Solved Missing Registry Path - Roaming\OpenWith\FileExts\

[oniiz86]

I'm trying to disassociate the .srt file extension & for some strange reason this registry path is missing HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Roaming\OpenWith\FileExts\, I believe there are 3 paths I need to access, the other 2 registry paths are present, I haven't used any registry cleaners or messed with regedit, is there any possible way to restore this path?

 

[wither 2]

Which program on your system is associated with the .srt extension?

 

[oniiz86]

It was Subtitle Edit previously but now it is Notepad, I don't know if it represents the default behaviour of how Windows 7 treats .srt file extensions but I would like to restore the behaviour I had previously when no program was associated with .srt files, I would right-click an .srt file the context menu had 2 "Open" entries which I would like to get back, the first "Open" entry would bring up 2 options to browse my computer & the other to search the web, the second "Open" entry which was not a "Open With" entry gave me the ability to directly open the .srt file in Notepad, is anyone aware if that is normal Windows 7 behaviour?

 

[billmcct]

Use this:
FileTypesMan - Alternative to 'File Types' manager of Windows
You'll have to scroll almost to the bottom of page for download.

Find the ".srt" in the list right click and select "Edit Selected File Type" empty out the "User Choice" field and save.

Edit:
In the future when using open with you need to un-check the box for always use this program for this file type.

 

[wither 2]

In the registry, go here-

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.srt

Double click on it and open the "Open with" subkey. Delete all entries except the "Default.

If you wish, you could save the original settings first so that you could add them back in if this doesn't resolve the problem.

 

[oniiz86]

billmcct Thanks so very much for your assistance, I'll look into the utility
Thanks for that wither 2, the .srt reg key has 2 sub keys, "OpenWithList" with 2 entries, the first being "a" "notepad.exe" & the second entry "MRUList" "a" & for some strange reason the other sub key "OpenWithProgids" has only one entry "Subtitle Edit.srt", the Type is listed as REG_NONE & the Data mentions (zero-length binary value).
Is there any particular reason why I have this registry path completely missing it is not present at all HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Roaming\OpenWith\FileExts\, I gather my W7 Pro 64bit OS has become corrupted somehow, is the only way to restore it is with a reinstall or repair perhaps?

 

[wither 2]

You probably don't have that registry path because \Roaming..................doesn't exist. I checked both the registry and the Users"my user name"\AppData\Roaming............. path on Vista and Win 7 systems and neither exists. I don't know why you think the registry path should exist.

There should be a Default entry in the OpenwithList subkey. I suggested to delete all but the Default to solve your problem. On my Vista system, the "OpenWithProgids" isn't there and, on my Win 7 system I have no .srt extension in the list of extensions I guess because I've never tried to open a .srt file on that system.

Note that I'm not an expert on this stuff.

 

[oniiz86]

You probably don't have that registry path because \Roaming..................doesn't exist. I checked both the registry and the Users"my user name"\AppData\Roaming............. path on Vista and Win 7 systems and neither exists. I don't know why you think the registry path should exist.

There should be a Default entry in the OpenwithList subkey. I suggested to delete all but the Default to solve your problem. On my Vista system, the "OpenWithProgids" isn't there and, on my Win 7 system I have no .srt extension in the list of extensions I guess because I've never tried to open a .srt file on that system.

Note that I'm not an expert on this stuff.

I understand, I greatly appreciate the assistance, the reason why I was concerned about that registry path was because I came across this article here How to change or restore the default file associations in Windows - wintips.org - Windows Tips & How-tos claiming that in order to restore default file type associations, to seek out these 3 registry paths & delete the file extension entries.

 

[wither 2]

I suppose there may be some circumstance where that path is created but, I don't know what it is. Since those instructions are also for Win 8 and 10, it could be there.

I went searching the web on that subkey and, at the end of the instructions in this-

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...a4-4a1e-a113-d3c99bdcec30?tab=AllReplies#tabs

which is for Win 10, shows that subkey.

Did you try what I suggested?

 

[oniiz86]

Yes I did delete those entries within the "OpenWith" & OpenWithProgids" subkeys which I think did the trick but it did not restore the secondary "Open" entry in the context menu when right-clicking on the .srt file extension, I had to manually add the reg key for the .srt extension under "SystemFileAssociations" via this registry path here, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.srt\shell\open\command, I added "C:\Windows\notepad.exe" "%1" to the Default entry in the "command" subkey & now it works as it should, not sure why that path was missing as it was there previously but something must of went awry when I accidentally had Subtitle Edit to open .srt subtitles but it should've went back to it's previous behaviour when I removed all file associations, here is an image of how the context menu behaved previously with .srt file extensions when it had no default program but had a nifty shortcut to Notepad by selecting the secondary "Open" entry.

 

[wither 2]

I'm glad you've got what you were looking for. However, after deleting those registry entries, you could have just gone to Control Panel, Default Programs and associated Notepad (if that's what you wanted) with the .srt extension and then just open an .srt by doubling clicking on it.