How to Enable “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” Option in Open With Dialog Box?

Question

How can I enable “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” option in Open With dialog box?

I already checked following registry entries:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer 
Value of "NoFileAssociate" Set to 0 ( as reccomended on Microsoft site )  

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\openas\command 
Value of "Default" set to 
%SystemRoot%\system32\rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1

What else should cause the “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” option to be disabled?

Answer 1

If the file you're opening has no extension, then this option will never be available.

Otherwise, try to flesh out your question with more detail on what type of files you're dealing with.

Answer 2

Sorry for this reply I realise this topic has been asleep for 3 months but I have recently discovered how to fix a similar problem on my PC and hope it will do the same for the original poster.

First off, are you sure it affects files of All types? I find it unlikely you have checked them all so I am hoping this fix will work for you.

1. Open Regedit.exe
2. Navigate to the following subkey

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts

1. Scroll down and find the file extension you are having problems with (for me it was .sln).

2. Expand it to view its sub keys.

3. Find a sub key called "UserChoice" and delete it.

Repeat steps 3 to 5 for each file extension causing you problems.

For me the "UserChoice" contained a key called "Progid" and its value was "Applications\vbexpress.exe". This was causing all of my .sln files to open with vbexpress.exe and Windows would not let me choose an alternative program (I wanted it to open with Studio2010). This problem had plagued me for a week before I finally found the above fix lol. Hope this helps.