I recently lost the default file association for Zip files in Windows Vista (I think it happened when I uninstalled WinAce, but I can't be completely sure). How can I restore this association back to the Windows default?
7 Answers
Try this article from MSDN: How to restore the native Zip file integration in Windows. You only have to do this from an elevated (run as administrator) command prompt:
cmd /c assoc .zip=CompressedFolder
The first post is the long way to perform this three step process... Here is a simple and easy way to change the file association back to Windows Explorer:
Locate the file
Right click the file
Click properties
Locate the "open with" button and click it
Browse to the windows explorer to "c:\windows\explorer" and highlight the explorer file
Check use as default-apply-ok
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This works for me in Windows 7:
Remove
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zip HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zipcmd /c assoc .zip=CompressedFolder
End Result:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip]
@="CompressedFolder"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zip]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zip\OpenWithList]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zip\OpenWithProgids]
"CompressedFolder"=hex(0):
The best way is to try using the Open With... context menu to set Explorer to be the default file handler.
However, if that does not work you can try the following to force Explorer to handle ZIP file. (Source for this info)
Make a .reg file with the following:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip]
"PerceivedType"="compressed"
"Content Type"="application/x-zip-compressed"
@="CompressedFolder"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip\CompressedFolder]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.zip\UserChoice]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip\CompressedFolder\ShellNew]
"Data"=hex:50,4b,05,06,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
"ItemName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,\
6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,\
00,7a,00,69,00,70,00,66,00,6c,00,64,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,\
2d,00,31,00,30,00,31,00,39,00,34,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip\OpenWithProgids]
"CompressedFolder"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.zip\PersistentHandler]
@="{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder]
@="Compressed (zipped) Folder"
"FriendlyTypeName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,\
00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,\
32,00,5c,00,7a,00,69,00,70,00,66,00,6c,00,64,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,\
00,2c,00,2d,00,31,00,30,00,31,00,39,00,35,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\CLSID]
@="{E88DCCE0-B7B3-11d1-A9F0-00AA0060FA31}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,7a,00,69,00,\
70,00,66,00,6c,00,64,00,72,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell]
@="none"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\find]
"SuppressionPolicy"=dword:00000080
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\find\command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,45,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,\
65,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\find\ddeexec]
@="[FindFolder(\"%l\", %I)]"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\find\ddeexec\application]
@="Folders"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\find\ddeexec\topic]
@="AppProperties"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\Open]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\shell\Open\Command]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,45,00,78,00,70,00,6c,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,\
65,00,20,00,2f,00,69,00,64,00,6c,00,69,00,73,00,74,00,2c,00,25,00,49,00,2c,\
00,25,00,4c,00,00,00
"DelegateExecute"="{11dbb47c-a525-400b-9e80-a54615a090c0}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\ShellEx]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\{b8cdcb65-b1bf-4b42-9428-1dfdb7ee92af}]
@="Compressed (zipped) Folder Menu"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\ShellEx\DropHandler]
@="{ed9d80b9-d157-457b-9192-0e7280313bf0}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CompressedFolder\ShellEx\StorageHandler]
@="{E88DCCE0-B7B3-11d1-A9F0-00AA0060FA31}"
Then, in an admin command prompt type:
regsvr32 zipfldr.dll
One other suggestion I have seen is to simply go into the Default Programs editor in Control Panel and removing the association you currently have. However, this was for XP and I'm not sure that it will work for Vista. However, you may want to try this before playing around the registry.
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Try binding the Windows Compressed Folders Module directly,
start regsvr32 zipfldr.dll
Or, you could just install 7-zip which is free and much more powerful.
The quickest way is to get any .zip file and right click on it, go down to "Open with" and choose "Choose Default Program" or "other" then on this box, you should see "Windows Explorer" or whatever you used to use listed.
Click the button "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" at the bottom and then double click on the program you want to use.
This should then open up ZIP files in a new default program.
If this method does not work, I can give you the manual instructions for reassigning .zip with Explorer, but this is by far the quickest.
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