4 ms·

Honestly the way this works in Window 10 is already insanely infuriating. If anyone has a way to programmatically set associations in Windows 10 and prevent Win

Honestly the way this works in Window 10 is already insanely infuriating. If anyone has a way to programmatically set associations in Windows 10 and prevent Windows from ever complaining about it I would really fucking love to hear it. I dearly miss the days I could just set all my media associations to VLC/IrfanView with two clicks. I can't imagine I'll u̶s̶e̶- buy Windows 11 at this point with Proton being at the stage it is and my work/hobbies having moved away from the last few programs that ran exclusively on Windows. I want a computer that does what I tell it to. Microsoft and I are no longer aligned on this at all.

deleted 5y ago
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gnu8 5y ago
Part of the reason for not allowing default apps to be set programmatically is that everyone else was abusive with this functionality. You’d install some 3rd party app and it would hijack your default settings to use their shit program. Or malware would do something like set a file association for .exe files so every program launch would relaunch their malware. At least this way, only Microsoft is abusing the user and there is one set location to fix things. Not that they aren’t extremely presumptuous about it, but at least it only comes from the one vendor and not all of them.
- errantspark 5y ago
  I fundamentally disagree with this philosophy. I get that Microsoft wants the average user not to shoot themselves in the foot and that's what Win Home edition can do. If I have Win Pro there should at least be an easy "i know the risks, please give me back all my foot-guns" button that does away with all this stuff in one click. An anecdote: I recently bought an android based MP3 player, it's locked down to only be able to use a couple different apps because it's a tiny device with a small battery and running standard android stuff results in terrible battery life and performance. All that is true and yet the company behind it provides clear instructions on how to REMOVE this limit and even leaves the bootloader completely open so you can flash your own roms. I find it hard to put into words the warm fuzzy feeling I got when I realized that I wouldn't have to spend time fighting arbitrary restrictions on something I bought. It was truly an unexpected breath of fresh air.
- onkoe 5y ago
  That still speaks to another problem in the Windows ecosystem - that is the installation of applications. Maybe Winget will help with that, but we can only hope they add its functionality to the Microsoft Store as well so it can become mainstream :)
10000truths 5y ago
Default file associations can programmatically be retrieved and applied through DISM: Dism.exe /Online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:C:\Users\Foo\MyAssociations.xml Dism.exe /Online /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:C:\Users\Foo\MyAssociations.xml You might need to run it as administrator for it to work.

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gnu8 5y ago

Part of the reason for not allowing default apps to be set programmatically is that everyone else was abusive with this functionality. You’d install some 3rd party app and it would hijack your default settings to use their shit program. Or malware would do something like set a file association for .exe files so every program launch would relaunch their malware. At least this way, only Microsoft is abusing the user and there is one set location to fix things. Not that they aren’t extremely presumptuous about it, but at least it only comes from the one vendor and not all of them.

errantspark 5y ago
I fundamentally disagree with this philosophy. I get that Microsoft wants the average user not to shoot themselves in the foot and that's what Win Home edition can do. If I have Win Pro there should at least be an easy "i know the risks, please give me back all my foot-guns" button that does away with all this stuff in one click. An anecdote: I recently bought an android based MP3 player, it's locked down to only be able to use a couple different apps because it's a tiny device with a small battery and running standard android stuff results in terrible battery life and performance. All that is true and yet the company behind it provides clear instructions on how to REMOVE this limit and even leaves the bootloader completely open so you can flash your own roms. I find it hard to put into words the warm fuzzy feeling I got when I realized that I wouldn't have to spend time fighting arbitrary restrictions on something I bought. It was truly an unexpected breath of fresh air.
onkoe 5y ago
That still speaks to another problem in the Windows ecosystem - that is the installation of applications. Maybe Winget will help with that, but we can only hope they add its functionality to the Microsoft Store as well so it can become mainstream :)

10000truths 5y ago

Default file associations can programmatically be retrieved and applied through DISM: Dism.exe /Online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:C:\Users\Foo\MyAssociations.xml Dism.exe /Online /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:C:\Users\Foo\MyAssociations.xml You might need to run it as administrator for it to work.