notepad replacer broken in win 11

infinity · Oct 28, 2021

I'm using Notepad++ as my default app to edit all my coding files (js/ahk etc) and have always used Notepad Replacer to fix the linkage. However in Win 11, it defaults back to regular notepad instead.

Note I cannot just set default file associations because sometimes they need to be RUN instead of being edited in notepad++.
How do I fix that?

tomdsr · Oct 28, 2021

Right click the file you want to open with notepad++
Follow the order of the pics.
Make sure to leave the "Always use this app to open .*** files" Checked.

infinity · Oct 28, 2021

Hi, please see my original quote here:

Note I cannot just set default file associations because sometimes they need to be RUN instead of being edited in notepad++.
How do I fix that?

Doing this will always open in notepad. I only want Editing associations, not Open associations.

Wisewiz · Oct 28, 2021

Can't you set the RUN association and let the Edit function reside (natively) in the right-click menu?

"By default the Notepad++ installer comes with a Shell extension. This is not really part of the Notepad++ program but very useful. If you choose to install it, then any file you rightclick on will show an entry named “Edit with Notepad++” with the Notepad++ icon.

Please note that to install or remove the extension, it sometimes is required to restart the Explorer process. For this you can reboot, logout and log back in or use the task manager to kill explorer (Windows NT and up) and restart it again. You can do this by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Del.

If the Shell extension is already installed, the Notepad++ installer cannot update or overwrite it, you first have to uninstall it and restart Explorer.

If you issue the install command for the dll, which is regsvr32 /i NppShell_01.dll, a dialog box will pop up from which various details of the behaviour of the extension can be tweaked. The trailing number will increase as versions go.

tomdsr · Oct 28, 2021

Wisewiz said:
Can't you set the RUN association and let the Edit function reside (natively) in the right-click menu?

"By default the Notepad++ installer comes with a Shell extension. This is not really part of the Notepad++ program but very useful. If you choose to install it, then any file you rightclick on will show an entry named “Edit with Notepad++” with the Notepad++ icon.

Please note that to install or remove the extension, it sometimes is required to restart the Explorer process. For this you can reboot, logout and log back in or use the task manager to kill explorer (Windows NT and up) and restart it again. You can do this by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Del.

If the Shell extension is already installed, the Notepad++ installer cannot update or overwrite it, you first have to uninstall it and restart Explorer.

If you issue the install command for the dll, which is regsvr32 /i NppShell_01.dll, a dialog box will pop up from which various details of the behaviour of the extension can be tweaked. The trailing number will increase as versions go.

totally forgot it had its own extension, im getting old

Wisewiz · Oct 28, 2021

Bofus, my friend. 'S okay.

infinity · Oct 28, 2021

Wisewiz said:
Can't you set the RUN association and let the Edit function reside (natively) in the right-click menu?

"By default the Notepad++ installer comes with a Shell extension. This is not really part of the Notepad++ program but very useful. If you choose to install it, then any file you rightclick on will show an entry named “Edit with Notepad++” with the Notepad++ icon.

Please note that to install or remove the extension, it sometimes is required to restart the Explorer process. For this you can reboot, logout and log back in or use the task manager to kill explorer (Windows NT and up) and restart it again. You can do this by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Del.

If the Shell extension is already installed, the Notepad++ installer cannot update or overwrite it, you first have to uninstall it and restart Explorer.

If you issue the install command for the dll, which is regsvr32 /i NppShell_01.dll, a dialog box will pop up from which various details of the behaviour of the extension can be tweaked. The trailing number will increase as versions go.

I know it exists, but that is still different from completely replacing notepad with notepad++. Which means when "notepad" is being used, I will always default to notepad++.

Wisewiz · Oct 28, 2021

I seem to recall that way back when, we replaced the original notepad.exe with the Notepad++ executable somehow. That ring any bells? I don't suppose that's possible now. Dunno.

johnlgalt · Oct 29, 2021

It used to be easy to edit the registry to have an Open command using one app and a separate Edit command for editing the same file type in a different app.

It's gotten a lot harder to do so, but this link Changing Default File Associations in Windows 10 via GPO | Windows OS Hub has some really, really good information that might be helpful.

Make sure you make a backup before trying it, as it was written for Windows 10 and there is no real guarantee that it will work without errors in Windows 11. Alternately, the article also provides methods using group policy as well as using the registry, too, if you prefer to go that route.

Best of all, he also provides a method that allows you to reset it all in case something breaks.

This may or may not work for you - becuase it sounds like you've tried something similar (to at least one of hte methods outlined in the article) via the Notepad++ replacer utility, but WIndows 11 keeps reverting it to default. Instead of using the Notepad++ replacer utility, this will allow you to do it manually, which may allow you to have the settings actually stick in Windows 11.

Edwin · Oct 29, 2021

It's going to be way too complicated to filter all file associations, just create your own entries in the root shell.

infinity · Oct 29, 2021

johnlgalt said:
It used to be easy to edit the registry to have an Open command using one app and a separate Edit command for editing the same file type in a different app.

It's gotten a lot harder to do so, but this link Changing Default File Associations in Windows 10 via GPO | Windows OS Hub has some really, really good information that might be helpful.

Make sure you make a backup before trying it, as it was written for Windows 10 and there is no real guarantee that it will work without errors in Windows 11. Alternately, the article also provides methods using group policy as well as using the registry, too, if you prefer to go that route.

Best of all, he also provides a method that allows you to reset it all in case something breaks.

This may or may not work for you - becuase it sounds like you've tried something similar (to at least one of hte methods outlined in the article) via the Notepad++ replacer utility, but WIndows 11 keeps reverting it to default. Instead of using the Notepad++ replacer utility, this will allow you to do it manually, which may allow you to have the settings actually stick in Windows 11.

As I'm really afraid of breaking it, is there any 3ʳᵈ party utility (free or paid, doesn't matter) that can do this?