Vista File Association Error - PLEASE HELP

When trying to start any program from any location (including installation files - looks like just .exe) i get the following error:

"This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Set Associations control panel."

Can someone please tell me what happened? I tried doing a system restore to before it started doing this, but no luck.

This error applies to an shortcuts, programs, most things in control panel, etc.

Many thanks to anyone who can provide some help.

 

Chances are that there is a filoe association for exe files when there should be none. Try this fix (for XP, but it will work in Vista):

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/fileassoc/xp_exe_fix.zip

 

Did System Restore complete and not fix this? That would be very strange?

Can you confirm whether this problem exists in another User Account other than the one you normally use? You can create one or enable the Guest Account to test.

Anyway here is an article which seems to address your problem for starters >>

http://jtbworld.blogspot.com/2007/03/have-you-lost-your-exe-file-extension.html

or here:

http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/165/1/

 

apparently the file association has been disbanded for .reg files as well. Is there any way to add these file associations to the registry manually?

 

Can you get regedit to run?

Find regedit.exe. Copy it to a folder on your desktop. Rename it "regedit.com". Place the reg file in the folder. Open a command prompt in the folder and type:

regedit.com <filename>.reg

(whatever the name of the reg file is). Answer "Yes" to merging it with your registry.

 

File association fixes for Windows Vista
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/105/1/

 

The attached "INF" file may be what you need -- it works to reset all basic file associations in previous versions and I don't see why it wouldn't work in Vista as well. Works when regedit doesn't work to enable it.

You may still need to run the previous exe fix to delete that "user choice" key in the regisry if that is a part of the problem.

To run the "inf" fix, download it, unzip it fully, right click on it and select "install" from the right click menu.