Newsletter Archives

• Microsoft officially acknowledges the ‘broken file association’ bug in Win10 versions 1809 and 1803

  Posted on November 9, 2018 at 08:20 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Chris Hoffman in Howtogeek explained the bug on Monday:

  Windows 10 won’t let you make Adobe Photoshop or Notepad++ a default application for images or text files. But you can make other applications, like IrfanView, VLC, or Google Chrome, your defaults…

  our theory is that this stopped working properly when Microsoft released the KB4462919 update on October 9. But we really don’t know.

  PowerShell maven Emin published a nifty 100-line PowerShell program that solves the problems sometimes.

  Sometime last night, Microsoft acknowledged the bug. The descriptions for the latest versions of Win10 1809 (version 17763.55, released Oct 9)and 1803 (versions 17134.345 and 17134.376, released Oct 9 and Oct 24) now include this admonition:

  After installing this update, some users cannot set Win32 program defaults for certain app and file type combinations using the Open with… command or Settings > Apps > Default apps.

  In some cases, Microsoft Notepad or other Win32 programs cannot be set as the default.

  In some cases, attempting to set application defaults again will succeed.

  Microsoft is working on a resolution and estimates a solution will be available in late November 2018.

  … which seems to indicate that we won’t get a fix next Tuesday, November’s Patch Tuesday.

  Excellent sleuthing by Chris Hoffman.

  Windows News, Windows Patches/Security file associations

• A complex solution to the ‘broken file associations’ problem in Win10 1803

  Posted on November 8, 2018 at 09:09 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Remember the bug publicized by Chris Hoffman in Howtogeek on Monday?

  Windows 10 won’t let you make Adobe Photoshop or Notepad++ a default application for images or text files. But you can make other applications, like IrfanView, VLC, or Google Chrome, your defaults…

  our theory is that this stopped working properly when Microsoft released the KB4462919 update on October 9. But we really don’t know.

  PowerShell guru and Admin’s admin Emin has come up with a solution.

  All I did actually is remove anything under the UserChoice, create my own ProgId under the OpenWithProgids key and create its related value under the OpenWithList list.

  … from which springs more than a hundred lines of PowerShell code. (Admittedly, that includes comments. )

  P.S. Don’t be put off by “de parvis grandis acervus erit.” The phrase has a fascinating history.

  Windows News file associations

• Hoffman: Win10 version 1803 file associations don’t work right

  Posted on November 5, 2018 at 15:53 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  How-To Geek Chris Hoffman just published this eye-opener:

  Windows 10 won’t let you make Adobe Photoshop or Notepad++ a default application for images or text files. But you can make other applications, like IrfanView, VLC, or Google Chrome, your defaults…

  our theory is that this stopped working properly when Microsoft released the KB4462919 update on October 9. But we really don’t know.

  I can verify the bug on 1803, and it isn’t broken on 1703 or 1809, as best I can tell. As Hoffman notes, it looks like Photoshop and Notepad++ are the main culprits, but I bet there are others.

  Give it a try and see what happens on your machine.

  Windows Patches/Security file associations