What could be causing assoc to say "the system cannot find the file specified"?

Question

I am running assoc from an administrative command prompt

I'd like to add an entry for .vbsc in my list of associations. It won't let me, Though it will let me do one for .vbsd And it is running assoc. (if it wasn't finding assoc it'd say it's not recognized). So what's going on?

I do have a program(a wrapper for cscript.exe) that I wrote that I have linked to .vbsc files, it does attach, though as you see from the grep, it doesn't get listed listed in assoc for some reason, which is an oddity, but the oddity i'm asking about here(which may be related), is why does assoc .vbsc= on my machine say "The system cannot find the file specified"?

C:\>assoc .vbsc=  <--- fails, i'd expect it to work
The system cannot find the file specified.

C:\>assoc .abc=  <-- works, no error

C:\>assoc .abcd= <-- works, no error

C:\>assoc .vbsd=  <-- works, no error

C:\>

and for a reminder of what it shown when a command isn't recognized.

C:\>hjghjgjhgjh
'hjghjgjhgjh' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\>

and more info

C:\>assoc | grep -i vbs
.vbs=VBSFile

C:\>ftype | grep -i vbs
VBSFile=C:\blah\mycscriptwrapper.exe %1
VBS_Cscr=C:\blah\mycscriptwrapper.exe %1

C:\>

added clarification

and if anybody finds the above rather hard to understand with the arrows and descriptions, and prefers no english and just a screenshot, here is a link to such a screenshot, it shows just the main part of what is above.

and it gets stranger.

Jozef has suggested something which I think might essentially be the breakthrough. Doing reg query hkcr\.vbsc and with /s. Comparing that with .abc shows differences.

UPDATE I will merge this into jozef's answer.. but here temporarily as a record.

    C:\Users\harvey>reg query hkcr\.vbsc

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vbsc\OpenWithList
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vbsc\PersistentHandler
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vbsc\Shell

    C:\Users\harvey>reg query hkcr\.vbsc  /s

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vbsc\OpenWithList

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vbsc\PersistentHandler
        OriginalPersistentHandler    REG_SZ    {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
    }

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vbsc\Shell

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vbsc\Shell\Open

    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vbsc\Shell\Open\Command
        (Default)    REG_EXPAND_SZ    VBS_Cscr


    C:\Users\harvey>

with .abc, even with

assoc abc=RAZ

(and even with ftype set it's still only this for .abc )

C:\Users\harvey>reg query hkcr\.abc

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.abc
    (Default)    REG_SZ    RAZ


C:\Users\harvey>

with ftype set you also get this key 

ftype RAZ=c:\blah\blah.exe

C:\Users\harvey>reg query hkcr\RAZ /s

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\RAZ\Shell

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\RAZ\Shell\Open

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\RAZ\Shell\Open\Command
    (Default)    REG_EXPAND_SZ    c:\blah\blah.exe


C:\Users\harvey>

C:\Users\harvey>reg delete hkcr\.vbsc
Permanently delete the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vbsc (Yes/No)? y
The operation completed successfully.

and now it works.. no idea how those other entries got there.. possibly a mix of 'default programs editor' and start.."change the file type associated with a specific extension" and making a .vbsc icon and choosing a program with open with, and assoc.

Answer 1

added note from barlop -- solution was the troubleshooting step of reg query hkcr\.vbsd and with /s will among other things, include values. This differs from hkcr.abcd and the solution is to delete the key. Let assoc produce the key and what is necessary within that key. ----

After all explanation, I can reproduce the problem:

C:\Windows\system32> assoc .vbsd=

C:\Windows\system32> assoc .vbsd=abc
.vbsd=abc

C:\Windows\system32> assoc .vbsd=

C:\Windows\system32> assoc .vbsd=

C:\Windows\system32> reg add HKCR\.vbsd\AnyKeyName /f
The operation completed successfully.

C:\Windows\system32> assoc .vbsd=
The system cannot find the file specified.

C:\Windows\system32> reg delete HKCR\.vbsd\AnyKeyName /f
The operation completed successfully.

C:\Windows\system32> assoc .vbsd=

C:\Windows\system32> assoc .vbsd=

C:\Windows\system32>

Here are protocols from Process Monitor: successful assoc .vbsd=

"Process Name","Operation","Path","Result","Detail"
"cmd.exe","RegQueryKey","HKLM","SUCCESS","Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0"
"cmd.exe","RegOpenKey","HKCR","SUCCESS","Desired Access: Maximum Allowed, Granted Access: All Access"
"cmd.exe","RegQueryKey","HKCR","SUCCESS","Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0"
"cmd.exe","RegOpenKey","HKCR\.vbsd","SUCCESS","Desired Access: Delete"
"cmd.exe","RegDeleteKey","HKCR\.vbsd","SUCCESS",""
"cmd.exe","RegCloseKey","HKCR\.vbsd","SUCCESS",""
"cmd.exe","RegQueryKey","HKLM","SUCCESS","Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0"
"cmd.exe","RegOpenKey","HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer","SUCCESS","Desired Access: Query Value"
"cmd.exe","RegQueryValue","HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\GlobalAssocChangedCounter","SUCCESS","Type: REG_DWORD, Length: 4, Data: 108"
"cmd.exe","RegCloseKey","HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer","SUCCESS",""
"cmd.exe","RegQueryKey","HKLM","SUCCESS","Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0"
"cmd.exe","RegCreateKey","HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer","SUCCESS","Desired Access: Set Value, Disposition: REG_OPENED_EXISTING_KEY"
"cmd.exe","RegSetValue","HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\GlobalAssocChangedCounter","SUCCESS","Type: REG_DWORD, Length: 4, Data: 109"
"cmd.exe","RegCloseKey","HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer","SUCCESS",""
"cmd.exe","RegCloseKey","HKCR","SUCCESS",""

And unsuccessful assoc .vbsd= with unexpected The system cannot find the file specified message:

"Process Name","Operation","Path","Result","Detail"
"cmd.exe","RegQueryKey","HKLM","SUCCESS","Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0"
"cmd.exe","RegOpenKey","HKCR","SUCCESS","Desired Access: Maximum Allowed, Granted Access: All Access"
"cmd.exe","RegQueryKey","HKCR","SUCCESS","Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0"
"cmd.exe","RegOpenKey","HKCR\.vbsd","SUCCESS","Desired Access: Delete"
"cmd.exe","RegDeleteKey","HKCR\.vbsd","CANNOT DELETE",""
"cmd.exe","RegCloseKey","HKCR\.vbsd","SUCCESS",""
"cmd.exe","RegQueryKey","HKCR","SUCCESS","Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0"
"cmd.exe","RegOpenKey","HKCR\.vbsd","SUCCESS","Desired Access: Maximum Allowed, Granted Access: All Access"
"cmd.exe","RegDeleteValue","HKCR\.vbsd\(Default)","NAME NOT FOUND",""
"cmd.exe","RegCloseKey","HKCR\.vbsd","SUCCESS",""
"cmd.exe","RegCloseKey","HKCR","SUCCESS",""

Unfortunately, I can't discover where subkeys under HKCR\.vbsc come from in your case.

added note from barlop --- As to where it came from, I think it was a combination of 'default programs editor' and start/orb.."change the file type associated with a specific extension" and making a .vbsc icon and choosing a program with open with, and assoc ----