ftype wierdness

[samintz]

I recently upgraded my PC to Win7 Enterprise and had to re-install every
piece of software I use (grumble, grumble).

One of the side-effects was that after I installed Office 2010 when I
opened a .XLS or .DOC file, the "Microsoft Open XML Converter" launched
instead of the correct Office application. I corrected the problem by
right-clicking a file, selecting properties, and then clicked the "Change"
button for "Opens with" and selected the correct application.

However, ASSOC and FTYPE still show the old reference to MOC.EXE even
though the correct application is now opening.

assoc .xls
.xls=Excel.Sheet.8

ftype Excel.Sheet.8
Excel.Sheet.8=C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\Office12\Moc.exe "%1"

What gives? How is the correct application being selected now? Where is
that info stored?

-Scott

 

[Charles Dye]

What gives? How is the correct application being selected now? Where is that info stored?

System-wide file associations are in the registry under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Per-user associations are under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes.

(It might be nice if some future version offered options for ASSOC and FTYPE to display/edit the per-user entries.)

 

[samintz]

Well that's not it either. There are entries under HKCU\Software\Classes
for .doc, .xls, and .ppt, however the only thing listed there is
CachedFilterIID with a GUID.

If I search for that GUID, I get a hit under HKLM\Software\Classes\CLSID
under an entry described as Microsoft Office Filter.

-Scott



Charles Dye <> wrote on 09/15/2010 05:37:06 PM:

> ---Quote (Originally by samintz)---
> What gives? How is the correct application being selected now?
> Where is that info stored?
> ---End Quote---
> System-wide file associations are in the registry under
> HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Per-user associations are under
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes.
>
> (It might be nice if some future version offered options for ASSOC
> and FTYPE to display/edit the per-user entries.)
>
>
>
>

 

[Charles Dye]

Well that's not it either. There are entries under HKCU\Software\Classes for .doc, .xls, and .ppt, however the only thing listed there is CachedFilterIID with a GUID.

Then I'm afraid I don't know either; sorry!

 

[vefatica]

I can't make much sense of it, but you might compare the (Default) value (which looks like your ftype result) to the "Command" value (which looks like gibberish) in one of the "Word.Document.12\shell\open" keys.

I don't know how it all works but searching MS might turn up some info. No doubt they're clever enough to hook the file properties dialog and the shell's file associations dialog and do whatever they like. I doubt it follows the much simpler model that was in place when FTYPE hit the scene.

I recently upgraded my PC to Win7 Enterprise and had to re-install every
piece of software I use (grumble, grumble).

One of the side-effects was that after I installed Office 2010 when I
opened a .XLS or .DOC file, the "Microsoft Open XML Converter" launched
instead of the correct Office application. I corrected the problem by
right-clicking a file, selecting properties, and then clicked the "Change"
button for "Opens with" and selected the correct application.

However, ASSOC and FTYPE still show the old reference to MOC.EXE even
though the correct application is now opening.

assoc .xls
.xls=Excel.Sheet.8

ftype Excel.Sheet.8
Excel.Sheet.8=C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\Office12\Moc.exe "%1"

What gives? How is the correct application being selected now? Where is
that info stored?

-Scott

 

[w_krieger]

You can look at http://www.xs4all.nl/~wstudios/Associate/index.html wassociate to look at what ftype seems to be pulling. I have it in my sendto menu, among other things.

 

[drwtsn32]

You could try to repair the install of Office 2010 instead of manually trying to fix them. The associations must have gotten fouled up somehow after installation. I have Win7 Ent and Office 2010 and the associations are correct.

 

[TEA-Time]

Hi Scott,

The anomaly you're seeing is probably the result of the "UserChoice" registry entry that is new as of Vista, I think to protect the original settings. You'll find them under some of the extensions listed under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts.

After a bit of searching, I can't find any official description of UserChoice, but there's plenty of talk about it on the 'net in reference to fixing accidental re-associations. Here's a search of just M$ for talk about it:

http://www.google.com/search?num=10...erchoice+registry&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Since ASSOC and FTYPE are still reporting the MOC.EXE associations and appear to be ignoring the UserChoice settings that were created when you "fixed" the associations, I would say run the Office 2010 repair procedure like Rod suggested.

-Tim

 

[w_krieger]

There is of course http://windowsxp.mvps.org/fileextinfo.htm

this shows all of the things that are active for a given extention, including the ones you don't know about.