Microsoft KB Archive/311425

Knowledge Base

File May Not Open in the Expected Default Program in Windows XP

Article ID: 311425

Article Last Modified on 4/22/2004

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional

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This article was previously published under Q311425

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Windows XP, when you double-click a file, the file may not open in the default program that you want. For example, if you have Picture Studio installed and you double-click a .jpeg image file, the file may open in the default viewer (Image and Fax Viewer) instead of Picture Studio.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if some default actions have changed in Windows XP. For example, a default action may have changed from Open to Preview. As a result, some third-party programs may not respond as expected when you double-click a program's associated file.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, contact your third-party program provider for information about an update to the program that resolves this behavior.

For information about how to contact your third-party program provider, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, A-K

60781 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, L-P

60782 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, Q-Z

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, follow these steps:

Note This work around is specific to .jpeg images. However, the same steps typically work for other file types.

1. Log on to your computer with an account that has administrator credentials.
2. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
3. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
4. Click File Types, and then in the Registered file types list, click JPEG Image, and then click Advanced.
5. In the Edit File Type dialog box, in the Actions list, click Open, and then click Edit.
6. In the Editing action for type: JPEG Image dialog box, click Browse.
7. In the Open With dialog box, in the Look in box, locate the following folder:

   C:\Program Files\Microsoft Picture Studio

8. Still in the Open With dialog box, click Ps.exe, click OK, and then click OK again.
   
   Note: The following steps are specific to .jpeg files:
   1. In the Edit File Type dialog box, click New.
   2. In the Action box, type Preview and then click Browse.
   3. In the Open With dialog box, in the Look in box, locate the following folder:

      C:\Program Files\Microsoft Picture Studio

   4. Still in the Open With dialog box, click Ps.exe, and then click OK.
9. Click OK, and then click OK again.
10. Click Start, and then click Run.
11. In the Open box, type the following command, and then click OK:

    regedit

12. Locate and select the following registry key:

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Jpegfile\Shell

13. On the Registry menu, click Export, and then save the Shell key to a registry file.

After you install Picture Studio on each users computer, you can then double-click the exported Shell registry file on each users computer and configure the computer to use Picture Studio as the default .jpeg viewer.

Keywords: kbprb KB311425

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