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How to Enable / Disable “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” Option in Open With Dialog Box?

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Whenever we use “Open With” option to open a file in Windows, it shows a dialog box containing a list of installed programs to choose from. There is also a checkbox “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” given at the bottom of this dialog box which is used to set the selected program permanent to open that file type.

Sometimes it gets irritating when we accidentally select a program from the list and click on “OK” button. It sets the selected program as default to open that file type which adds some extra work to our life.

So here I’ll tell you a simple registry trick to permanently disable this checkbox:

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For Windows XP:

Method A:

1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\openas\command

2. In right-side pane, change value of “Default” key to as following:

%SystemRoot%\system32\rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1 %2

NOTE: We have only appended %2 at last of default value. You can use any number from 2-9.

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3. Exit registry editor and try to open “Open With” dialog box. You’ll find that the checkbox is disabled now as shown in following screenshot:

Open_with_disabled_XP.jpg

Method B:

1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies\Explorer

If the “Explorer” key is not present, create it manually.

2. Now in right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoFileAssociate and set its value to 1

3. Exit registry editor and try to open “Open With” dialog box. You’ll find that the checkbox is disabled now as shown in following screenshot:

Open_with_invisible_XP.jpg

For Windows Vista and Later:

Method A:

1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\opendlg\command

2. In right-side pane, change value of “Default” key to as following:

%SystemRoot%\system32\rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1 %2

NOTE: We have only appended %2 at last of default value. You can use any number from 2-9.

3. Exit registry editor and try to open “Open With” dialog box. You’ll find that the checkbox is disabled now as shown in following screenshot:

Open_with_disabled.jpg

Method B:

1. Type regedit in RUN dialog box and press Enter. Now go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies\Explorer

If the “Explorer” key is not present, create it manually.

2. Now in right-side pane, create a new DWORD value NoFileAssociate and set its value to 1

3. Exit registry editor and try to open “Open With” dialog box. You’ll find that the checkbox is completely removed now as shown in following screenshot:

Open_with_invisible.jpg

NOTE: As you can see, when we use Method A to disable the checkbox, the “Open With” dialog box doesn’t show recommended programs list which it does when we use Method B. Also if you see the last screenshot of Windows Vista, the Method B totally remove the checkbox instead of disabling it.

BONUS TIP: This tutorial can also be used in reverse condition. e.g. if this checkbox is already disabled in your Windows and you want to enable it, then you can remove the %2 mentioned in Method A or set value of DWORD value to 0 as mentioned in Method B.

Published in: Troubleshooting Guides, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

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Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  2. I accidentally set the “open with” option to System 32 after setting it to Notepad on a .001 File when trying to work with roms. Any help on how to get it back to opening with Windows Shell Common DLL?

  3. Dear,

    I need my .DLL files and .OCX files to be always opened with Microsoft Register Server (regsvr32.exe). Whenever I right click on .dll or .ocx file I select open with Microsoft Register Server and I select “always use the selected program to open this kind of file”, but when I check next time I found “always use the selected program to open this kind of file” is deselected.
    How to have .dll .ocx always to be open with regsvr32.exe. I found the same working with windows 7 (If I select, it remain same) but not with windows XP Pro SP3 – please help.

  4. On a similar note . . .
    The “always use the selected program” option just came up totally missing from my Open With dialog box one day (Win7, Office 2003). I tried to regain it using the reverse of methods A and B with no luck. Any ideas? Gracias.

  5. I have a problem with file association.I accidentally opened a .c file with notepad .I don’t want it or any of the files of same type to be associated.I have deleted and download requested file numerous times and still is associated with notepad..please help..by the way the file I need is a midi mapper for my controller.

  6. How do I delete or undo the “open with” preferences in MS Office and Excel. I accidentally click yes in both of those programs recently and now I’m stuck.

  8. thanks for this info though my win7 refuse to even open the regedit command from the run command prompt it keep saying ‘application not found’. I even browse the run command and manually select from the window ‘c:\windows\regedit.exe’ still thesame. what next sir?

    all my programs now keep opening with my Mozilla Firefox web browser. I decided to uninstall the Firefox then all the program except few turned to unknown file, and each time I try opening them they say: application not fou . what do I do now that I can’t run the regedit?

  10. ” Always use the selected program to open this kind of file ” was greyed out but now working perfectly … Many thanks to ASKVG !!!

  11. I didnt uncheck a ALWAYS use box now when i try to upload from my camera it goes straight to microsoft office home I dont want that page HELP

  12. i’ve accidentally click on

    open with same program always use selected program to open this type of file

    with .rar files and used zip the actual zip program, and now i can open any of my .rar files

    please help :'(

  13. ^^ Open WinRAR program and open its Settings. There you’ll get option to re-associate RAR and other filetypes with it.

  14. What I would like to do is REMOVE THE ASSOCIATION ENTIRELY for a particular filename extension that has an opening application associated with it. For example I have a number of files of different types, all with the extension “.11” as part of their filenames. I recently “opened with” one of them with Word, and forgot to uncheck the “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” box. Now, of course, my Windows 7 machine wants to open every .11 file with Word instead of asking me what application I want to use, which is very irritating. I’ve been looking about the office for a Time Machine and a baseball bat so I can go back and stop myself from doing it in the first place, but to no avail (I found a golf club but no time machine). And I can’t figure out how to undo the association without a time machine. It is easy to associate a DIFFERENT APPLICATION with my “.11” files (e.g. using “Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Default Programs\Set Associations”), but I can’t see how to negate the association altogether (i.e. get back to where I was before). BTW I am plucking up my courage to try your Method B for ensuring this will never happen again. I have never touched my Registry before; but, if your method works, it corrects (albeit imperfectly) a design defect in Windows which has been present since at least Win95.

  15. I have a better, Non Risky solution that is simpler than you might think. Go to default programs in windows, then click “Set default programs.” After that, you should see winrar at the bottom. Click on it and click the “set program as default program” button. After you do that, all your .rar files will be converted back to winrar.

  17. Can someone help me out here, I accidentally selected an application to open rar files that doesn’t open rar files, is there any way to deselect this application on Windows 10?

  18. ^^ Open WinRAR or 7-Zip or whatever app you are using to open RAR files. Now open its Settings and enable RAR file extension. It’ll again set that app as default to open RAR files.

  19. I have a similar problem. I tried a program named “ParetoLogic PC Health Advisor” and it replaced the standard “open with…”dialog.

    Now, after uninstalling it, I’m no longer able to use the “open with…” dialog. The entry is present in every file context menu. But when I try to choose another program to open a file with, I get an error message saying that there is no program assigned to open this file. But that’s not true, as I can still open the file with the standard program that is assigned or any program from the “open with…” list. The only thing that is not working is the dialog box.

    Butt when I try to open a file without a file-extension the “open with…” dialog box opens as expected.

    I googled over and over, but I can’t find anything about this. Finally I found this site here and I hope that somebody is maybe able to help me out with this.

    I’m running Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (64-bit)

  21. Robert Fisher – don’t fear the reg. Get regjump.exe, create a shortcut called rj (.lnk) in system32 (or a sub-folder, like me, ie mySysLinks)

    Now you can RUN: rj [path]
    regedit will open. There’s much better tools out there (for moving/copying keys).

    RegScanner will help you find stuff. Keep a log, and backup.

    Re associations, try checking HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\

    Look for the .11 (and other) file types, delete the UserChoice key to remove app-association.

    FFR, hold shift when right-clicking a file, and you might have an openwith option…

    Aside from disabling the option to EVER associate, AFAIK there’s no way to untick the default ‘always open’… Nirsoft has a FileTypesMan app that’s very good, there’s also DefaultProgramsEditor that might help

    https://www.askvg.com/filetypesman-free-alternative-to-windows-default-file-type-option/
    https://www.askvg.com/default-programs-editor-yet-another-free-alternative-to-windows-default-file-type-option/

  22. @VG – Thanks for your response.
    I already tried to repair system files using Tweaking – Windows Repair, but it didn’t work. So I will try the method you mentioned, too and will let you know if it fixed the problem. Thanks …

  23. Update – Still no luck. First I tried the sfc /scannow command just like described in the tutorial, but after a restart it was still not working.

    As I already tried to re-produce this weired issue on a VM (unfortunately without succes) and compared the registry keys – which are all fine, I tried replacing the shell32.dll with the original file from a Windows 7 ISO. But even if I was able to replace the shell32.dll by booting from the DVD and using robocopy on the command line, the problem still remains.

    Do you may have any other idea what could cause this odd issue?
    I’m really clueless… o.O

  25. @VG – Damn…
    The solution was right here on this site and I just didn’t see it. 😀
    Also if I compared the registry keys I thought they could cause this issue, I just compared the wrong keys.
    Actually I was looking for the keys under [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Open With] and [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{09799AFB-AD67-11d1-ABCD-00C04FC30936}]

    But the problem wasn’t there but under [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\]. The shell key and all the sub-keys were actually missing. Now that I just exported the keys from the VM and imported them into my registry the problem is resolved. (y)

    Thanks for pointing me into the right direction! Great tutorial btw…. Thanks!

  27. Running Windows7, 64-bit, home premium.
    My right-click context menus have become horribly bloated. Do you know of a methodology–presumably something involving modifying registry keys–to remove entries from context menu(s).
    Thanks.

  30. I know it’s a long time since windows XP and I really missed them, cause even if we used to click OK and associate all the files with the”Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” checked by default, it was soooo simple to disassociate them… but now with the windows 10 I made this mistake and I have to run and search through registry to delete the key, as there is NO WAY to completely disassociate it from settings or properties.
    So is this working for windows 10? I really want to find a way to keep the bloody option unchecked by default as I always do this in hurry…
    Thanks in advance!

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