It used to be in Windows XP that I could make Warcraft III files load automatically into the game by double clicking on them. This association was made by going to file associations ADVANCED area and using this line:
"C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\War3.exe" -loadfile "%1"
Note that it takes an argument and an option.
However, in Windows 7, the "Default Programs" > "Set Associations" area doesn't seem to have this advanced area.
Can I still get these files to open automatically?
I'd recommend Default Programs Editor, which can do this and more.
It has full context menu editing, which would allow you to change the command parameters. Plus, it was designed for Vista/7 with UAC support.
It's probably because I had to much caffeine but.. In command prompt:
ftype w3file="C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\War3.exe" -loadfile "%1"
assoc .your_extension=w3file
regsvr32 /i shell32.dll
:) .. just change the names of the type and extension to the one you need :)
What you are looking for is File Type Doctor from Creative Element Power Tools.
You get everything back that they, for some reason, removed from Windows Vista onwards.
Update: for a more modern and simpler solution check out Factor Mystic's answer!
From what I can tell there is no 'easy' way to set file associations in windows. It has always been a pain because you have system level associations and user level associations for EVERY USER on the system... anyway lets stop Windows Media Player for GOOD.
Sick of Windows Media Player always popping up when you click any media? Maybe you have more than one login or app that constantly tries to take over your file associations? Use this script to set them right!
Run as administrator to reset Windows Media Player extensions it hijacks:
These include: .MMS,.WTV,.3G2,.3GP,.ADTS,.AIFF,.ASF,.ASX,.AU,.AVI,.CDA,.M2TS,.m3u,.M4A,.MIDI,.mov,.mp3,.mp4,.MPEG,.TTS,.WAV,.WAX,.wma,.WMD,.WMS,.WMV,.WMZ,.WPL,.WVX
Example of command line I use to set file associations:
Source code to the binary that is just a 7-zip SFX Self Extracting zip with a Windows Batch file in it :
https://rmccurdy.com/.scripts/ ftype_wipe.bat.txt
@echo off
echo ------------------------------------------------
echo * THIS MUST BE RUN AS SYSTEM ( you need administrator)
echo * example : psexec -c -i -s ftype_wipe.bat )
echo * be VERY carful when editing/adding extensions
echo * a backup of the registry is performed just in case too
echo ------------------------------------------------
echo This will wipe all users and reg keys for Windows Media Player because ... when has windows media player ever played anything but windows media ...stop jacking what you cant play!
echo ------------------------------------------------
echo This is and example command line I use to set VLC as my player for .MOV files
echo assoc .mov=mov
echo ftype mov=%CD%\media\VLCPortable\VLCPortable.exe "%%1"
echo ------------------------------------------------
echo "rmccurdy.com"
pause
echo Backing up registry to %SystemRoot%\temp\
REG EXPORT HKCR %SystemRoot%\temp\HKCR_%date:~-4,4%%date:~-7,2%%date:~-10,2%.reg
REG EXPORT HKU %SystemRoot%\temp\c:\HKU_%date:~-4,4%%date:~-7,2%%date:~-10,2%.reg
for %%j IN (.MMS,.WTV,.3G2,.3GP,.ADTS,.AIFF,.ASF,.ASX,.AU,.AVI,.CDA,.M2TS,.m3u,.M4A,.MIDI,.mov,.mp3,.mp4,.MPEG,.TTS,.WAV,.WAX,.wma,.WMD,.WMS,.WMV,.WMZ,.WPL,.WVX) do (
for /f %%i IN ('wmic path win32_useraccount where "name like '%%'" get sid') do (
echo wiping %%i %%j
reg delete "HKCR\%%j" /f 2> %temp%\null
reg delete "HKU\%%i\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\%%j" /f 2> %temp%\null
reg delete "HKU\%%i\%%j" /f 2> %temp%\null
)
)
*edit because I got a -1 vote ...
