"Open With" dialog ignores my selection

"The registry key shown above was my problem.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\MSACCESS.EXE\shell\open\command

Should read:

""C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\MSACCESS.EXE"" ""%1""

for access 2010.

It still had the entry:

""C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\MSACCESS.EXE"" ""%1""

for office 2007.

The file does not exist in that location so it did not appear in the application selector until I changed the entry.

Once I updated the registry I was ableto select Microsoft Access directly from the list of available applications."

"I fixed the problem for my wmplayer.exe (that was missing and un-addable in the open with dialogue) by changing the

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications/wmplayer.exe\shell\open\command

from

""C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe"" ""%1""

to

""C:\Programme\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe"" ""%1""

Where Programme is the localized (german) version of 'Program Files'.
This does not make any sense to me (as when i hit ""copy path"" in the shell menu of windows explorer, the path contains Program Files. And when I add the Media Player by browsing in the ""open with"" dialogue, its also added with Program Files), but it worked as a solution, where simply deleting the reg key did not."

"I have seen cases where some dialogs don't prompt you for security elevation and do not give you a message that the change could not be made. Try doing it through control panel

Control Panel -> Programs -> Default Programs -> Set Associations

Or just type ""file open"" into the start menu search and choose ""Make a file type always open with a certain program"""

"I recently had a similar problem with all of my media file associations, and it seemed due to an obnoxious media player called DAPlayer. Even under Control Panel/Programs/Default Programs/Set Default Programs, I was unable to change the default program. Apparently, it set the UserChoice keys under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts for all of its file associations to read-only access, even for administrators. Even after uninstalling the program, all of my associations remained stuck on ""Unknown Application"".

The simplest way to fix this is to browse to that key in Regedit, right-click it and select Permissions, click the Advanced button, check ""Replace all child object permissions"", and click OK.

Or if you prefer the command line, you can use a Windows Resource Kit tool called SubInACL:

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f /grant=""%USERNAME%""=f

But be careful with bulk registry operations like this: improper use could render your system inoperable! I take no responsibility for your actions."