Default File Type Associations - Restore

Restore Default Vista File Extension Type Associations​

   Information

This will allow you to restore the default registry entries and program associations for the Vista file extension type of your choice.

   Note

This can be helpful for example when a file extension type opens with the wrong program by default, has the wrong icon, or is missing or corrupted in the registry. Downloading the .reg file for the selected file extension in the tutorial below, will restore that file extension back to default for all of these items above.

If the file extension type you need to restore is not listed below yet, then please post a request for it. I'll be happy to add it to the list.

   Warning

Default program associations for file extensions are a per user setting by default, so you will need to be logged on to the effected user account to be able to restore the default associations of the file extension for that specific user account.

If you are logged in as a standard user and this still does not help, then have the administrator also merge the needed .reg for the file extension below while logged into their administrator account.

These default file extensions should only be used in Vista.

Here's How:

1. Click on the file extension type link listed below for the one that you wish to restore to default to download it's .zip file.

2. Save the .zip file to your desktop.

3. Open the downloaded .zip file, then extract the .reg file to the desktop.

4. Right click on the extracted .reg file and click on Merge.

   Tip

If you do not see a Merge option when you right click on the REG file, then you will need to check in Default Programs to set the reg file extension to have it's Current Default program set as Registry Editor (C:\Windows\regedit.exe). Afterwards, try merging the REG file again.

5. If prompted, click on Run, Continue (UAC), Yes, and OK.
NOTE: If you are logged in a standard user account, then you will get a Cannot import type error. Just click on OK for it. This is normal since what cannot be imported can only be done so by an administrator account instead. It will still restore the default association of the file extension though.

6. When done, you can delete the downloaded .zip and .reg files on the desktop if you like.

7. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to fully apply.


Default Vista File Extension Types:
ani - Windows animated cursor file.

aspx - A file with the ASPX file extension is an ASP.NET Source file.

AudioCD - Audio CD protocol associations.

avi - Audio Video Interleave files. The default program is Windows Media Player.

bat - Batch files.

bmp - Bitmap image files. The default program is Windows Photo Gallery.

cab - Cabinet files.

chm - Microsoft compiled HTML help files.

cmd - Windows command script files.

com - MS-DOS application files.

contact - Contact file used in Windows Mail. The default program is Windows Contacts.

css - Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file used to format the contents of a Web page; contains customized, global properties for how to display HTML elements; can define the size, color, font, line spacing, indentation, borders, and location of HTML elements.

cur - Windows File Cursor animation files used for the Microsoft Windows mouse pointer image.

dat - Generic data file created by a specific application; typically accessed only by the application that created the file; may contain data in text or binary format; text-based DAT files can be viewed in a text editor.

Directory - Directory protocol associations

dll - A Dynamic Link Library (dll) file is a support file used by one or more programs.

drive - Drive protocol associations.

exe - Executable application files.

folder - Folder protocol associations.

gif - GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) image files. The default program is Internet Explorer.

hlp - Help File

htm - HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) document files. The default program is Internet Explorer.

html - HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) document files. The default program is Internet Explorer.

ico - Icon files. The default program is Windows Photo Gallery.

inf - Setup information files. The default program is Notepad.

jpe - JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) image files. The default program is Windows Photo Gallery.

jpeg - JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) image files. The default program is Windows Photo Gallery.

jpg - JPG (Joint Photographic Group) image files. The default program is Windows Photo Gallery.

js - Java Script files. The default program is Microsoft Windows Based Script Host (C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe).

lnk - Shortcut link (LNK) files.

manifest - A XML file that contains information about accompanying files in the same archive.

mp3 - MP3 sound format file. The default program is Windows Media Player.

mp4 - MPEG-4 movie file. The default program is Windows Media Player.

mpa - MPEG audio file. The default program is Windows Media Player.

mpe - MPEG movie file. The default program is Windows Media Player.

mpeg - MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) video file. The default program is Windows Media Player.

mpg - MPEG video file. The default program is Windows Media Player.

msc - Mirosoft Common Console document files.

msi - Microsoft Windows Installer installation package file.

pdf - Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format created by Adobe Systems. By default, Vista does not support reading this file type. Using this to restore the default PDF association in Vista will remove all associations for the pdf file extension. You will need to install a 3rd party program like Adobe Reader to be able to open and read pdf files in Vista.

pif - Short for Program InFormation file, a type of file that holds information about how Windows should run a non-Windows application.

png - Portable Network Graphics (PNG) is a bitmap compression method for image files. PNG supports 16.7 million colors, it is lossless and also supports index color, grayscale, true color, transparency, and is streamable. It is thus the best compression method (better than GIF or JPEG) for use on the web

reg - Registry files.
NOTE: You may need to the default program as Registry Editor (C:\Windows\regedit.exe), or enable regedit before you will be able to use this REG file.

rtf - Rich Text document files. The default program is WordPad.

scr - Screen Saver files.

tif - Tagged Image files Format. The default program is Windows Photo Gallery.

tiff - Tagged Image files Format. The default program is Windows Photo Gallery.

tmp - Temp file. By default, this file extension does not have a program associated with it.

txt - Text document files. The default program is Notepad.

url - Internet website shortcut link. The default program is Internet Explorer.

vbs - Visual Basic Script files. The default program is Microsoft Windows Based Script Host (C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe).

wav - Wave audio file.

wma - Windows Media Audio files. The default program is Windows Media Player.

wmv - Windows Media Audio/Video file. The default program is Windows Media Player.

wsf - Windows Script Files. The default program is Microsoft Windows Based Script Host (C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe).

xml - Excel Macro files. The default program is Internet Explorer.

xps - XML Paper Specification document files. The default program is XPS Viewer (C:\Windows\System32\XPSViewer\XPSViewer.exe).

xsl - A eXtensible Stylesheet Language file that defines the style of text, tables, and other objects within a XML document; similar to a .CSS file used by .HTML documents. The default program is Internet Explorer.

zip - ZIP file extensions is a archival and data compression format used to compress one or more files to reduce the size of the file. The default program is Compressed Folders.
NOTE: This is a .reg file for the ZIP download only, so go to step 4 after downloading it.

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Associate a Individual File Extension Type With a Program in Vista
• How to Set Default Associations For a Program in Vista
• How to Unassociate a File Extension Type in Vista
• How to Show and Change a File Name Extension in Vista
• How to Add a Program to Open With in Vista
• How to Change a File Extension Type Icon in Vista
• How to Restore the Built-in ZIP File Support in Vista
• How to Turn Compressed Folders On or Off in Vista

 

[Brink]

I'm happy to hear that everything is ok now. Thank you for the heads up about those drivers.

 

[mbwheeler11]

That seemed to work! Many thanks.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome.

 

[Ardneh]

I'm asking to have the cur cursor extension added to the list.

Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello Ardneh,

The default CUR file extension download has been added.

Shawn

 

[Sharyn]

I have had numerous issues since downloading zipeg a while back. I have gotten rid of it but everything is mucked up.

I lost the ability to double click on the downloaded zip icon and extract straight from the download box...kept getting an application not found message box. Then I managed to re associate it with windows explorer but it changed my icons.

They currently look like this,

I have tried both methods and doing the reg merge thing has made no difference. My restore point is not far enough back to make any difference.

Hope you can help as it is very frustrating.

Thanks!

 

[Brink]

Hello Sharyn, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Did you use the ZIP download, and restart afterwards?

If ZIP is working other than the icon is not correct, then try rebuilding the icon cache.

If ZIP is not working, then you can use 7-Zip safely for now.
NOTE: After installing, use compatibility mode to set this program to run as administrator. You will then need to go into Tools and the Options menu to select the file associations you want 7-Zip to be able to use.


Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[Sharyn]

Tried to rebuild the cache and also did the zip download and restart many times. I have been at this for days doing everything you suggested all over this forum.

I would rather clear it up than have to add something else into the mix.

 

[Brink]

I'm sorry, but I'm still not clear if ZIP is working now and it's just the icon not correct, or ZIP is still not working at all though. Could you clarify this for me please?

If it's not working, then see if running a sfc /scannow command may help.

If not, then other than using 7-Zip as a workaround, you may need to do a clean reinstall.

 

[Sharyn]

This thing is very weird, it stayed funny like that for the rest of the day, even after a restart. Though when I was working inside adobe I could see the files as normal zips??

Then today they suddenly all appeared as normal zips....but not on start-up. Just out of the blue.

I had already done the scan now before as well and that didn;t fix it either.

SO now I have zips and a way to unzip - I am sure that something I had done here eventually helped it....just don't know what.

Anyway! Thanks!!

 

[Brink]

Sharyn,

I'm happy to hear that it has seemed to sort itself out for you. Thank you for posting back.

 

[AudioTN30]

Spot on beautiful post, my friend. These merges work perfectly. I cannot thank you enough for these. You've done some hard work, and I really appreciate it. However, I was wondering if you could post a .reg file for the default wave file. That's the only one that I am missing. Great post!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome AudioTN30, and welcome to Vista Forums.

WAV has been added to the list.

 

[AudioTN30]

Works perfectly. Thank you so very much for the quick reply and the hard work you have done. The problem I had was the icons for most audio files on my computer were not going back to the Vista defaults. This used to be an easy fix in XP, but in Vista it's not, at least until I found your post. These icons lost their default association (wmp 11) after I uninstalled a piece of freeware called Wave Pad--a freeware audio editor. Apparently, this software installed itself as the default player for .mp3, .wmv and .wav files.

The strange thing is that I was never given an option during the install process to set up file associations. I always like trying out audio editing freeware to give alternative suggestions to my friends. They don't like the price tag that comes with the audio editing software I use (Nuendo, Melodyne, FL Studio 8 and Adobe Audition). I'll continue to suggest Audacity and steer clear of other editors.

Again, thank you so much for your help. :D

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome AudioTN30. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[krittermattel]

Re: Default File Type Associations; link for CAB fix included

Below are excerpts from two of my posts to Microsoft Forums.
Both offer helpful links to supplement Brink's file association fixes.
(http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/233243-default-file-type-associations-restore.html)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Does anyone have a suggestion on where to obtain a downloadable registry fix to re-associate .CAB files with the correct default Windows program, and to restore the .CAB file icon after incorrectly associating it with a .RAR file-opening program?
Winhelponline ---
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/105/1/File-association-fixes-for-Windows-Vista.html --- has an extremely helpful 'file association fix' page, but .CAB file is not among the 30 or so fixes available.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SpiritX, your recommendation to try the (xp_cabfix) downloadable fix by Doug Knox's File Associations at http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm fixed the problem.

After running the CAB file fix called xp_cabfix and then rebooting, this fickle machine is now behaving with regard to the default CAB file association; it's default Icon has also been restored.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope this information is helpful to anyone who's accidentally associated a file with the wrong program or installed an extracting program that integrated itself into the Windows shell context menu.

Related Microsoft Forum Threads:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com...s/thread/0d410b43-bef1-49a9-92b5-15ee55c44790
http://social.answers.microsoft.com...s/thread/bbc04ae8-d98a-4b1a-8f90-4d86fcde72d9

 

[Brink]

Hello Krittermattel,

The default CAB download has been created and added to the tutorial.

 

[krittermattel]

Brink,

Thanks for adding the .CAB File Extension Fix to your tutorial.

I'm so glad I found Vista Forums --- your threads in particular --- recommended to me by a Microsoft Answers Forum Supporting Member, SpiritX --- SpiritX's Profile

Don't know exactly how Vista Forum replys work, but I've listed some additional links (last two suggested by SpiritX) that may be useful in finding fixes for file association/extension problems and/or restoring default settings.



Although the second one is listed as being for XP, it seems to work for Vista as well; it's where I found the .CAB fix.

• File association fixes for Windows Vista
• Windows XP File Assocation Fixes
• http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/233243-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

Thanks a million --- Keep up with the awesome, informative, insightful and knowledgeable posts.

krittermattel

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. The CAB file in the tutorial was created from a clean install of Vista.

 

[naveed]

If u merge all zip files into single zip. it would be much appreciated.

Regdards