Can't Associate File Types in Windows 7 64 Bit

[Donald Macnaughton]

Dear Group,

 

I’m using SPSS 20 under Windows 7, 64 bit.  After installing SPSS 20 I then installed SPSS 19 (for fallback in case of problems).  Now all the SPSS file extensions are associated with SPSS 19.  I would like them to be associated with SPSS 20, but if I try to change the associations with Set Associations under Default Program in the control panel, the changes fail.  This is apparently a known Windows problem that may be due to improper registration of programs in the registry, as you can see at http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/problems-with-file-association-in-windows-7-64-bit/8a84fcec-22df-4942-8e35-d98dbe96e327

 

Does anyone have a solution short of reinstalling SPSS 20?

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Don Macnaughton

[J. R. Carroll]

Hi Don,

I apologize for being terse, but after reading the link you posted, it appears there is a solution (short of doing a clean wipe/install).  

" After playing around a lil I think I've figured it out.. [for me at least..]
The program that you're pointing to isn't registered correctly.
In regedit: Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications and find your .exe name. 
Navigate under its name to shell>open>command. In the Default change its location to the actual location of the executable, hit okay and then try and reassociate the file type as you normally would.
Let me know if that doesn't seem to work."

Source:  http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/problems-with-file-association-in-windows-7-64-bit/8a84fcec-22df-4942-8e35-d98dbe96e327

Have you tried this as a solution?  (it wasn't clear if you attempted to go through the registry and only tried to do change the association via control panel).

If you are unable to fix it via the registry there won't be much you can do (that I know of) short of reinstalling.  You can try a different (manual) approach to get the association correct.  Right click on the file -> Open With -> Search for SPSS 20 and tell it to open up.  I've had success getting my files to open correctly when the file associations are mixed up.

(maybe uninstall 19... and force reassociation with 20?)

Good luck,

-JR Carroll

On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 2:05 PM, Donald Macnaughton <[hidden email]> wrote:

Dear Group,

 

I’m using SPSS 20 under Windows 7, 64 bit.  After installing SPSS 20 I then installed SPSS 19 (for fallback in case of problems).  Now all the SPSS file extensions are associated with SPSS 19.  I would like them to be associated with SPSS 20, but if I try to change the associations with Set Associations under Default Program in the control panel, the changes fail.  This is apparently a known Windows problem that may be due to improper registration of programs in the registry, as you can see at http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/problems-with-file-association-in-windows-7-64-bit/8a84fcec-22df-4942-8e35-d98dbe96e327

 

Does anyone have a solution short of reinstalling SPSS 20?

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Don Macnaughton

[Donald Macnaughton]

Dear JR Carroll,

 

Thank you for your suggestion below.  I had earlier tried the regedit solution, but I found nothing in Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications related to IBM, SPSS, or STATS.exe (which is the name of the SPSS 20 and SPSS 19 executable).  Thus it appears that SPSS isn’t recorded in the registry on my machine in a way that’s consistent with the answer from Microsoft about fixing the problem.

 

I apologize for omitting that I had already actually tried the Microsoft-recommended solution.

 

Don Macnaughton

 

 

From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of J. R. Carroll
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2012 5:19 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Can't Associate File Types in Windows 7 64 Bit

 

Hi Don,

 

I apologize for being terse, but after reading the link you posted, it appears there is a solution (short of doing a clean wipe/install).  

 

" After playing around a lil I think I've figured it out.. [for me at least..]
The program that you're pointing to isn't registered correctly.
In regedit: Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications and find your .exe name. 
Navigate under its name to shell>open>command. In the Default change its location to the actual location of the executable, hit okay and then try and reassociate the file type as you normally would.
Let me know if that doesn't seem to work."

 

Source:  http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/problems-with-file-association-in-windows-7-64-bit/8a84fcec-22df-4942-8e35-d98dbe96e327

 

 

Have you tried this as a solution?  (it wasn't clear if you attempted to go through the registry and only tried to do change the association via control panel).

 

If you are unable to fix it via the registry there won't be much you can do (that I know of) short of reinstalling.  You can try a different (manual) approach to get the association correct.  Right click on the file -> Open With -> Search for SPSS 20 and tell it to open up.  I've had success getting my files to open correctly when the file associations are mixed up.

 

(maybe uninstall 19... and force reassociation with 20?)

 

Good luck,

 

-JR Carroll

 

 

On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 2:05 PM, Donald Macnaughton <[hidden email]> wrote:

Dear Group,

 

I’m using SPSS 20 under Windows 7, 64 bit.  After installing SPSS 20 I then installed SPSS 19 (for fallback in case of problems).  Now all the SPSS file extensions are associated with SPSS 19.  I would like them to be associated with SPSS 20, but if I try to change the associations with Set Associations under Default Program in the control panel, the changes fail.  This is apparently a known Windows problem that may be due to improper registration of programs in the registry, as you can see at http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/problems-with-file-association-in-windows-7-64-bit/8a84fcec-22df-4942-8e35-d98dbe96e327

 

Does anyone have a solution short of reinstalling SPSS 20?

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Don Macnaughton