Skip the Annoying "Use the Web service to find the correct program" Dialog
If you've used Windows for any length of time, you've likely tried to open a file with an unknown extension. Instead of getting a list of programs to open the file with, you get an annoying dialog asking you to use a web service to find a program. So how do we change this?
You can use a registry hack to force Windows to skip this dialog altogether, and give you a list of applications to use to open the file instead, just as if you had selected the second option.
When you double-click on a file with an unknown extension, Windows presents you with this irritating dialog:
If you selected "Select a program from a list of installed programs", you would get this much more useful dialog instead:
The registry hack will show you the second Open With dialog instead of that irritating first one.
Manual Registry Hack
Open regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key (create the key if it doesn't exist)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a new 32-bit DWORD value on the right-hand side with the following values:
- Name: NoInternetOpenWith
- Value: 1
The change should be immediate, no need to restart anything. To reset back to default, set the value to 0 or delete the key.
Downloadable Registry Hack for Vista or XP
To apply the registry hack, just double-click on the DisableInternetOpenWith.reg file and enter the information into the registry.
DownloadInternetOpenWith Registry hack for Windows XP / Vista
Wow, that has been bugging me for a while. Great article!
On the ball Geek! Very useful. Is there a way to make all unknown filetypes load in notepad on first attempt?
@Chris
You can use this registry tweak (I'm pretty sure, didn't test it yet):
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell]
@="notepad"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\notepad]
@="Open with Notepad"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown\shell\notepad\command]
@="C:\\WINDOWS\\NOTEPAD.EXE %1″
I wouldn't advise doing that, though… it's better to just add notepad to the context menu.. You wouldn't want to open a huge file in notepad by accident because it's the default.
This has been bugging me for years, tyvm!
If you want this to apply to all users of the machine, use the registry key above. If you want this to apply to only the current user's profile (in your logon script for example) then make the change in HKEY_CURRENT_USER:
reg.exe add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer" /v NoInternetOpenWith /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I used this right away and exported the key to use on all my new installations, and at home.
Thanks!
Thanks. I posted your hint on my German homepage, and hope it will be useful for others as it was for me.
Excellent! This is a very nice registry edit. Thanks!
One of the best tips for Windows. Thanks you.
This is amazing, as the dialog was bugging me frequently. I DID get the "web service" to work, though, albeit once. As it turns out, it correctly associated a .doc file with Microsoft Word. Now there's genius.
Thanks again!
Awesome tip - saves my time!
Thanks again!
Thank you so much! I love that you offer the .reg file to install these things super quick!
Thanks, this is a great tip about the web service selection dialogue. Finally I can avoid to receive it.
)
Thanks. I already had that fix in my pc but I had forgotten how to set it.