All Shortcuts Open with a Particular Program (How-To Fix)

12 Mar, 2019

So I encountered this problem a while back and thought I’d write up a quick how-to guide on it. Let’s say you accidentally changed all shortcuts to open with a particular program, in my case Microsoft Word. Unfortunately, the .lnk extension can’t be changed back to default as easy as a .doc or .jpg extension. It actually involves going into the registry and deleting some entries. Before doing this however, BACK UP THE REGISTRY.

1. Navigate to HKEY\CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts.lnk
2. Delete the keys inside OpenWithProgids and OpenWithList
3. Delete user choice
4. Close and restart.