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windows-7file-association

Windows 7 file extension association

I am referring specifically to windows 7.

I have code that associates a certain extension with my application as proposed by webJose on the following page: What registry keys are responsible for file extension association? (However i correctly write to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes instead of HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT as suggested)

The above works initially, or if there are no other programs associated with the extension. However after using the Windows 7 built-in "Choose default program..." (found under the file-right-click context menu under "Open with") it re-associates the extension with whatever new program you choose.

What happens at this point is that "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\\UserChoice" is changed by the system, and so the newly selected program takes over.

Running the above code, to regain control over the extension will not work. The only way to regain control, is by either:

  1. Editing the UserChoice -> Progid value, which is not allowed (neither programmatically nor using regedit.exe - access denied).
  2. Or deleting the UserChoice value and making sure your application is the first in the MRUList value under \OpenWithList (this can be achieved using regedit.exe but not programmatically)

My question is: Is there a way to achieve this programmatically? What registry values can be changed to regain control of an extension, after is associated with another program?

I know it might seem obvious that if a user through explorer sets the associated application to an extension, that it would be expected to do it the same way again to re-associate the extension to a different application.

The problem however is I have a button in my application that uses the above mentioned code to check for extension association with my application. Unfortunately with the above situation, my application displays a message confirming that the extension is already successfully associated when its not! So is there a way around this?

Solution

  • Deleting UserChoice should revert the default program to the standard file association keys (which starts with the ProgID in HKCU). Barring that you could also delete OpenWithList, which would be reverting with extreme prejudice.

    Edit: Check out Registry Key Security and Access Rights on MSDN, particularly the RegSetKeySecurity function. Remember that you'll need to grant yourself administrative control to the key before you can delete it.