Vista File Associations

Righhhhhht...

Buy a tool to fix a bad design.  Uh no!

Question to Microsoft: 

Why would you reduce functionality?  My guess ... It was an attempt to overcome the stupid factor, but the reality is that grandma probably never bothered in the first place.  Now, by removing the power we once had, you've only succeeded at making something simple ... difficult [the new UI doesn't have the power of the previous version - now we have to edit the registry to get that] .

Thank you MS!  Sometimes you are the suck.

WHERE THE *   !*@&# is the delete button for file type associations.  Why did they take delete away from where its been for 10 years?  What on earth were they thinking.  Make a file type of .XYZ and associate it with notepad.  How do I get rid of it?  Oh yea I can change it so that IE opens it or anything thing else but why not a delete?  Even Assoc .xyz= didn't work.  It works for the built in types but not for custom ones!

Help I'm losing my mind.  Why would I want to go to the Registry every time I want to delete a file association!

Interesting. Worst case there is always HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts

While I don't know why they would remove the functionality to get rid of the file type, it doesn't seem to be all that big a deal. After all, the very fact that you want to delete the file type indicates you don't need to use it. If you aren't using it why would you care if it is there? What's a few bytes wasted in the grand scheme of things?

You cannot add a user specific extension either ... I was trying to do it the other day, and just could not find a way to do it in the UI.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article02-500

http://filext.com/faq/manage_file_extensions.php

There is also 2 keys in the classes root as well:(  The question is why do I have to go to the registry?

I have a plan (untested).

1) Create a blank file, rename it to .EXE and let the extension you want to remove associate with it.

2) Now delete the EXE and double click the file... if their UI behaviour is consistant, there's some chance you could find the association removed.

You may use an utility like Unassoc, or FileType Doctor:
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/231/1/An-utility-to-unassociate-file-types-in-Windows-Vista.html

http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/

ahinson wrote:

Why would you reduce functionality?  ...
Thank you MS!  Sometimes you are the suck.

1. Because MS UX Team knows better.
2. Number of "sometimes" is a little bit too big to call is "sometimes".

Windows Explorer in Vista is one big "bad design", except couple of useful features such as customizeable "favorite folders".

PS: Where are "Copy to/Move To folder" commands?!?! Yep, I can use registry hack to put them in context menu.

PPS: Why, bloody hell, useful "what-to-do-if-file-or folder-already-exists" dialog isn't integrated in standard file dialogs to replace stupid "overwrite?" dialog?

Type assoc .ext in the command prompt (elevated if it's a system-wide extension registration, naturally)

AndyC wrote:

Type assoc .ext in the command prompt (elevated if it's a system-wide extension registration, naturally)

Displays or modifies file extension associations

ASSOC [.ext[=[fileType]]]

  .ext      Specifies the file extension to associate the file type with
  fileType  Specifies the file type to associate with the file extension

Type ASSOC without parameters to display the current file associations.
If ASSOC is invoked with just a file extension, it displays the current
file association for that file extension.  Specify nothing for the file
type and the command will delete the association for the file extension.

This is nice but there's no way to edit an existing association.  You essentially need to remove it and add it back to change it.  The issue I find in that is the lack of a form to key you into what you need - because frankly you may not know.

ahinson wrote:



AndyC wrote: Type assoc .ext in the command prompt (elevated if it's a system-wide extension registration, naturally)

Displays or modifies file extension associations

ASSOC [.ext[=[fileType]]]

  .ext      Specifies the file extension to associate the file type with
  fileType  Specifies the file type to associate with the file extension

Type ASSOC without parameters to display the current file associations.
If ASSOC is invoked with just a file extension, it displays the current
file association for that file extension.  Specify nothing for the file
type and the command will delete the association for the file extension.

This is nice but there's no way to edit an existing association.  You essentially need to remove it and add it back to change it.  The issue I find in that is the lack of a form to key you into what you need - because frankly you may not know.

None wrote:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.1>assoc /?
Displays or modifies file extension associations

ASSOC [.ext[=[fileType]]]

  .ext      Specifies the file extension to associate the file type with
  fileType  Specifies the file type to associate with the file extension

Type ASSOC without parameters to display the current file associations.
If ASSOC is invoked with just a file extension, it displays the current
file association for that file extension.  Specify nothing for the file
type and the command will delete the association for the file extension.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.1>

What are you trying to say?

The original poster wanted to know how to delete a file association, and he's pointing out that the ASSOC command should do that. For whatever reason, however, it isn't working for him. Jumping into the registry or using a third-party tool looks like it's the only solution at this point.

 

ahinson wrote:

Righhhhhht...

Buy a tool to fix a bad design.  Uh no!

That's the only option remaining ATM (besides editing the registry). I certainly agree that the File types tab shouldn't have been removed. It's not a bad move.

Just go to regedit and look under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and remove the key with the extention you want removed.

evildictaitor said:

Just go to regedit and look under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and remove the key with the extention you want removed.

Thought I'd post the following since I just went through a few heartattacks ... all exe files suddenly became associated with Notepad; couldn't restore (because it would call up notepad; couldn't call up my reg editor (because it would call up notepad); and when I downloaded any fixes ... all but one did the same.  The one that worked came from Winhelponline in the form of

exefix_vista.reg

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
"FriendlyTypeName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\
  00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\
  32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
  00,2c,00,2d,00,31,00,30,00,31,00,35,00,36,00,00,00

[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\" %*"
"IsolatedCommand"="\"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas]

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

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex]

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

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.exe\UserChoice]


The only problem I now have is re-associating the proper icons to my exe files; currently they all have Notepad icons.