Reset the Always ask before opening this type of file setting

When downloading files using Internet Explorer, you may see the Open/Save confirmation box (as shown below) for certain file types. If you uncheck the Always ask before opening this type of file check box, the preference is saved in the user part of the registry. Also, the configuration is stored in a separate registry value for each file type.

Here is how to reset the Open/Save choice for a specific file type or all file types in Internet Explorer.

For example, if you download a Word 2003 file from a Web site and uncheck the above option. the registry is updated with the following registry entry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\AttachmentExecute\{0002DF01-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Value name: Word.Document.8
Value type: REG_NONE

Where Word.Document.8 is the ProgID for .doc file types. Examples of other ProgIDs are txtfile, WinZip, xmlfile, wmvfile and so forth.

You need to edit the registry in order to reset the Open/Save choice made earlier in Internet Explorer.



  1. Click Start, type Regedit.exe and press ENTER
  2. Navigate to the following branch:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\AttachmentExecute\{0002DF01-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
  3. In the right-pane, right-click on the appropriate entry and choose Delete
  4. Exit the Registry Editor.

Resetting the option for all file types

To reset the Always ask before opening this type of file choice for all file types, you can accomplish this using the reg.exe command-line tool.

Open a Command Prompt window (CMD.EXE) and type:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\AttachmentExecute\{0002DF01-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}" /va /f

That’s it!


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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

5 thoughts on “Reset the Always ask before opening this type of file setting”

  1. It works for Word(.doc) but not for text(.txt).
    For text file, “Always ask before opening this type of file” check box is not available in the File download dialog box at all.

    Reply

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