Set windows default programs xp

However, attempts by an application to modify default association behaviors at a machine level post-installation will be unsuccessful. Instead, defaults must be registered on a per-user level, which prevents multiple users from overwriting each other's defaults.

The hierarchical registry structure for file and protocol associations gives precedence to per-user defaults over machine-level defaults. These applications might experience unexpected results if another application is already registered as the per-user default. Use of Default Programs prevents this ambiguity and guarantees expected results on a per-user level. This section shows you the registry subkeys and values needed to register an application with Default Programs.

It includes a full example. Default Programs requires each application to register explicitly the file associations, MIME associations, and protocols for which the application should be listed as a possible default. You register the associations by using the following registry elements, which are explained in detail later in this topic under Registration Subkey and Value Descriptions :. The following example shows the registry entries for a fictional Contoso browser that is called WebBrowser:.

An application must provide a specific ProgID. Be sure to include all the information that is typically written into the generic default subkey for the extension. MP3 subkey. This ensures that if the user restores the. Overwriting might occur if the default subkey is the only source of that information. When you map a ProgID to a file name extension or protocol, an application can map one-to-one or one-to-many.

Because a different ProgID exists for each protocol, when you use protocols you enable each protocol to have its own execution string. If your MIME type is not intended to be viewed inline in a browser, this step can be omitted.

This section describes the individual registry subkeys and values used in registering an application with Default Programs , as illustrated previously. The Capabilities subkey contains all the Default Programs information for a specific application. This subkey contains the significant values shown in the following table. The FileAssociations subkey contains specific file associations that are claimed by the application.

These claims are stored as values, with one value for each extension. However, all associations are not required to point to the same ProgID. These claims are stored as values, with one value for each MIME type. The Startmenu subkey is associated with the user-assignable Internet and E-mail entries in the Start menu. An application must register separately as a contender for those entries.

For more information, see Registering Programs with Client Types. As of Windows 7, there are no longer Internet and E-mail entries in the Start menu.

The registry data associated with the E-mail entry is still used for the default MAPI client, but the registry data associated with the Internet entry is not used by Windows at all. By associating the Start menu registration of an application with its Default Programs registration, the application appears as a potential default in the Set associations UI.

If the user has chosen the application as the default and then chooses to restore all application defaults later, the application is restored to its Start menu position for that user. For more information and an illustration, see the Default Programs UI section later in this topic.

Under Windows 7, while there is no longer an E-mail canonical position in the Start menu, this subkey continues to be used for the default MAPI client. An application claiming the mail default should register as a MAPI handler under the following subkey:.

If a mail client cannot support MAPI but still wants to contend for the Start menu E-mail canonical position, it can register a command line under the following subkey:. These entries allow the application to be launched from the Start menu's E-mail position.

These claims are stored as values, with one value for each protocol. As mentioned in the Contoso example, you can use a different ProgID for each protocol in order for each to have its own execution string.

This subkey provides the operating system with the registry location of the Default Programs information for the application. This is another addition to the newly added Windows Basics section of our site. The set Program Access and Defaults Window will be displayed. Here you have 4 options. I will explain each a little. Changes to the check box state persist when Add or Remove Programs is closed; if a user chooses to show the updates, they continue to be shown until the user clears the check box.

It is always displayed regardless of the check box state. In Windows Vista and later, application updates are displayed on a separate page in Control Panel dedicated to updates alone. This page is shown when the user clicks the View installed updates task link. There is no user-selectable option to show updates on the same page as installed programs.

Despite the change in UI, the mechanism for registering as an update to an installed program remains the same as in earlier versions of Windows. Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications that use the Windows Installer do not need to do anything further for their updates to be recognized as updates.

Non-Microsoft applications that do not use Windows Installer must declare certain values in the registry as part of their installation to be recognized as an update to an existing program. The following example illustrates which registry values to declare for an installation to be recognized as an update to an existing program. The following example shows the pertinent registry entries for an update to the LitWare Deluxe application.

Non-Microsoft applications that do not supply the appropriate registry information, such as updates produced before this option was available, continue to be displayed normally in the list of installed programs and are not filtered out. Update filtering in operating system versions other than Windows Vista and Windows 7 is normally a user-controlled setting and should be respected as such by applications.

However, in an enterprise environment, administrators can control whether users are given the option to filter updates through the DontGroupPatches registry value, as shown in the following example. DontGroupPatches has no effect in Windows Vista and Windows 7, where the UI contains no check box and registered updates are always filtered. Policies are set only by administrators. Applications should not alter this value. Best Practices for File Associations. Skip to main content. This browser is no longer supported.

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