets wrong fixes when
messing with the registry. Hope we have your understanding on this, as it is your machines
safety. Timetable on this, depends on availability of staff members.

Regards

Great quote

I appreciate your caution in approving the fix.

In the meantime I'll install ERUNT ...is that better than using XP's optional "System State" registry backup program? I understand that it's available via the XP Home install disk.

Yes, Erunt is better.

Windows Native backup feature can't back up the security hive, and some other places as well.
But just for security hive backup, it is worth using.

I'll reply back here, as soon as I get word on proceeding. Until then.

Regards

If nothing happens when you click on a Program Icon or an Application in Windows Explorer, there is probably a problem with the default action for EXE and/or LNK files.

See here: EXE-LNK fix - #12 on this page, left column

Install and run ERUNT first as mentioned previously though.

OK ...will check in later.

- Thanks

After downloading ERUNT, I realized that I have a "Catch 22" situation here:

I can't run the downloaded file because my .exe association is hosed and...
I shouldn't edit the .exe association in the registry without backing it up with ERUNT first!

It seems to me that a reasonable alternative might be to back up the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry key by exporting it in regedit over to a backup folder somewhere. Then, I could try the registry fix file suggested by Ztruker.

Since I cannot simply click on the "fix" file to install it (again, no working .file associations), it looks like I would first have to "make" a .reg file from the a text content of the link. Would I do that by simply saving the link text (as shown below) in Notebook, as say... fix.txt, and then renaming it as "fix.reg"?.

After that, maybe I could import it into the registry via regedit? I'm not completely sure how to do that part, but another source suggested to put the "fix.reg" onto a floppy or cd-rom and boot up with the disc in the PC. Then, press F8 during boot and select the Recovery Console. Once in the recovery console, type "REG IMPORT A:\xp_exe_fix.reg" without the quotes.

Here is the text for the fix file, taken directly from the aforementioned link:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe]
@="exefile"
"Content Type"="application/x-msdownload"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe\PersistentHandler]
@="{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile]
@="Application"
"EditFlags"=hex:38,07,00,00
"TileInfo"="prop:FileDescription;Company;FileVersion"
"InfoTip"="prop:FileDescription;Company;FileVersion;Create;Size"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\DefaultIcon]
@="%1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open]
"EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command]
@="\"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas\command]
@="\"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\DropHandler]
@="{86C86720-42A0-1069-A2E8-08002B30309D}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\PEAnalyser]
@="{09A63660-16F9-11d0-B1DF-004F56001CA7}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\PifProps]
@="{86F19A00-42A0-1069-A2E9-08002B30309D}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\ShimLayer Property Page]
@="{513D916F-2A8E-4F51-AEAB-0CBC76FB1AF8}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile]
@="Registration Entries"
"EditFlags"=dword:00100000
"BrowserFlags"=dword:00000008

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,72,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,64,00,69,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,\
2c,00,31,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile\shell]
@="open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile\shell\edit]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile\shell\edit\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,4e,00,4f,00,\
54,00,45,00,50,00,41,00,44,00,2e,00,45,00,58,00,45,00,20,00,25,00,31,00,00,\
00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile\shell\open]
@="Mer&ge"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile\shell\open\command]
@="regedit.exe \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile\shell\print]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile\shell\print\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,4e,00,4f,00,\
54,00,45,00,50,00,41,00,44,00,2e,00,45,00,58,00,45,00,20,00,2f,00,70,00,20,\
00,25,00,31,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk]
@="lnkfile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx\{000214EE-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx\{000214F9-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx\{00021500-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.lnk\ShellNew]
"Command"="rundll32.exe appwiz.cpl,NewLinkHere %1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile]
@="Shortcut"
"EditFlags"=dword:00000001
"IsShortcut"=""
"NeverShowExt"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\CLSID]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Offline Files]
@="{750fdf0e-2a26-11d1-a3ea-080036587f03}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\DropHandler]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\IconHandler]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\ShimLayer Property Page]
@="{513D916F-2A8E-4F51-AEAB-0CBC76FB1AF8}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="Shortcut"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\InProcServer32]
@="shell32.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\PersistentAddinsRegistered]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\PersistentAddinsRegistered\{89BCB740-6119-101A-BCB7-00DD010655AF}]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\PersistentHandler]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\ProgID]
@="lnkfile"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\shellex]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\shellex\MayChangeDefaultMenu]

Hi,

You are running XP, right? If not, do not continue.

As I am not sure if I have read everything thoroughly in this topic please take a good look at if this would be appropriate for your case.

Some time ago I saw a case where somebody could not run exe files as that part of the registry was messed up. There was a registry fix on the internet for this and I saved it. After checking that website out again I now see that it has fixes for a lot of associations:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm
Doug Knox is a well respected person in this world, so choose whichever you need (I recommend taking .lnk first if you still need to fix that one, because it would not really hurt if something goes wrong here).

Again, make sure you backup with ERUNT first. Then download the fix and unzip it to your desktop. After doing that double-click on the registry fix and when it prompts to merge say yes.

Please let us know.

Regards,
John.

John, Abydos and I already provided links to the Doug Knox site and to Kelly's Korner ... same fix.

Auxxo, the file from Kelly's Korner is a .reg file. If you right click on it and select Merge that should work.

Exporting the key/keys in the fix using REGEDIT as you suiggested is a valid backup for this case so do that, then merge the fix.

Success!

I downloaded and merged both the .lnk file and .exe. file fixes from Doug Knox's site as suggested. To my surprise, neither of these had any effect whatsoever. However, the following DID work (derived from the instructions on: http://filext.com/faq/broken_exe_association.php):

Go to My Computer, then Local Disk (C:). In the top left menu:
*Click on Tools.
*Click on Folder Options.
*Click on the File Types tab.
*Scroll down to where EXE would be in the alphabetical order and make certain EXE is NOT there (if it is, edit it by changing the association shown there to Application).
*Select the NEW button.
*Type in EXE for the extension and select the Advanced button.
*From the list, select Application.
*Look for a Restore button. If it's available, click on that (the Restore button only shows up when there is a problem on the system).

I have a couple of questions, though...

It's odd - even though the .exe files are obviously correctly associated now, I don't see EXE (or LNK, either) in the File Types listing. Is that normal?

Also, I realize now that the Registry may actually have been OK initially. I'm wondering if I should restore the registry back to the way it was (by trying System Restore, or by importing my backup of the original HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder back into the registry), or should I just leave well enough alone since things seem to be working?

The #1 axiom in computer repair is: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Glad you got it fixed though.

There is no EXE or LNK in the Filetypes tab of Folder Options on my computer either.