Hosed up file association for .exe files!

[Mark Phelps]

Sorry if this is in the wrong subforum, but I didn't see a place for it ...

Was being careless (yeah, I know, STUPID of me!) and accidentally clicked on Notepad to open an .exe file. NOW, every EXE file opens in Notepad, and not surprisingly, almost nothing works. I'm posting this from a different machine.

Even safe mode offers no relief as it uses the same file associations.

I can't run any file managers or even Explorer because they're ALL .exe files.

So, is there any way from the command line to remove the association of Notepad from .exe files?

 

[zigzag3143]

Sorry if this is in the wrong subforum, but I didn't see a place for it ...

Was being careless (yeah, I know, STUPID of me!) and accidentally clicked on Notepad to open an .exe file. NOW, every EXE file opens in Notepad, and not surprisingly, almost nothing works. I'm posting this from a different machine.

Even safe mode offers no relief as it uses the same file associations.

I can't run any file managers or even Explorer because they're ALL .exe files.

So, is there any way from the command line to remove the association of Notepad from .exe files?

You just need to reset the file assaociations of the exe files. look here for instructions http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html?ltr=D


hope this helps

ken

 

[Mark Phelps]

ken:

You're great!! I tried assoc and ftype from a command prompt, but nothing seemed to happen once I booted back into Seven desktop.

It was a bit tricky cause I haven't done command line stuff in a LONG time, but I was able to get the .reg file onto the Desktop and Merge it.

Now, I'm going through ALL the apps having to repair the Icons.

Thanks again. Saved me from having to restore from a backup.

 

[harpua]

Also using system restore to restore to a point in time before you made that erroneous click would have saved you a lot of work. This is another example of the kind of thing system restore is really great at fixing. Good idea to make sure system restore is operational on your system partition for the future.

 

[Hakon]

Also:
start > run > type in command.com and launch regedit from there

then find HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command
the (Default) string value should be:

"%1" %*

 

[Mark Phelps]

Also using system restore to restore to a point in time before you made that erroneous click would have saved you a lot of work. This is another example of the kind of thing system restore is really great at fixing. Good idea to make sure system restore is operational on your system partition for the future.

While I appreciate the suggestions, I've personally found System Restore to be a complete waste of time. The few times I needed it, it failed me.

So, instead, I do regular full-image backups. Those have ALWAYS worked when I needed them.

 

[harpua]

I do those too. Clones as well as compressed image backups. You just reminded me it's time to do another clone.

But I don't know when you last tried system restore but it seems to be very reliable in W7. I've used it several times to fix minor stuff like the issue in this thread and it hasn't failed me yet in W7. However, I never said and most certainly do not contend that it is a substitute for a true and complete back up strategy.

 

[Mark Phelps]

OK, to be fair, I haven't actually tried it in Seven, only in Vista and prior. So, it could be more reliable in Seven.