When you attempt to open a .DOC file that came as a mail attachment in Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail, the following error may occur and the document does not open. This may happen even though you have Microsoft Word installed. Also, the same file may open correctly when saved to disk and then viewed. This article and the utility discussed below, are applicable for Windows® Vista and Windows® 7 systems with Microsoft® Word installed.

[Error Message]

This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Set Associations control panel.

To fix the problem, download DocFix.zip and save it to Desktop.

Unzip the contents (docfix.exe and readme.txt), and run the file DocFix.exe.

When you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Important: After running the fix, in some cases, you’ll need to open StartDefault ProgramsAssociate a file type or protocol… and reset .doc file type association for Microsoft Word even though it may be already associated with Microsoft Word.

If that does not fix the problem, see if repairing Microsoft Word helps.

Related Posts


Email SubscriptionPrefer an E-mail subscription?

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

13 Comments

  1. Audrey McVean
    said this on Friday, August 13th 2010 8:42 pm

    For some reason, the file would not extract properly. I have AVG running as anti-virus, and ran the file as Administrator. Any help would be appreciated. Microsoft .NET Framework comes up and says an attempt to perform an operation not allowed by the security policy.
    It says to contact system administration (which I am) or use Microsoft .NET Framework Configuration Tool. Don’t know where or how to do this.

    I am running Vista-32bit on an HP with lots of room on the hard drive, but I cannot get windows mail to open .doc opens everything else.

  2. Mejinks
    said this on Thursday, May 6th 2010 3:00 am

    This worked brilliantly. I’m having so many of these little issues with windows 7, I wonder if it was worth all the hassle of upgrading.

    Many thanks

  3. Zimmy
    said this on Tuesday, April 20th 2010 9:07 pm

    Yes, deleting .doc with Unassoc worked in Windows 7. I did not have to reassociate, it all worked immediately after deleting.

Leave a Reply