Windows batch file not running when I double click, how do I restore the association with cmd.exe?

Question

Windows 8 64-bit. The user I'm logged in as has admin rights. When I open a cmd windows the window title even says "Administrator: cmd.exe".

So, I set my .bat file association to have the .bat file opened in Notepad++, and now I can't set it back to run the bat file when I double click on it. I've tried several web pages which told me to edit the registry to no avail.

When I do try to merge a .reg file into my PC, I get an error "You do not have permissions" or something. My user is not "administrator" but my user "chuck" does have admin rights. It always has.

1. I tried this method, the .reg file merged without error this time, but when I double click on a .bat file it still opens in Notepad++. I downloaded the file to change the .bat file assoc only. Do I have to restart the PC?

2. I also tried making the registry edits here: click here. It didn't work either.

3. The .bat file extension cannot be changed in the Associate File Extension with a Program in the Control panel. When I try to associate cmd.exe with a .bat file I get an error like "You cannot associate that program with this file."

4. I found this link but there is no .bat file entry under FileExts. Also on this link I have no no UserChoice key to delete for HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.b‌​at\UserChoice.

5. Rebooted PC, I still have the same problem. I will make sure Notepad++ is not restoring associations with itself each time it runs. EDIT: As far as NPP preferences are concerned, it does not register .bat files.

Any more ideas? I have been dealing with this for 3 months off and on now.

NOTE: Some fixes for this problem work on Windows 7 but DO NOT work on Windows 8.

---

UPDATE: Fixed it. I had to

1. Make a shortcut to regedt32.exe on my desktop.
2. Right click shortcut and do "Run As Administrator", even though my user has admin rights.
3. Search the whole registry for the string "notepad" whereon I found the sneaky little thing here: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\\**Roaming**\OpenWith\FileExts\\.bat and deleted the UserChoice item.
4. Reboot windows.

Answer 1

Restoring cmd, bat and exe associations work differently from other file types.

To restore these, run CMD.EXE as Administrator, then:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6003]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>assoc .bat=exefile
.bat=exefile

C:\Windows\system32>assoc .cmd=exefile
.cmd=exefile

That's it!

Answer 2

I have the same problem on Windows 10. I solved it by following the steps below.

1. run regedit with admin privilege. on Windows 10, open any Explorer window (i.e., file folder), press 'Alt-F S A' (without the quote nor the spaces), and PowerShell window will open. type 'regedit', then return. the regedit window will open.
2. go to \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft.

3. search for '.bat', specifying that whole field must be the same. on my computer it happens to be at: \HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts.bat

4. verify that there is a 'UserChoice', which specifies the editor or whatever you specified.

5. remove 'UserChoice'.
6. exit regedit.

Now double click on any .bat file and it should run.

I did not need to restart my PC, which runs Windows 10.

Answer 3

This assumes you are an administrator

You can set associations from the command line start->run->enter 'cmd' (no quotes) and press enter

Then type

cmd /c assoc .bat

This will give you the filetype the OS thinks a .bat file is/does/whatever

cmd /c ftype batfile

This will give you the command which runs when you 'execute' the file - assuming that the first command returns '.bat=batfile' you need to set the association and you do so with this command

Ftype batfile="%1" %*