{"id":1113,"date":"2007-03-09T13:28:21","date_gmt":"2007-03-09T07:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=1113"},"modified":"2024-04-27T13:47:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T08:17:40","slug":"exe-files-open-notepad-fix-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/exe-files-open-notepad-fix-association\/","title":{"rendered":"[Fix] .EXE Files Open in Notepad or Other App when Double-clicked"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: Double-clicking an .exe file may open Notepad or any other application, displaying junk characters. On some systems, the Open with dialog may appear when double-clicking .exe files. This article explains how to fix the .exe file association in Windows 10 and 11.<\/em><\/p>\n

Did you accidentally use the Default Programs or Open With dialog to associate .exe file types with an application like Notepad? This causes every program to open in that chosen application. Unfortunately, Windows does not provide an option to reset the .exe file associations. You need to fix the association settings using a .reg<\/em> file or script.<\/p>\n

After incorrectly associating .exe files using Notepad, Notepad opens whenever a .exe file is double-clicked. Here is an example:<\/p>\n

\"exe<\/p>\n

Or, you may see the “Open with” dialog when you run a program (.exe file).<\/p>\n

\"exe<\/p>\n

By default, the Open with option won’t appear in the context menu for executable files. The problem may have happened after the user employed a registry tweak that adds “Open with\u2026” to the context menu for all file types. Despite this problem, you should be able to launch applications by double-clicking on the data files. For example, you should still be able to launch the Microsoft Word application by double-clicking on a .doc or .docx file, but not by running winword.exe<\/em> directly or clicking the Word program shortcut.<\/em><\/div>\n

Resolution<\/h2>\n

To fix the .exe file association issue, delete the UserChoice<\/b> registry key. This has to be done using a REG file or a script, as trying to launch regedit.exe<\/code> directly would cause the same problem. Follow these steps:<\/p>\n

1) Run exefix_cu.reg<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Right-click exefix_cu.reg<\/strong><\/a> and choose “Save Link as” in your browser, and download the file to Desktop.<\/li>\n
  2. Right-click on the REG file and choose Merge<\/strong>. The .REG file clears the following key, which shouldn’t exist for .exe files.\n
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\FileExts\\.exe\\UserChoice<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    When you use the Open With dialog to associate .exe files with another application, it stores the settings in the above registry key under a value named Progid<\/b><\/i>. The Progid<\/b><\/i> data will contain the application’s exe file name (Applications\\Notepad.exe<\/i>, Applications\\iexplore.exe<\/i>, or a Programmatic Identifier such as txtfile<\/b>, jpegfile,<\/b> etc).<\/em><\/p>\n
    2) Run exefix.reg<\/h3>\n
    If the above fix doesn’t help, download exefix.reg<\/strong><\/a> (right-click and “Save link as” in your browser) and run it. Click Yes to confirm.<\/p>\n
    (The registry fix restores the .exe file association settings in Windows 10 and 11.)<\/p>\n
    Ignore<\/u> the following error:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    Cannot import exefix.reg: Not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system or other processes, or you have insufficient privileges to perform this operation.<\/pre>\n
    See if that fixes the .exe association settings.<\/p>\n
    Related article: How to Remove a File Association Using the Registry Editor?<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    Summary: Double-clicking an .exe file may open Notepad or any other application, displaying junk characters. On some systems, the Open with dialog may appear when double-clicking .exe files. This article explains how to fix the .exe file association in Windows 10 and 11. Did you accidentally use the Default Programs or Open With dialog to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[209,441],"class_list":["post-1113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-file-association","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8738,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/open-with-notepad-plus-right-click-menu-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":0},"title":"Add “Open with Notepad++” to the Right-Click Menu","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many users have replaced Notepad with Notepad++ as the default text editor on their computers. Others use Notepad++ only when needed, and launch it via the Open with menu and choose Notepad++ from the list of options. This post tells you how to add the Open with Notepad++ command to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Notepad++ right-click menu in Windows","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/open-with-notepad-plus-registry-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/open-with-notepad-plus-registry-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/open-with-notepad-plus-registry-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/open-with-notepad-plus-registry-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1009,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-error-system-information-cannot-open-this-nfo-file-xp\/","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":1},"title":"Error: System Information cannot open this NFO file","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":".nfo (also written .NFO or NFO, a contraction of \"info\", or \"information\") is a commonly used three-letter filename extension for text files that accompany various digital scene releases with information about them. NFO files are used to deliver release information about the media, such as the digital media title, authorship,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":".nfo file system information utility error","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/nfo-sample-file.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/nfo-sample-file.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/nfo-sample-file.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/nfo-sample-file.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5732,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/replace-notepad-text-editor-notepad-plus-association\/","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":2},"title":"How to Replace Notepad With Notepad++ or Other Editor","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"If you\u2019re looking at how to replace Notepad with Notepad++ or any third-party editor, this post explains how to do it. Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Let\u2019s see how you can replace Notepad with Notepad++ without replacing any system files. 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The latter might show you the following error: 'notepad' is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Windows"","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"cannot run programs without typing .exe extension pathext","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/pathext-fix-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/pathext-fix-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/pathext-fix-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1941,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-cannot-find-wuapp-exe-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1113,"position":5},"title":"Error “Windows cannot find wuapp.exe” And its Workaround in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In Windows 10, when you click Windows Update from the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, the error \"Windows cannot find wuapp.exe\" occurs. 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