Fix Open with “Choose another app” Error Program Not Associated

When you right-click a file, and select Open with… in a Windows 10/11 computer, the following error may appear:

This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Please install a program or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel.

Or if the Open with… menu expands and you click the Choose another app option in the submenu, the same error may be seen.

This happens if the following registry key, its subkeys, or some of its values are missing:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown

To fix the problem, download openwith-fix.zip, unzip and run the enclosed REG file openwith-fix.reg.

Note: This REG file is to be used in Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems only. For Windows XP, Vista, and 7 versions of this fix, check out this page.

Here are the contents of the REG file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown]
"AlwaysShowExt"=""
"TypeOverlay"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\DefaultIcon]
@=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,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,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,00,30,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell]
@="openas"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\InvokeDefaultVerbInOtherProcess]
"ProgrammaticAccessOnly"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\InvokeDefaultVerbInOtherProcess\command]
"DelegateExecute"="{e44e9428-bdbc-4987-a099-40dc8fd255e7}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\Open]
"MultiSelectModel"="Single"
"ProgrammaticAccessOnly"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\Open\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,00,4f,00,70,00,\
65,00,6e,00,57,00,69,00,74,00,68,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,\
00,31,00,22,00,00,00
"DelegateExecute"="{e44e9428-bdbc-4987-a099-40dc8fd255e7}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\openas]
"MultiSelectModel"="Single"
@=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,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,00,2d,00,35,\
00,33,00,37,00,36,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\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,00,4f,00,70,00,\
65,00,6e,00,57,00,69,00,74,00,68,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,\
00,31,00,22,00,00,00
"DelegateExecute"="{e44e9428-bdbc-4987-a099-40dc8fd255e7}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\OpenWithSetDefaultOn]
"MultiSelectModel"="Single"
"ProgrammaticAccessOnly"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\OpenWithSetDefaultOn\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,00,4f,00,70,00,\
65,00,6e,00,57,00,69,00,74,00,68,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,2d,00,6f,\
00,76,00,65,00,72,00,72,00,69,00,64,00,65,00,20,00,22,00,25,00,31,00,22,00,\
00,00
"DelegateExecute"="{e44e9428-bdbc-4987-a099-40dc8fd255e7}"
RELATED: Open With “Choose another app” Crashes Explorer

(Last tested on Windows 10 v21H2 and Windows 11 v21H2.)

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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.

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7 thoughts on “Fix Open with “Choose another app” Error Program Not Associated”

  1. Thanks a ton. I had been looking for a solution and nothing worked. then tried googling invokedefaultsverbinprocess and it worked!

    Reply

  3. Man! Thanks a lot! I was looking for solutions to my problem with the “choose another app”. Glad i trusted you bro great job! 🙂

    Reply

  4. thanks a million! i tried several other methods to no avail but this worked. i presume ccleaner’s registry cleaner did this to me but not 100% sure…

    Reply

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