WinXP SP3 Context Menu Problem 1

[edw0405]

The problem appeared suddenly, choosing "choose program" from the right-click context menu causes notepad to launch and try to display the file. I've tried it on avi files, wmv, zip, rar. All behave the same, Choose Program triggers Notepad rather than displaying the selection list. The problem was dealt with here years ago, none of the sugggested solutions solved the problem. All the files I've tried this on have correct file associations, but if I decide that I want to open an avi file with say Gomplayer, when I go for Choose Program notepad opens. Any help wouldbe appreciated.Thanks in advance.

 

[DrB0b]

This might be somewhat helpful as it shows you the registry entry that deals with "Open With".

http://www.mydigitallife.info/how-t...-from-open-with-or-recommended-programs-list/

"You don't know what you got, till its gone..
80's hair band Cinderella or ode to data backups???

 

[edw0405]

You're my hero of the day!!
When I opened your link, at first glance I thought it was over my head but I decided to open Regedit and look for Notepad. It lead to me solving the problem.

When the problem existed this is what the registry looked like:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown]
"AlwaysShowExt"=""
"QueryClassStore"=""
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown\shell]
@="!8OpenInNotepad"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown\shell\!8OpenInNotepad]
@="Open in Notepad"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown\shell\!8OpenInNotepad\command]
@="\"notepad.exe\" %1"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown\shell\openas]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown\shell\openas\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00, 25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,00,75,00, 6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,25,00,53, 00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00, 79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c, 00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,4f,00,70,00,65,00,6e,00,41,00, 73,00,5f,00,52,00,75,00,6e,00,44,00,4c,00,4c,00,20,00,25,00,31,00,00,00

With the problem solved it looks like this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown]
"AlwaysShowExt"=""
"QueryClassStore"=""
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown\shell]
@="openas"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown\shell\openas]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown\shell\openas\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00, 25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,00,75,00, 6e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,25,00,53, 00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00, 79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c, 00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,4f,00,70,00,65,00,6e,00,41,00, 73,00,5f,00,52,00,75,00,6e,00,44,00,4c,00,4c,00,20,00,25,00,31,00,00,00

Once I'd located the relevant entry in the registry and tested the effect of deleting each of the keys it was easy, I just looked in the registry on another computer and then exported/imported the "unknown" key and the problem disappeared.

Thank you very much.

 

[DrB0b]

Glad to help.

The only thing I will stress, which Im sure you did and as the article points out, is to make a backup of the registry file you are working with in case something goes wrong.

Glad to hear you got her sorted out!

"You don't know what you got, till its gone..
80's hair band Cinderella or ode to data backups???