I encountered a strange issue recently—after upgrading to Windows 11, the option to change the default opening method for formats like .jpg, .png, etc., in the settings became grayed out and unusable. It was impossible to change the default image viewer, forcing the use of Windows’ default Photos app.
However, on another Windows 11 computer, this issue didn’t exist. After comparing the registry, I found that it wasn’t a Windows bug but rather a restriction intentionally added to the registry by a third-party image viewer when setting the default opening method (possibly to avoid bugs in older systems).
The solution is as follows (save as a .reg file and run it):
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppX43hnxtbyyps62jhe9sqpdzxn1790zetc] "NoOpenWith"=- [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppX6eg8h5sxqq90pv53845wmnbewywdqq5h] "NoOpenWith"=- [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppX9rkaq77s0jzh1tyccadx9ghba15r6t3h] "NoOpenWith"=- [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppXk0g4vb8gvt7b93tg50ybcy892pge6jmt] "NoOpenWith"=- [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppXvhc4p7vz4b485xfp46hhk3fq3grkdgjg] "NoOpenWith"=-
After comparing the registry and writing the .reg file, I realized that a few days ago, someone from Japan had posted the exact same solution =_,=
Related reading:
https://srad.jp/comment/4096009
https://winaero.com/prevent-windows-10-from-resetting-your-default-apps/
Coxxs
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