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Hi:
I've lost my file association for .exe files and now don't know how to
restore it. Running regedit.exe doesn't work, nor does opening up a
command prompt windows nor Run from Task manager.
Rebooting in Safe Mode doesn't work,neither does rebooting from last
known good configuration. All the .exe files open with the new
association (list.com, in this case).
Any ideas would be appreciated.
<name withheld pending mental examination>
Windows 2003 SP2
What is the history? How did this happen?
--
Regards,
Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
"FUBARinSFO" wrote:
> Hi:
>
> I've lost my file association for .exe files and now don't know how to
> restore it. Running regedit.exe doesn't work, nor does opening up a
> command prompt windows nor Run from Task manager.
>
> Rebooting in Safe Mode doesn't work,neither does rebooting from last
> known good configuration. All the .exe files open with the new
> association (list.com, in this case).
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated.
>
> <name withheld pending mental examination>
>
> Windows 2003 SP2
>
Correction to original post:
1. Booting <F8> Safe Mode Command Prompt allows me to invoke
regedit.exe.
2. Booting normally, Ctrl-Alt-Del to get Task Manager, then File then
Ctrl-Run (not plain Run) gives me a command prompt, where I can also
run regedit.exe, but now with the full Windows GUI.
In answer to Dave Patrick, I was cruising around with Explorer File
Types and inadvertently changed the .exe file association to list.com
(Vern Buerg's old program). So now everything comes up in list.
I've since renamed list.com to xlist.com, which prevents Windows from
executing the program since it can't find it now. That was critical
to getting back into the system, sort of. Now it asks to browse,
which is more benign, but still can't make the direct association wth
c:\windows\explore.exe.
I'm exporting all the registry keys and comparing them with an XP
machine. It doesn't look as simple as just deleting all the refs to
list.com, since some associations (like for .com) don't have an
alternate and will have to be replaced.
What happens if you logon as a new user? You might also delete the key named
EXE below
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts
--
Regards,
Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
"FUBARinSFO" wrote:
> Correction to original post:
>
> 1. Booting <F8> Safe Mode Command Prompt allows me to invoke
> regedit.exe.
> 2. Booting normally, Ctrl-Alt-Del to get Task Manager, then File then
> Ctrl-Run (not plain Run) gives me a command prompt, where I can also
> run regedit.exe, but now with the full Windows GUI.
>
> In answer to Dave Patrick, I was cruising around with Explorer File
> Types and inadvertently changed the .exe file association to list.com
> (Vern Buerg's old program). So now everything comes up in list.
>
> I've since renamed list.com to xlist.com, which prevents Windows from
> executing the program since it can't find it now. That was critical
> to getting back into the system, sort of. Now it asks to browse,
> which is more benign, but still can't make the direct association wth
> c:\windows\explore.exe.
>
> I'm exporting all the registry keys and comparing them with an XP
> machine. It doesn't look as simple as just deleting all the refs to
> list.com, since some associations (like for .com) don't have an
> alternate and will have to be replaced.
>
Dave:
Deleting the .exe key under
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts
wasn't the solution (since it still points to the offending list.com
location).
I explored the registry, and found a key with three entries: HKCU
\Software\Classes\Applications\ which has explorer.exe., list.com and
rundll32.exe - deleted the list.com branch. But note that neither
explorer.exe nor rundll32.exe are present in the XP registry. So
unclear (at least to me) what this was doing here exactly.
In any case, I got .exe files working again by whatever I did in the
registry, and then restored C: from last night's differential backup,
I think. I say 'I think" because I haven't yet actually compared
last night's files with the current user, syatem, etc files.
This is a real problem, and this hacking of mine here gives me little
comfort.
-- Roy Zider
I would tend to agree. You might want to either start a new installation or
at least do an in-place upgrade.
--
Regards,
Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
"FUBARinSFO" wrote:
> Dave:
>
> Deleting the .exe key under
> HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts
>
> wasn't the solution (since it still points to the offending list.com
> location).
>
> I explored the registry, and found a key with three entries: HKCU
> \Software\Classes\Applications\ which has explorer.exe., list.com and
> rundll32.exe - deleted the list.com branch. But note that neither
> explorer.exe nor rundll32.exe are present in the XP registry. So
> unclear (at least to me) what this was doing here exactly.
>
> In any case, I got .exe files working again by whatever I did in the
> registry, and then restored C: from last night's differential backup,
> I think. I say 'I think" because I haven't yet actually compared
> last night's files with the current user, syatem, etc files.
>
> This is a real problem, and this hacking of mine here gives me little
> comfort.
>
> -- Roy Zider
Dave:
Subsequent to my last posting, I went back to my nightly backup and
found that I had been backing up System State every night (sometimes I
do things right). So I simply restored that, rebooted, and am back in
business.
But a propos your suggestion, I should do something like an annual
refresh on all my systems. Bit rot sets in, and you begin to lose
track of "last known good configuration".
Thanks for your help.
-- Roy Zider
Good to hear it's sorted.
--
Regards,
Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
"FUBARinSFO" wrote:
> Dave:
>
> Subsequent to my last posting, I went back to my nightly backup and
> found that I had been backing up System State every night (sometimes I
> do things right). So I simply restored that, rebooted, and am back in
> business.
>
> But a propos your suggestion, I should do something like an annual
> refresh on all my systems. Bit rot sets in, and you begin to lose
> track of "last known good configuration".
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> -- Roy Zider
Well, it happened again. But this time I solved it. I will post the
solution in a new thread "How to restore default .EXE file
association? [SOLVED]"
-- Roy Zider