Is there a way to disable "how do you want to open this file?" msg?

Hi there,

whenever I install a new program, Windows now asks me, whether I want to use the current program I already have or the new program to open a supported filetype.



Since I'm quite certain that I know if and when I want to change the program I use, I find the "how do you want to open this file?" prompt just plain annoying. Is there any way to disable it completely?

Strangely enough I couldn't google the answer...

TIA
SoWhy

Hello SoWhy, and welcome to windowssh blog.

This may be able to help turn that off.

New App Installed Notification - Enable or Disable in Windows 10

UPDATE:Nope. It doesn't help.

Thanks for the quick reply. I found the Registry method when googling but the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsExplorer no longer exists. The Group Policy option was new to me though.

Apparently the text of the prompt has been changed from "How do you want to open this type of file from now on?" to "how do you want to open this file?" at some point, which was the reason I couldn't find the thread. For everyone else as confused as me: The group policy edit works!

I have a thread about this, too.

So does that tutorial cover this situation, too? I ask because the tutorial says that it gets rid of the dialog box that appears if you click on the actual notification itself, not opening a file that has a default program. So will following the tutorial cover this situation, too?

It should.

Thanks for the quick reply. I found the Registry method when googling but the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsExplorer no longer exists. The Group Policy option was new to me though.

Apparently the text of the prompt has been changed from "How do you want to open this type of file from now on?" to "how do you want to open this file?" at some point, which was the reason I couldn't find the thread. For everyone else as confused as me: The group policy edit works!

Great news.

Yep, the registry keys are not there by default. You would need to add them either using the .reg downloads or Group Policy.

Thanks for the quick reply. I found the Registry method when googling but the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsExplorer no longer exists. The Group Policy option was new to me though.

Apparently the text of the prompt has been changed from "How do you want to open this type of file from now on?" to "how do you want to open this file?" at some point, which was the reason I couldn't find the thread. For everyone else as confused as me: The group policy edit works!

Same here. The registry edit did not work, but the Group Policy fix seems to have done the job. Thanks for the tip!!

UPDATE: apparently, I was a little hasty in saying that the Group Policy change worked. I'm still getting the notification in many cases.

Alex, just curious...did you try creating the keys when you attempted it? Or did you just see that they didn't exist and not mess with it?

Alex, just curious...did you try creating the keys when you attempted it? Or did you just see that they didn't exist and not mess with it?

I downloaded the "Disable_New_App_Installed_Notification.reg" file and ran it. I assume that made the necessary registry change as I do have that value in the registry.

So to be clear, neither the Group Policy nor the registry fix worked for you to solve this problem?

I have not tested this yet (and won't for a few days), but I am trying to see what other people are experiencing right now because this is a huge issue in a work environment where we don't want users getting this dialog box.