Problem setting program defaults

I am starting to believe that the "Microsoft Application Virtualization DDE Launcher" everyone references in regards to association is incorrect. I work on 10-20 different systems every day and not a single one of them provide the option to associate using "Microsoft Application Virtualization DDE Launcher".

Some one needs to cough up references on this.

From what I have gathered the "Microsoft Application Virtualization DDE Launcher" that is referenced is only for users that are using Click to Run because this is not included with MS Office Pro Plus 2010 32bit or 64bit.

baixiwei said:

t-4-2 said:

>>>> (I'm having the same problem with .xls and .xlsx also.)
What is the problem with them ?
Can't open them ?

Did you try ...
right click at xls or xlsx > Open With > Choose default program > select Microsft Application Virtulization DDE Launcher

or Start button > Default Programs > Assoiciate a file type ot protocol with a program > under Name, scroll down to xls > look across to the right > Current Default should be Microsoft Application Virtulization DDE Launcher
If not, click Change Program ... > select Microsoft Application Virtulization DDE Launcher > click OK when done.

Hope that will help.
( FYI ... xls and xlsx will be opened in Excel window.)

The problem for .ppt, .xls, and .xlsx is all the same: the default program isn't set to be what it should be, with the result that the files fail to open when I double click them, and I cannot find a way to properly set the default program.

What is Microsoft Application Virtualization DDE Launcher? It also does not show up on the list of options for default programs - is there some way I can navigate to this?

I am having the same problem, only in my case, I cannot set .PNG files to open with Adobe Fireworks by default, and when I go to the 'File Associations' to change the default program for .PNG and browse to the Fireworks.exe from "Program Files (x86) > Adobe > Adobe Fireworks CS6" and select it, it's as if I had canceled instead of selected it: it doesn't show in the other programs list for me to select under the file associations even though I just browsed to and selected it.

There is a definite bug here. I had thought that perhaps because it was defaulting to open the 'Program Files' instead of 'Program Files (x86)' that that might be a problem.

In my case, it wants to 'Preview' with Windows Photo Viewer (which is in the 'Program Files'), and when I go to 'Set Associations for a program' and try to uncheck PNG from the Windows Photo Viewer list, I am not allowed. Nor am I allowed to change the default action of the PNG file association to 'Edit' instead of 'Preview'.

I am at a loss for what to do here. If anyone has a registry hack I can put in play, please let me know.

I had the exact problem the original poster had. I inadvertently associated the wrong program with .ppt files. I could open PowerPoint & then open the file, but I could not open the file from the files icon.

I looked in the registry for the command to open PowerPoint under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. I then right clicked on the .ppt file icon & chose "Open with..." In the browse, I typed this line.....

C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office12\Oice.exe

& then hit the "go" arrow at the end of the address bar.

This opened a whole list of program folders & it contained the Office12 folder with powerpnt.exe in it. I chose powerpnt.exe as the default program to open the .ppt file & it is fixed!!!

I had the exact same problem as well. All the other extensions except .pptx opened in Powerpoint when I double clicked it. I'm using Microsoft PowerPoint 2010.
Found out that the problem is with corrupted Windows registry from this article: PPTX Is Not Associated With PowerPoint | Business & Entrepreneurship - azcentral.com. So, we need to make a little change in the registry editor.
1)Open Registry Editor by typing 'regedit' after opening the Start menu.
2)Expand Computer if it isn't already. Expand HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and search for the folder
".pptx". Select the folder ".pptx"
3)Double click the (Default). Type "PowerPoint.Show.12" under Value data. Click OK.
After doing this, go back to the file with the .pptx extension. Right click it. Select Open with. Microsoft
Powerpoint will be in the menu. After selecting it, it will be the default application to open the file with
the extension .pptx.
PS: I had a huge help from the previous reply. I found the right string by comparing Data values of folders ".ppt" and ".pps". The former had "PowerPoint.Show.8" and the latter had "PowerPoint.SlideShow.8". Now, all I had to do was check the Data value of ".ppsx", which was "PowerPoint.SlideShow.12". So, ".pptx" had to have a Data value of "PowerPoint.Show.12".

baixiwei said:

Thank you Irene for your reply!

Unfortunately this does not work. First, I assume you meant .ppt instead of .pps, right? (There is no problem with .pps files - they already correctly open in Powerpoint.) So, when I highlight .ppt and click "change program", PowerPoint is NOT listed as an option! The initial window shows something called "Microsoft Office Component" (the current default) and also another icon called "Microsoft Office", but setting it to either of these doesn't work. I have also tried clicking "browse" from that window and navigating to POWERPNT.exe but that has no effect (choosing POWERPNT.exe does not change the program default at all, it remains set at "Microsoft Office Component" and the PowerPoint icon still does not appear in the initial window listing options for program defaults). It seems like this "Microsoft Office Component" option has somehow overrruled the PowerPoint option which should appear there.

Any idea how to fix this? Much appreciated!

I almost went crazy trying to resolve this issue! My issue started with IE always asking me to let it be the default browser. I discovered that the .html file types were not assigned to a program and none of the usual step would allow me to assign it. I finally stumbled on the solution and feel obliged to enter it on this forum in order to save someone else's sanity.

Here are the steps I used:

1. Click the "Start" button, type "regedit" and press "Enter" while holding the "Ctrl" and "Shift" keys.
2. Click "Continue" in the confirmation window, or type the administrator password, if requested.
3. Navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes" in the Registry Editor. Right-click the extension under "Classes," select "Delete" and click "Yes" in the confirmation window.
4. Navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExt." Right-click the extension under the "FileExt" folder in the left-hand pane, and select "Delete." Click "Yes" in the confirmation window.
5. Test that the association has been removed by double-clicking it from Windows Explorer. If it opens an associated program, then continue the procedure. If it asks you to choose a program, then the association has been removed.
6. Hold the "Ctrl" key and press "F" to search the Registry. Enter ".EXT", replacing "EXT" with the actual extension, and press "Enter." Right-click any folder from the right-hand pane that is named after that extension, and delete it. This step may be unnecessary, but some programs place additional entries in randomly named folders.
7. Use the "Default Programs" dialog to set the association as normal.

After further investigation, I found that the original problem was caused by a badly coded program uninstall procedure file.