Solved Problem with program names in Open with Context Menu in Windows 11


Paul Newton

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I have PSPad.EXE (which shows as PSPad) set up as a choice for certain file types in the Open with context menu and it is working fine. Now I want a second choice in the Open with menu which I want to appear as "PSPad (Admin)".

In my Programs folder I have copied PSPad.EXE to PSPad (Admin).EXE and set it to run as Administrator. I can now select this program from Open with and choosing another program and can open my file for editing in Administrator mode.

However, thereafter, the Open with menu shows two entries but both are labelled "PSPad" so I cannot distinguish between them. I have tried various workarounds, e.g. PSPadAdmin.EXE instead of PSPad (Admin).EXE, creating and using shortcuts etc but all to no avail.

I have checked out the registry entries at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.FPW\OpenWithList and there is an entry for PSPad (Admin).EXE.
 
Windows Build/Version
Windows 11 Pro 22H2 Build 22621

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The file extension behavior in the registry was modified but was the class root modified as well?
For example, a .bat file is a batfile , a .cmd is a cmdfile.
Go there and see what I mean:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\cmdfile
There you can add the behavior such as run as, as the screenshot shows.

Screenshot 2022-11-13 174555.jpg

I have included the .reg file (changed to .txt) for cmdfile.
You can use that as an example.
Please use caution when manipulating the reg.
 

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  • cmd.txt
    5.9 KB · Views: 3

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I don't think that is what I am looking for. The article here
Reset and Clear Open with Context Menu for File Types in Windows 11
specifically states that Apps in the "Open with" context menu for a file type are stored in the OpenWithList key at:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\<file type>\OpenWithList
In my case the Open with menu looks like this
1668363135192.png
and the corresponding registry entries look like this
1668363171592.png
All I am trying to achieve is for the two Open with menu entries to be distinguishable from one another. It is almost as if Windows assigns the same "alias" - in this case "PSPad" - to both programs or executables.

Maybe there is somewhere in the registry where PSPadAmin.EXE is given or assigned an "alias" of PSPad?

You said that For example, a .bat file is a batfile , a .cmd is a cmdfile. That is true, but what I am looking at is an arbitrary file extension (it could be XYZ) and what programs Windows should offer to open files having that extension with.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
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    Dell
    CPU
    12th Gen i7
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    16GB DDR4
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    Intel onboard
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    Onboard
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    1920 x 1280
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    512GB SSD
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What's the value under the .FPW key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\?
 

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System One System Two

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    Win11 All /Debian/Arch
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    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
    CPU
    2.20 gigahertz Intel i7-8750H Hyper-threaded 12 cores
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
    Memory
    24428 Megabytes
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
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    Intel(R) Display Audio / Realtek(R) Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Integrated Monitor (17.3"vis)
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    FHD 1920X1080 16:9
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    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
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    WDCSDAPNUW-1002 256 GB
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    19V DC 6.32 A 120 W
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    Windows 11 Insider Canary
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    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
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    8 GB
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    AMD Radeon R5 M420
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    Realtek
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    17.3
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    1600X900 16:9
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    1TB 5400RPM
1668364102766.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
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    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    12th Gen i7
    Memory
    16GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel onboard
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1280
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD
    2 TB SATA HDD
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    250 Mb/s
in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ sorry.
 

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System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 All /Debian/Arch
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    Laptop
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    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
    CPU
    2.20 gigahertz Intel i7-8750H Hyper-threaded 12 cores
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
    Memory
    24428 Megabytes
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) Display Audio / Realtek(R) Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Integrated Monitor (17.3"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    FHD 1920X1080 16:9
    Hard Drives
    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
    WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 500.1 GB
    WDCSDAPNUW-1002 256 GB
    PSU
    19V DC 6.32 A 120 W
    Cooling
    Dual Fans
    Mouse
    MS Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    Fiber 1GB Cox -us & ADSL Bouygues -fr
    Browser
    Edge Canary- Firefox Nightly
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  • Operating System
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    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Radeon R5 M420
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3
    Screen Resolution
    1600X900 16:9
    Hard Drives
    1TB 5400RPM
There isn't an entry for .FPW in HKCR but ....
I think this may have something to do with assigning a FriendlyAppName (not sure in which hive to do this but see this for a clue)

1668364589141.png
 

My Computer

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  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
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    Dell
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    12th Gen i7
    Memory
    16GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel onboard
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1280
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD
    2 TB SATA HDD
    Internet Speed
    250 Mb/s

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 All /Debian/Arch
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    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
    CPU
    2.20 gigahertz Intel i7-8750H Hyper-threaded 12 cores
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
    Memory
    24428 Megabytes
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) Display Audio / Realtek(R) Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Integrated Monitor (17.3"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    FHD 1920X1080 16:9
    Hard Drives
    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
    WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 500.1 GB
    WDCSDAPNUW-1002 256 GB
    PSU
    19V DC 6.32 A 120 W
    Cooling
    Dual Fans
    Mouse
    MS Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    Fiber 1GB Cox -us & ADSL Bouygues -fr
    Browser
    Edge Canary- Firefox Nightly
    Antivirus
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    Other Info
    VMs of Windows 11 stable/Beta/Dev/Canary
    VM of XeroLinux- Arch based & Debian 12
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Insider Canary
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    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Radeon R5 M420
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3
    Screen Resolution
    1600X900 16:9
    Hard Drives
    1TB 5400RPM
You could make it very easy for yourself and duplicate the PSPad editor folder, rename the copied folder to something else, rename the .exe as well to use for admin purpose and put in the fully qualified path to each version of the .exe in the reg.
I still the 'run as Admin' is better though but a little trickier to set up.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 All /Debian/Arch
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
    CPU
    2.20 gigahertz Intel i7-8750H Hyper-threaded 12 cores
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
    Memory
    24428 Megabytes
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) Display Audio / Realtek(R) Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Integrated Monitor (17.3"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    FHD 1920X1080 16:9
    Hard Drives
    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
    WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 500.1 GB
    WDCSDAPNUW-1002 256 GB
    PSU
    19V DC 6.32 A 120 W
    Cooling
    Dual Fans
    Mouse
    MS Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    Fiber 1GB Cox -us & ADSL Bouygues -fr
    Browser
    Edge Canary- Firefox Nightly
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    VMs of Windows 11 stable/Beta/Dev/Canary
    VM of XeroLinux- Arch based & Debian 12
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Insider Canary
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Radeon R5 M420
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3
    Screen Resolution
    1600X900 16:9
    Hard Drives
    1TB 5400RPM
Actually it was Brink who posted the tutorial I referred to earlier. I'll take a look at it and also investigate FriendlyAppName. It might not be until tomorrow when I can give feedback. Thanks for your help - will definitely be back in touch
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    12th Gen i7
    Memory
    16GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel onboard
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1280
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD
    2 TB SATA HDD
    Internet Speed
    250 Mb/s
Sounds good.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 All /Debian/Arch
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
    CPU
    2.20 gigahertz Intel i7-8750H Hyper-threaded 12 cores
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
    Memory
    24428 Megabytes
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) Display Audio / Realtek(R) Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Integrated Monitor (17.3"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    FHD 1920X1080 16:9
    Hard Drives
    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
    WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 500.1 GB
    WDCSDAPNUW-1002 256 GB
    PSU
    19V DC 6.32 A 120 W
    Cooling
    Dual Fans
    Mouse
    MS Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    Fiber 1GB Cox -us & ADSL Bouygues -fr
    Browser
    Edge Canary- Firefox Nightly
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    VMs of Windows 11 stable/Beta/Dev/Canary
    VM of XeroLinux- Arch based & Debian 12
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Insider Canary
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Radeon R5 M420
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3
    Screen Resolution
    1600X900 16:9
    Hard Drives
    1TB 5400RPM
Re: FriendlyAppName
You could have a look to see if MUICacheView allows you to set the friedly name of the PSPadAdmin.exe to something more suitable.


After you open MUICacheView, Right click the entry which shows PSPadAdmin.exe and in the Properties, you could change the friendly name.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    custom
    CPU
    intel i7-8700 (non-K)
    Motherboard
    Asus Z370 TUF Gaming
    Memory
    32Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    On-board Intel iGPU
    Sound Card
    On-board Realtek
    Hard Drives
    Samsung_SSD_850_EVO
    PSU
    Corsair Rm850X
    Cooling
    All air
  • Like
Reactions: OAT
That was the answer - In HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\MuiCache I changed the data for
C:\Program Files\PSPad editor\PSPadAdmin.exe.FriendlyAppName
from PSPad to PSPad (Admin) and it works
1668366821502.png
Many thanks to everybody for their contributions and help. I will still check out Brink's article and the MUICacheView link posted by das10. Am marking this as SOLVED!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    12th Gen i7
    Memory
    16GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel onboard
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1280
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD
    2 TB SATA HDD
    Internet Speed
    250 Mb/s
Glad you got what you wanted, thanks to @das10 .
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 All /Debian/Arch
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. TUF Gaming FX705GM
    CPU
    2.20 gigahertz Intel i7-8750H Hyper-threaded 12 cores
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. FX705GM 1.0
    Memory
    24428 Megabytes
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
    Sound Card
    Intel(R) Display Audio / Realtek(R) Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Integrated Monitor (17.3"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    FHD 1920X1080 16:9
    Hard Drives
    2 SSD SATA/NVM Express 1.3
    WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 500.1 GB
    WDCSDAPNUW-1002 256 GB
    PSU
    19V DC 6.32 A 120 W
    Cooling
    Dual Fans
    Mouse
    MS Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    Fiber 1GB Cox -us & ADSL Bouygues -fr
    Browser
    Edge Canary- Firefox Nightly
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    VMs of Windows 11 stable/Beta/Dev/Canary
    VM of XeroLinux- Arch based & Debian 12
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Insider Canary
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS X751BP
    CPU
    AMD Dual Core A6-9220
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Radeon R5 M420
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3
    Screen Resolution
    1600X900 16:9
    Hard Drives
    1TB 5400RPM

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