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

 

[subdla]

Re: Default Programs

Please provide a .reg file for restoring the association for PPS and PPT files.

 

[Brink]

Hello Subdla, and welcome to Vista Forums.

PPS files are Microsoft PowerPoint Slide Show files, and PPT files are Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation files. By default, Vista does not have anything associated to open PPS and PPT files unless you installed Microsoft Office PowerPoint, or some PowerPoint viewer program.

The only thing I could provide in a REG file is to unassociate PPS and PPT to not be opened by any program by default since that is the default in Vista. If that's what you wanted, then please let me know. I'll be happy to help.

If not, then you could use OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to right click on the PPS and PPT files to use "Open with" and select the program you want to be used to open these files with.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/69758-default-programs.html

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[subdla]

Thanks for your prompt reply and help. My problem is that I repeatedly installed PowerPoint Viewer 2007. This fails after the very last update is applied, so I installed PowerPoint Viewer 2010. I see that in all my accounts except one I can associate PPS and PPT with PPV 2010. But it just ignores my attempt to associate it in the one account. So, I figured maybe it is a registry problem, but I do not understand how to unassociate the choices presently offered - then maybe I can do the association. So, how do I do that? Since I have not put in the final PPV-2007 update, I could continue to use it, but I like to have all the security updates.

Alden

 

[Brink]

Alden,

You would only want to use PPV 2010, and not try to have PPV 2007 installed with it or they could conflict with each other like it is now.

Be sure that you are checking the Always use the selected program to open this kind of program box when using Open with for the PPS and PPT files.

 

[subdla]

Thanks for the reply. Please generate a REG file or show me how to unassociate the programs offered as choices to open the PPS and PPT files. I have about 5, including Adobe Reader, which I accidently added. When they are gone, I will remove PPT 2007 and PPT 2010, and reinstall one - probably 2010. If I understand correctly, the system will take over and automatically associate PPS and PPT with Power Point Viewer. I see you are right, and Power Point Viewer is offered as one of the choices to open PPS and PPT (as well as the open office.org Impress). I even see Thunderbird as an option. So, in some accounts the option Power Point Viewer opens PPT2007 and in others it opens PPT 2010. It does not list Power Point Viewer 2007, so somehow it does not always know which to open. The registry must store individual programs links for each account.

 

[Brink]

Alden,

The tutorial below can help show you how to unassociate file extensions of your choice to no longer have a program set to open them with.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/91920-unassociate-file-extention-type.html

If a program is not listed in "Open with", you should be able to click on "Browse" and navigate to the program's exe file to select it and have it available afterwards.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/69758-default-programs.html

 

[subdla]

Hi Shawn,

Your program worked, and it unassociated my PPS files. I wanted to remove recommended programs from the "open with" dialog, and to fix an update problem with Powerpoint Viewer 2007. Doing a bit of research on Vista’s Registry structure, I discovered that there are five registry keys that have the potential to control the list of programs that display on the Open With submenu:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.xxx\OpenWithList
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.xxx \OpenWithProgIDs
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xxx\ OpenWithList
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.xxx\ OpenWithProgIDs
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\PType\OpenWithList

With this, I was able to unassociate the Adobe program in the "open with" recommended list. I was able to fix Powerpoint Viewer by using the Micosoft Fixit program for updates that don't work found at:
Fix the problem with Microsoft Windows Update that is not working

Alden

 

[Brink]

That's great news Alden. Thank you for posting back with your results and solution.

 

[dukeofmetal]

A request to follow, but first I would like to tell you these fixes are probably the THE most helpful tutorials/fixes I've ever come across. So many of the posted fixes out there are "hit & miss" at best. Yours are 100% solid, thanks dude.

I have a gracious request for 2 association types : flv, and mp4. Thanks my friend, if these can even be done, I'm uncertain.

 

[Brink]

Hello Dukeofmetal, and welcome to Vista Forums.

MP4 added to the list.

FLV files are not associated to be opened by any program by default in Vista. Usually you would need to install a program like RealPlayer that supports playing FLV files.

If you like, the Default_flv.reg file attached below will unassociate FLV files.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[xraiderv1]

well.... I recently did a reinstall of firefix to verify some odd behavior on a website, and it fixed my html icon display, this was about two months ago.

so.. I download some fanfics as html files today.. lo and behold.. blank icons again.

I'm going to load my backup profile on windows tomorrow, to see if maybe its just profile specific... I will point out the other computer in the household is running an identical software setup, I can verify both computers are free of viruses or other malware.. I have experienced hardware failures on this machine.. is it possible its something on the harddrive that is causing this?

 

[Brink]

Hello xraiderv1,

You might check in Default Programs to see if setting Firefox is set as the default program with all of it's associations set to it.

If you wanted it with Internet Explorer, then the HTM and HTML downloads in this tutorial on the first page should sort it for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[xraiderv1]

ya.. it looks to be a repeat of what happened before.. to the T...

doesnt seem to be affecting anything else but it is annoying.. I should be able to verify if its profile specific or not tomorrow when I boot up.

 

[stimpyaw]

It would be great for future users that come across this page if all the "defualts" where in one zip'd file.

 

[jack of some]

Hi,
I just wan't to know,
when you right click a .json file in vista, then properties,
what does it say it opens with there,
I opened a .json file with some program and forgot to untick the always open with box.
thanks, jack.

 

[Brink]

Hello Jack.

By default, there's not a program associated to open .json files in Windows.

Here's some more info about them though.

File Extension .JSON Details

JSON - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[jack of some]

Brink, that info sorted out my problem.
thanks, jack.

 

[Brink]

Great news. I was hoping it would.

 

[AndyTampa]

I've got a slightly different but related problem and I'm hoping you can help. I might have mentioned this problem in another thread about something else but I have a little clearer detail now. Today, I saved an image from the internet to my computer. It was a .jpg file. In the save window, it said the filetype was "NeroPhotoSnapViewer (*.jpg,*.jpg)". I uninstalled Nero years ago. There is no mention of "Nero" or "PhotoSnap" anywhere in the registry. I even searched for the ROT13 equivalent. In Default Programs, Windows Photo Gallery is associated with .jpe, .jpg, and .jpeg and those extensions are appropriately set to Windows Photo Gallery in the File Associations window. I applied the appropriate REG file in this thread, but it didn't help. Any thoughts?

 

[Brink]

Hello Andy,

Just a few questions.

Did you restart the computer after merging the .reg file for each affected file type?

Were you logged in to an administrator account when you merged the .reg file(s)?

Do your .jpg images actually open in "Windows Photo Gallery", and is just what is showing for the file type?