Solved cannot add program to Open With menu

[Bobobano]

Whenever I try to open a file not already associated with a program I go to "open with", unfortunately that doesn't seem to work in windows 7. Frakin 7

The program I open it with is not part of the list generated so I go to browse and select the program, the problem is that when I hit open that program doesn't get added to the list.

Is there anyone out there with the same problem/ a solution?

EDIT *PICS*

Step 1, I select the file I wish to open

Step 2, I right click and select "open with"

Step 3, the program I need to open it with is not listed so I select "Browse"

Step 4, I choose the program to open it with "Arduino" and select "OK"

Step 5, in this step I should be able to select "Arduino from a list" but it doesn't appear there.

I have tried it both with and without "always use selected program" being checked,
I have tried not selecting anything (by clicking on empty space) first.

Any thoughts?

 

[Petey7]

I don't think it adds it to the list, but you can click "always use the selected program for this kind of file." That way you don't have to do it everytime for that file type. Is that the kind of thing you were looking for?

 

[esha]

Yes, it worked like Petey7 said. Just check "Always use the selected program".
It will then be in the list, but the list may be minimized. Sometimes Win shows you only a few programs in that dialogue, and below their icons you'll notice a tiny plus sign (+). Click that to get access to all the other software you've assigned to files in the past.

 

[Petey7]

I found something on how to actually add it to the list posted by harpua. In the original thread, the person wanted to add Photoshop to the list.

"What usually works for me is to actually right click a file type you want the app (in this case, Photoshop) to be able to open from that "open with" menu and then from the "Open with" menu, select "choose default program" and browse for the .exe of the application you want to have on the menu (i.e., Photoshop) that is not currently there and select it. But make sure to uncheck the box to make this the default application for opening that type of file. After that, that program (in this case Photoshop) should always appear in the list when you use open with on a file of the type you just used for the above procedure. "

 

[Bobobano]

none of that works, the problem is that when I select browse and choose the program, it doesn't get associated with it. I'll edit the first posting to include pics

 

[whs]

How about changing the file association.

 

[Bobobano]

That does not work. The file association uses the same system as the "open with" option, which is not working.

 

[Petey7]

Why is take ownership in the context menu? Try clicking that, then use previously mentioned methods. Particularly what I said in my second post.

 

[Bobobano]

Why is take ownership in the context menu? Try clicking that, then use previously mentioned methods. Particularly what I said in my second post.

I did, that's whats in the pictures, it didn't work.

*edit*
I added "Take Ownership" when I was trying to speed things up trying to solve another error in Windows 7. This OS is infuriating

 

[Petey7]

I find it hard to believe that it wouldn't open with a program you told it to. If you only need certain files to open with that program, right click the file, click properties and look for something that says "opens with" and click Change. You might not be able add it to that list without playing with the registry directly (not recommended). Once you set it to open with that program all you have to do is double click the file as you would when normally opening any other files.

 

[Bobobano]

I find it hard to believe that it wouldn't open with a program you told it to. If you only need certain files to open with that program, right click the file, click properties and look for something that says "opens with" and click Change. You might not be able add it to that list without playing with the registry directly (not recommended). Once you set it to open with that program all you have to do is double click the file as you would when normally opening any other files.

tried that, it seems to use the exact same app as "open with" and it appears that it is that app that is causing the issue. It seems I may have to tweak the registry. Does anyone know which entry I would tweak?

 

[Petey7]

I'm not sure if anyone has actually done it, as you are the first I know of to have this problem. I found something that might help put you on the right track. Are you familiar with the registry? Have you tweaked it before? Some serious problems that would require reinstalling Windows to fix can be caused by messing around in the registry.

 

[Bobobano]

I am familiar with the registry and have tweaked it before, but only to change the login screen background.

 

[Petey7]

Go to this website and look for the section about removing programs from the open with menu.

I can't guarantee it will work, but you might be able to get it to by adding a folder instead of removing it. Once again, I can't guarantee it will work and I haven't tried to. I suggest making a restore point to be safe (I doubt you'll actually need it for this type of change).

Also, don't you love being able to change the login screen .

 

[alibaba508]

Adding to "open with" menu

Sometimes the program you want to open a program with is not listed in this menu. For example, to open older Power point files with Power Point 2010. To get it there:
step one: go to Control Panel - folder options and make sure that " show hidden files" is ticked - or you won't see the program.
step 2 - find the program executable file, - in this case Powerpnt.exe which you will fine with all the other office files in Program files (x86) folder.
step 3 -now you have located the file, you can find the file type you want to open, eg .PPT - select "open with" - go to browse and browse to the Program files (x86) folder and select your executable file - Powerpnt.exe for example.
Not only does this set the file type to open with Power point, but it now puts Power Point in the menu as one of the choosable programs.

good hunting!

 

[Bobobano]

Sometimes the program you want to open a program with is not listed in this menu. For example, to open older Power point files with Power Point 2010. To get it there:
step one: go to Control Panel - folder options and make sure that " show hidden files" is ticked - or you won't see the program.
step 2 - find the program executable file, - in this case Powerpnt.exe which you will fine with all the other office files in Program files (x86) folder.
step 3 -now you have located the file, you can find the file type you want to open, eg .PPT - select "open with" - go to browse and browse to the Program files (x86) folder and select your executable file - Powerpnt.exe for example.
Not only does this set the file type to open with Power point, but it now puts Power Point in the menu as one of the choosable programs.

good hunting!

I did that, many times. And for some programs it works, unfortunately it will not allow me to do so with the program I am trying to associate .pde files with.

 

[MayhemOfHell]

Good morning/afternoon Bobo,

Currently i am having the same issue as you and have spent the odd hour or so chasing it down to try and find out what the issue is. Which i believe i have come to an answer which seems to explain it in the most sense.

Basically in short, Windows has lost the Registered link with the .EXE program that you are trying to open them with. An example of this could be when you install an application vs when you download a self contained zip with a standalone exe.

So if this application you are trying to use has been copied across to the system by chance instead of being installed or something along these lines where at some stage windows may have lost some form of installation link. From what i have heard and seen from others, These seems to be a simple if no link, Windows can be dumb enough to ignore the direct command and say it cant find blender.

Registry and other methods like the "Open Always With" will work if the file assoc has been removed,changed or damaged. This on the other hand is a system/app conflict.

Other ways of testing these things are mentioned like the "Send To" which has been know to get pass this issue and another method is to either do a test "Run Command" or batch file and see what results you get there.

 

[Bobobano]

Makes sense, I'll try a fresh download and unzip and see if that helps any. If not I may need to try and manually create a reg key for it.

 

[Terra Branford]

Hey, I have this exact same problem. How would you go about manually creating a reg key for it?

 

[wysiwyg]

Why not use the shell:sendto way.

Type in Run "shell:sendto" (without the quotes) if you've a shortcut on your desktop simply Copy, drag into window and Paste.

That will fix it in the send menu