Solved Lost Ability to set Other options for Default Programs

Xoanon · Thursday at 10:16 PM

For some strange reason, just all of the sudden, everytime I click something that needs to open a Browser, Mail, Media Player, etc. it will not select my default programs anymore (Brave, Mailbird, JetAudio, VLC). When I go to the set default programs, they are listed but I cannot select them. Any ideas here? I'm about to go crazy with this stuff. Thanks much!

glasskuter · Thursday at 11:48 PM

Xoanon said:
When I go to the set default programs, they are listed but I cannot select them.

Can you tell us what happens when you select them. Any messages or error on the screen? Are they grayed out? A screenshot would be helpful

Xoanon · Thursday at 11:55 PM

glasskuter said:
Can you tell us what happens when you select them. Any messages or error on the screen? Are they grayed out? A screenshot would be helpful

Certainly. I've included 2 screen shots. The first with the red square is when I press the View this Thread option, nothing happens. No browser opens. Nothing. It acts like a browser is not even installed.

The second shot, the default option section of my Windows shows me trying to select and change the default e-mail to Mailbird and yes, Mailbird is installed and working correctly. And, no other Mail clients are even showing up.

It's like all my installed programs are no longer able to be set as the defaults for any of the sections listed in the second screen shot if that makes sense.

glasskuter · 2025-07-04T00:00:48-0400

Try this.

Set Mailbird as Default Email Client

Setting up Mailbird to be your default email client is very easy to do - in this article, we will walk you through the process of setting up Mailbird to become your default email client in Windows ...

support.getmailbird.com

glasskuter · 2025-07-04T00:12:37-0400

How do I set Brave to be my Default Browser?

When you install Brave, you'll be prompted to configure Brave as your default browser at the top of the window. However, if you've missed this banner for any reason, you can change this in your set...

support.brave.app

Thread about VLC here Default apps!

I don't know anything about JetAudio other than right click on a file you want to open with JetAudio-select "open with"
If JetAudio is listed select it, then ALWAYS.
If JetAudio is not listed, select "choose another app" select JetAudio, then ALWAYS.

You can do this for any file type that has the wrong app associated with its file type

Xoanon · 2025-07-04T00:13:46-0400

glasskuter said:
Try this.

Set Mailbird as Default Email Client

Setting up Mailbird to be your default email client is very easy to do - in this article, we will walk you through the process of setting up Mailbird to become your default email client in Windows ...

support.getmailbird.com

Ok, this is getting really weird. I followed the directions and it took me back to the Windows default settings and now Mailbird is showing up as an option to select for my mail client.

Sooo, I went into Brave and selected it to be my default browser again and it did the same thing, took me to the Windows default settings; however, this time Brave was not listed as a selection only Edge.

Urg! This is infuriating. I don't know what in the world I have done to cause this issue.

Also, thank you for your input and help!

Xoanon · 2025-07-04T00:22:29-0400

glasskuter said:
How do I set Brave to be my Default Browser?

When you install Brave, you'll be prompted to configure Brave as your default browser at the top of the window. However, if you've missed this banner for any reason, you can change this in your set...

support.brave.app

Thread about VLC here Default apps!

I don't know anything about JetAudio other than right click on a file you want to open with JetAudio-select "open with"
If JetAudio is listed select it, then ALWAYS.
If JetAudio is not listed, select "choose another app" select JetAudio, then ALWAYS.

You can do this for any file type that has the wrong app associated with its file type

Ok, I did Open With for a video file and was able to restore the VLC connection between my videos and the VLC player BUT, again when I try the Set Brave as Default browser setting, it takes me to the Window default settings and only gives me the options of Edge. I don't know what's going on.

glasskuter · 2025-07-04T00:34:21-0400

If you go to settings>apps>default apps. Find Brave in the list and click it. If there is no "set as default" at the top, you can manually change it by file type..from settings>apps>default apps, scroll all the way down to near the bottom and select "choose defaults by file types".

In the list of file types that pops up, find these file types and change their default to Brave.
.htm
.html
HTTP
HTTPS
HTTP
HTTPS

Xoanon · 2025-07-04T00:46:05-0400

glasskuter said:
If you go to settings>apps>default apps. Find Brave in the list and click it. If there is no "set as default" at the top, you can manually change it by file type..from settings>apps>default apps, scroll all the way down to near the bottom and select "choose defaults by file types".

In the list of file types that pops up, find these file types and change their default to Brave.
.htm
.html
HTTP
HTTPS
HTTP
HTTPS

Ok, here's the crazy part. .htm & .html ARE set to Brave but Edge is still showing in the basic default setting page as the default browser; HOWEVER, the other file types you listed HTTP, HTTPS are not showing as file types in the default screen where you can select by extesion?!?!?!

I feel like Gremlins have attacked my computer. Urgh again!

glasskuter · 2025-07-04T02:20:51-0400

If the file type does not automatically show when you do it that way, make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
When complete restart. Then open command prompt as admin again and run sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair

Xoanon · 2025-07-04T11:32:12-0400

glasskuter said:
View attachment 138426

If the file type does not automatically show when you do it that way, make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
When complete restart. Then open command prompt as admin again and run sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair

No go. The search blank is not there and the commands found nothing wrong.

glasskuter · 2025-07-04T12:12:55-0400

Only other thing I can suggeat is to try resetting your default apps back to the way MS designed them to see if those 2 file types come back. You will have to redo your other associations again though.

Navigate to Apps > Default apps.
Scroll to the bottom and click Reset under Reset all default apps.

Xoanon · 2025-07-04T13:12:34-0400

glasskuter said:
Only other thing I can suggeat is to try resetting your default apps back to the way MS designed them to see if those 2 file types come back. You will have to redo your other associations again though.

Navigate to Apps > Default apps.

Scroll to the bottom and click Reset under Reset all default apps.

I've also done that as well. I really appreciate your trying to help but I think it's gonna have to be a Windows 10 in-place update to reset everything and, hopefully, get things working correctly again.

glasskuter · 2025-07-04T13:49:21-0400

An in-place upgrade should fix it if the problem is in windows, but not if it is corruption in your user account.
Before I did an in-place upgrade I would prove where the issue lies by enabling the hidden administrator account to test with.
If all the file associations show up using that account, IMO that points to file corruption in your user account, not windows so an in-place upgrade would not fix it.
To enable hidden admin account, open command prompt as admin and type net user administrator /active:yes

Restart and login the the Administrator account to test. If the file associations are there, it's your user account that is corrupted, not windows.
If the file associations are not there, then do a repair install.

To disable hidden administrator account open command prompt as admin and type net user administrator /active:no

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