How to create multiple Windows file extensions with different descriptions but identical actions?

Question

In Windows 7, is it possible to have different file extensions with unique description names, but all the same actions, without duplicating all the actions (for each extension) in the Windows registry?

As a simple contrived example, have these file extensions and descriptions:

File extension: .txt 
Description: "Text File"

File extension: .no
Description: "No Way"

File extension: .yes
Description: "Absolutely"

By "Description", I'm referring to the description that Windows displays in the Type column in Windows Explorer & native open/save dialog boxes.

With all three extensions having identical open, edit, print, printtto, et. al. context menu commands (actions).

This is trivial to accomplish if you are okay with all the descriptive names being the same for all the extensions, but that is not what I want.

I'm fine manually editing the Windows registry to get this accomplished.

Note that I would prefer to avoid "User Choice" overrides, but if that's a requirement to get this done, so be it.

Answer 1

Create the file type at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\my_yes_file normally, then create the shell subkey as a symbolic link pointing to \MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\txtfile\shell.

Windows supports symlinks in the Registry through the API but the standard tools cannot create them; you'll need third-party software (as described in this blog post).

Searching GitHub found CreateRegSymlink.ps1 (a C# program pretending to be a PowerShell script) and mkreglink.

Answer 2

You can specify the actions once and use them for multiple extensions, each extension keeping its own other settings.

You would give this common action a name and store the data under that name:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
-- myname
---- open
------ command
---- print
------ command

Your extensions will use myname this way:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
-- .txt
---- (Default) is myname
-- .no
---- (Default) is myname

Each extension can have its own other data.