Replace Notepad With Notepad++ or Any Other Text Editor of Your Choice

Notepad is a light-weight program suitable for users who need only very minimal text editing features. For advanced functionality, third-party editors like Notepad++ and Sublime Text are awesome with a lot of features built-in. If you’re looking how to replace the plain old Notepad with a third-party text editor of your choice (say, Notepad++), this post tells you how to do it.

Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Let’s see how you can replace Notepad with this utility without replacing any system files.

Note: Methods 2 & 3 below can be automated using REG files available at the end of this post.

Method 1: Associate Text Files (.txt) with Notepad++

Create a sample text document on the desktop. Right-click on the file and click Properties.

Click the Change button, select Notepad++ from the list of apps shown, and click OK.

If Notepad++ isn’t listed there, click “More apps” to show the extended list. Notepad++ may not be listed there if you’ve just installed it. If so, click “Look for another app on this PC” and manually browse the Notepad++ folder to select the executable. The default Notepad++ executable path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe

Double-clicking .txt files will now open Notepad++, and changing file association is sufficient for most users. However, some folks who have the habit of launching Notepad by typing notepad in Start Run dialog may want the same command to open Notepad++ instead. To accomplish that, follow Method 2 or 3.

Method 2: Redirect Notepad.exe App Path to Notepad++

When you type in a .exe name without the full path in the Run dialog, the Run dialog makes use of the App Paths registry key to find the full path to the executable. So, by changing the Apps Paths registry key, you can make Windows open Notepad++ when typing notepad in Run dialog.

• • Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and go to:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths

• • Create a subkey named notepad.exe if it doesn’t already exist.
  • In the right-pane, double-click (default) and its data as:

    C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe

    

  • Exit the Registry Editor.

Method 3: Replace Notepad with Notepad++ Using Debugger Registry Value

Windows provides a way to attach a “debugger” when a process starts. The debugger registry value can be used for redirection. Here we’ll discuss two options:

Option 1: Use NotepadReplacer program

NotepadReplacer software from Binary Fortress lets you replace Notepad the easy way! No registry edits needed; the program does that automatically.

Download the NotepadReplacer program and run it.

Choose the Notepad alternative (say, Notepad++) by browsing and selecting the executable, and complete the steps.

This program sets the debugger for Notepad automatically, redirecting it to “NotepadReplacer.exe”, a proxy program which then launches Notepad++ and passes the file name arguments to it.

Option 2: Using REG Command-line (without having to use a script)

From Notepad++ version 7.5.9 you can run the following command to make Notepad++ replace Notepad.

Start an elevated or administrator Command Prompt, and then run the following command:

reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe" /v "Debugger" /t REG_SZ /d "\"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Notepad++\notepad++.exe\" -notepadStyleCmdline -z" /f

Note that you may need to use “%ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\” to substitute for “%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Notepad++\” if you have Notepad++ 64-bit installed, or use other path if your Notepad++ is installed in a non-default location.

Use the the following comment to undo the replacement:

reg delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe" /v "Debugger" /f

Option 3: Using a Custom Vbscript

Don’t want to use a third-party proxying program to replace Notepad? No worries. We’ll use a tiny Vbscript to proxy or intercept the file name argument(s) used with Notepad.exe, and pass it on to Notepad++.

• Open Notepad, copy the following lines and paste them:

  Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
  If wscript.arguments.count <2 then
  	WshShell.run "notepad++.exe"
  Else
  	sCmd = "notepad++.exe " & """" & wscript.arguments(1) & """"
  	WshShell.run sCmd
  End If
  

• Save the file as npp.vbs
• Move the file to C:\Windows directory.
• Start the Registry Editor and go to:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options

• Create a subkey named notepad.exe
• Under notepad.exe key, create a string value (REG_SZ) named Debugger
• Double-click Debugger and set its data as follows:

  c:\windows\system32\wscript.exe "c:\windows\npp.vbs"

  

• Then, go to the following key:

  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\txtfile\shell\open\command

• Double-click (default) and change the value data from:

  %SystemRoot%\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE %1

  to the following:

  %SystemRoot%\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE "%1"

• Exit the Registry Editor.

Using the “debugger” method, a third-party program or script is necessary to flawlessly route calls for Notepad to a different text editor. Setting Notepad++.exe (in versions earlier than 7.5.9) as the debugger directly causes a little side-effect where Notepad++ attempts to “edit” the Notepad.exe binary everytime when you open a text file. Hence the need for the above script or 3rd party program.

Automate Methods Using REG files

Download replace-notepad.zip, unzip and run the appropriate REG file. There is also an undo.reg file provided if you want to reverse the changes made.

That’s it! After following one of the options under Method 3, Notepad++ opens whenever you open a text file, either by double-clicking on the file or when notepad.exe is explicitly launched either manually or by a program. Whereas if you followed Method 1 or 2, you can still launch Notepad by mentioning its full path in Run dialog, using shortcut or through other means.