Restore Default File Type Associations in Windows 10  

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    Restore Default File Type Associations in Windows 10

    Restore Default File Type Associations in Windows 10

    How to Restore Default Apps for File Type Associations in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Customization
    13 Aug 2022
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Restore Default Apps for File Type Associations in Windows 10


    A default app is the program that Windows uses automatically when you open a particular file type or protocol.

    Default app associations for file extensions are a per user setting by default, so you will need to be signed in to the user account you want to restore the default associations of a file extension for.

    This tutorial will show you how to restore the default registry entries and app associations of a file extension type or protocol of your choice in Windows 10.

    This can be helpful for example when a file extension type opens with the wrong app by default.


    Contents

    • Option One: To Reset All File Associations to Microsoft Recommended Defaults
    • Option Two: To Restore Specific File Type or Protocol Association to Default






    OPTION ONE

    To Reset All File Associations to Microsoft Recommended Defaults


    This option will reset all file type and protocol associations to the Microsoft recommended defaults for only your user account.







    OPTION TWO

    To Restore Specific File Type or Protocol Association to Default


    This option will reset the associations, icon, and registry entries of the downloaded file type or protocol back to default.

    The list of default file extension and protocol associations available to download in the table below is just a start for now, and is a work in progress. I will constantly be adding more to the list, but if you need one that is not yet listed, then please post a request for it. I'll be happy to get it added to the list.


    1 Click/tap on the link of the file type or protocol in the table below that you would like to restore the default associations of to download its .reg file.

    2 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

    3 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

    4 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

    If you are signed in as a standard user account, then you will also get a Cannot import type error. Just click/tap OK for it. The part of the downloaded .reg file that is responsible for all users can only be successfully merged by an administrator account. The downloaded .reg file will still restore the default associations for your account.

    If the .reg file is not able to Merge, then double check in Default Apps to make sure that the .reg file extension has its Current Default program set as Registry Editor (C:\Windows\regedit.exe). Afterwards, try merging the .reg file again.


    5 Sign out and sign in, or restart the computer to apply.

    6 If you are logged in as a standard user and this still does not help, then have the administrator also merge the needed .reg file for the listed file extension or protocol below while logged into their administrator account.

    7 When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

    If you would like to download all available file extensions from the table below at once, here's a ZIP file of them.

    Download




    File Type or Protocol Default App Description
    ani Animated Cursor
    AudioCD Audio CD protocol associations
    avi Movies & TV Audio Video Interleave (AVI) files
    bak Usually used to rename a file extension of a file with to make it a backup copy.
    bat Windows batch file
    bin BIN file
    bmp Photos Bitmap image file
    cab Cabinet file
    chm Microsoft HTML Help Executable Compiled HTML Help file
    cmd Windows Command Script
    com MS-DOS Application
    crl Crypto Shell Extensions Certificate Revocation list
    css Notepad Cascading Style Sheet document
    cur Cursor
    dat Generic data file created by a specific app; typically accessed only by the app that created the file; may contain data in text or binary format; text-based DAT files can be viewed in a text editor.
    dds DirectDraw Surface (DDS_ file
    diagcab Diagnostics Troubleshooting Wizard Troubleshooting Pack Cabinet file
    Directory Directory protocol associations
    divx Movies & TV DivX video file
    dll Application extension
    Drive Drives
    epub Microsoft Edge Electronic publication file (aka: eBook)
    exe Executable application files
    flac Grove Music A FLAC file is an audio file compressed in the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) format, which is an open source lossless audio compression format. It is similar to an .MP3 file, but is compressed without any loss in quality or loss of any original audio data.
    Folder All folders except library
    gif Photos Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) image files
    htm Microsoft Edge HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) document files
    html Microsoft Edge HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) document files
    http Microsoft Edge URL: HyperText Transfer Protocol
    ico Photos Icon file
    ics Calendar Calendar file
    img CD or DVD image file
    inf Notepad Setup information file
    ini Notepad Configuration settings
    iso Disk image file
    jpe Photos Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) image file
    jpeg Photos Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) image file
    jpg Photos Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) image file
    js Microsoft Windows Based Script Host JavaScript file
    json A JSON file is a file that stores simple data structures and objects in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format, which is a standard data interchange format. It is primarily used for transmitting data between a web application and a server. JSON files are lightweight, text-based, human-readable, and can be edited using a text editor.
    lib Library file
    library-ms Libraries
    lnk Shortcut
    log Notepad Text document file that Windows writes a record of events to.
    lst Text file that contains data.
    mailto URL:MailTo Protocol
    mov Movies & TV Movie file
    mp3 Groove Music MP3 sound format file
    mp4 Movies & TV MPEG-4 movie file
    mpeg Windows Media Player Movie clip
    mpg Windows Media Player Movie clip
    msc Microsoft Management Console Microsoft Common Console Document
    msi Windows Installer Windows Installer Package
    msp Windows Installer Windows Installer Patch
    msu Windows Update Standalone Installer Windows Update Standalone Package
    mui Multilingual User Interface files are resource files that are used by Windows. The MUI files contain resources that allow you to change your Windows interface to display different languages.
    Open with - > Choose default program This is for what opens when you right click on a file, click on Open with, and click on Choose default program
    Package Resource package file.
    pdf Microsoft Edge Portable Document Format (PDF) file.
    png Photos Portable Network Graphics (PNG) is a bitmap compression method for image files. PNG supports 16.7 million colors, it is lossless and also supports index color, grayscale, true color, transparency, and is streamable. It is thus the best compression method (better than GIF or JPEG) for use on the web.
    ps1 Notepad Windows PowerShell Script
    RDP Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc.exe) Remote Desktop Connection
    reg Registry Editor Registration entries
    res Resource file
    rtf WordPad Rich Text Document file
    scr Screen saver
    sys System file
    svg Internet Explorer Scalable Vector Graphics document
    theme Personalization CPL Windows theme file
    themepack Personalization CPL Windows theme pack file
    tif Windows Photo Viewer Tagged Image files Format.
    tiff Windows Photo Viewer Tagged Image files Format.
    txt Notepad Text document file
    url Internet Browser Internet shortcut
    vbs Microsoft Windows Based Script Host (wscript.exe) VBScript Script File
    vhd Virtual Hard Disk image file
    vhdx Hyper-V Virtual Hard Disk image file
    wav Groove Music Wave audio file
    webm Movies & TV A WEBM file is a compressed video saved in the WebM format, an open, high-quality video standard.
    wma Groove Music Windows Media Audio file
    wmv Movies & TV Windows Media Audio/Video file
    xml Internet Explorer XML Document
    xps XPS Viewer XPS Document
    zip Compressed (zipped) folder


    That's it,
    Shawn Brink






  1. Posts : 147
    Windows 10 x64
       #1

    Not sure this is the right place for it (maybe another tutorial?), but here is another trick about default file-type associations. If you want to save your all your current associations to a file:

    dism /online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:C:\PATH\TO\FILE.xml

    If you want to restore your associations as the new default associations for new users:

    dism /online /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:C:\PATH\TO\FILE.xml

    This is really helpful when you Sysprep a machine because Sysprep wipes out your associations so that all new users get the Microsoft-default associations. You would make all your file-type associations, run the above command before Sysprep, and run the second command after Sysprep. All new users would then get, by default, the file associations that you originally set and saved to a file.

    Not sure why Microsoft made this so convoluted, but the above commands are the 100% Microsoft-sanctioned way of doing it now.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Thank you. Yeah, that would be good for a new tutorial to backup and restore file associations. :)

    New tutorial: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8...s-windows.html
    Last edited by Brink; 22 Jul 2015 at 12:27. Reason: update
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Home
       #3

    DAT to BAK


    Brink said:
    Thank you. Yeah, that would be good for a new tutorial to backup and restore file associations. :)

    New tutorial: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8...s-windows.html
    Hey Brink, I opened a file (tw10428.dat) with Microsoft word instead of renaming it to a BAK file.

    If you are able to add a BAK file to your list of downloads it would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks for all of the hard work and sensitivity you've put into this.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Hello JuicyTang, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

    bak added.

    Would you need one for .dat instead then?
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Home
       #5

    Brink said:
    Hello JuicyTang, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

    bak added.

    Would you need one for .dat instead then?
    Well the original file was in the .dat format but I'm trying to change it to a .bak. Doing so will allow me to revert French language to English on the program I installed. I believe...
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Bak was added to the list, but it will unassociate bat files if it will help.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 3
    Windows 10 Home
       #7

    Thanks again, just opened the program and it has miraculously changed from French to English, no clue how it happened, but not complaining .

    Anyways, I'm sure I'll need to use that .bak file sometime or another .
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Great news. :)
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 26
    Windows 10 Pro
       #9

    PNG.

    I am having a very difficult time trying to be able to fix stuff so that I can see thumbnails of PNG files in Windows Explorer. Ugh.

    Thank you for your work,
    edsager
      My Computer


 

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