"Choose Program" not working (WXP-Home)

[tnvette]

When I right-click on a file and select "Open With" then "Choose Program" nothing happens. Does anybody know how to fix this? I have tried Google, Microsoft and of course WinGuides.

Thanks!

[report_2]

What is the particular file's extension and what program are you trying to open it with?

Or does it not matter? This occurs with any and all attempts of types.

[tnvette]

Any file. It gives an error "Windows cannot find '[filename]'...."

[report_2]

"Windows cannot find '[filename]'...."

Is the filename the program you are trying to open with or the file that you are trying to open?

Does the same thing happen when the filename is a single word and not two or more separated by spaces (eg. TestTwo.txt vs Test Two.txt)?

[dudecybetron]

hi,

i just want to know whether a file opens normally when u double click it.for eample does a txt file gets opened with notepad when u double click?

[tnvette]

The associations are ok. It doesn't matter what the flename is. For example, I want to load a jpg with a different program that isn't in the "open with" list or my associated program. If I want to do this with any file that is what happens.

[report_2]

Tnvette,

If you could answer the two questions I asked and the third asked by Dudecybetron I think it would help some.

I think when you say the associations are OK then you are answering Dudecybetron's question stating that when you doubleclick a file it opens in the expected program without any problems. Correct me if I am misunderstanding.

"I want to load a jpg with a different program that isn't in the "open with" list or my associated program."

Which program are you trying to open a .jpg file with that is not in your Open with program list or is not the normal program?

I am trying to determine if the problem is virus related or something as simple as a user problem meaning you may be expecting something that will not be. But, need to better understand the symptoms from different perspectives.

In your original post you say you click on Choose Program and nothing happens. I think I am not understanding that correctly because it makes me think that you have hit the button but never actually selected/highlighted a program of choice before hitting the button. If I understand correctly then nothing would be the result.

This is why I am asking questions.

[dudecybetron]

yeah,

please be more precise in stating ur problem.if u can xplain in more detail then it would be much easier to understand it.

[tnvette]

Ok, let's see if this will make sense. All the normal functions work: double-clicking a file opens it in the associated program, selecting "Open With" then a program that is listed works fine. What doesn't work is when I click on "Choose Program" the actual "Choose Program" dialog never appears.

Try this on your system, take any file, a .TXT file for example. Right-click on it then select "Open With" then select "Choose Program". What you get is a new window that shows a list of programs to choose from. Mine will not show that window at all, it just gives an error saying it cannot find the file that I right-clicked on to begin with.

[report_2]

Tnvette,

You have nicely defined the problem but unfortunately I do not have XP and can not duplicate the proccess. In many cases most Windows functions are the same over Win98 and XP but not this one. It does not sound like a virus though. When I click on Open With it is then that I see the Choose program dialog box with all the programs listed. To use another program not listed I click on a button labeled 'Other'.

I did find the following at:
<a target="_blank" href=http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306551&sd=tech#toc>http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306551&sd=tech#toc</a>

Quote:
How to Associate a Program with a File Type

To specify the program that opens files with certain file name extensions:

1. Click Start, click My Computer, and then locate and open the folder that contains the file type that you want to use.

2. Right-click the file that you want, and then click Properties.

File Types That Are Recognized by Windows

If the file type is recognized by Windows, the type of file and the program that is used to open the file appears next to Type of file and Opens with on the General tab.

To change the program that is used to open this type of file:

1. On the General tab, click Change. The Opens With dialog box appears. Use one of the following methods to select the program that you want to use to open this type of file:

- In the Programs list, click the program that you want.

- Click Browse, locate and click the program that you want to use, and then click OK.

- Click Look for the appropriate program on the Web to browse for the program that you want on the Internet.

2. Click to select the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file check box if it is not already selected.

3. Click OK, and then click OK.
End Quote

Does it work using the above method?

HTH

[dudecybetron]

this might also help i think.

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1135/


remove noopenwith value.

[Slash]

Same thing is happening to me. Except it's not doing nothing- it's opening Notepad.

The file, association, etc are completely irrelivant. Choosing any file, right clicking, and going to Open With -&gt; Choose Program... opens the selected file in Notepad. I can change the association as described above on the Properties sheet, but Choose Program... isn't working.

It should run:

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1

But it is running:

notepad.exe "%1"

I searched the registry, but couldn't find where the command for "Choose Program..." is stored. I run a pretty secure system, I don't have any viruses/spyware/malware/adware that could be breaking my computer. I suspect it was a registry cleanup program I recently ran, that's the only thing that could have messed something up.

I'm guessing that the original poster has the same problem as me except the Choose Program... is not defined to do anything. I'm sure if he runs:

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1

The "Choose Program..." window will open up. I will continue looking through the registry for a fix, but hopefully someone here has encountered this before and could help out :)

EDIT: By the way, I'm running Win2k Pro Service Pack 4<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Slash on 07/08/04 00:31.</FONT></P>

[Slash]

I used Registry Monitor (regmon - sysinternals tool) to see what Windows does when I right click and choose "Choose Program...". I changed the default command for opening "Unknown" file types. I assume when you do "Choose Program..." it pretends it is Unknown in order to open the Program List window. Here is what I did.

Goto:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\open\command

Set (default) to:
rundll32.exe shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1

Again, I don't know if this is the correct solution (maybe somene can check their registry and compare), but it seems to work fine for me :P

[lj50]

Try this H_KEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer\FileExts. Find the file extension in the list click on the plus sign highlight Open With. In the right pane highlight each entry and delete it. If you clicked OK when you selected a program but didn't clear the check mark in Always use the selected program to open this kind file then you will need to go to a folder and open Tools\FolderOptions\FileTypes find the extension and delete it.That's what I did. It worked for me.

[Eisenbart]

When I right-click on a file and select "Open With" then "Choose Program" nothing happens. Does anybody know how to fix this? I have tried Google, Microsoft and of course WinGuides.

Thanks!

I basically ran into the same problem on both of my XP machines: When I double clicked on a file with an unknown extension, Windows first let me choose a program to open it with. So I chose a program and then put a check mark for the option to always use the selected program to open this kind of file.

But neither did Windows open the file with the program I chose, nor did it remember which program I chose. I spend hours on Google looking for a solution, but nothing worked till I found out the cause of the problem was that the access rights for the following registry key were messed up, so I could not access it:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\

As I always work from a limited user account, I temporarily had to give myself administrator privileges to fix the access rights for the registry key mentioned above.

That fixed the problem for me! :) I am posting my solution here, in case anybody is running into the same problem!