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With Windows 7 I could easily use the Open With context menu to add a new program which would thereafter appear in the Open With menu (I can't remember the exact sequence, but it was easy and worked fine). However I have now upgraded to Windows 10. The programs that I associated with my particular file extension in W7 still appear in the Open With menu in W10. If I want to add another one I select "Choose Another App". However, any app I add with W10 does not appear in the Open With menu - I have to select Choose Another App every time to get to it. I now have two lists of available apps, one in Open With (the ones I set up with W7) and one in Open With | Choose Another App (the ones I set up with W10). It's not exactly a show stopper but it's irritating. Does anyone know what this is all about and how I can get the apps into the main Open With menu?

Dave
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  • I seem to have been marked down for lack of research effort. Actually I've hunted all over the web for an answer to this - to no avail. – Dave Mar 23 '17 at 13:39

2 Answers2

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The reason why it doesn't appear in "Open with" menu is most likely because application's VERSIONINFO is not properly filled out with all the relevant details. If you are application developer you should create VERSIONINFO resource as clarified here:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/menurc/versioninfo-resource

If you are not the developer, then you can still fix this by editing registry - see here:

https://superuser.com/questions/1199648/strange-open-with-list-inconsistent-with-registry/1256482#1256482

Basically under the registry key: Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\MuiCache there should be 2 keys for YourExampleApp:

One that ends with .FriendlyAppName

One that ends with .ApplicationCompany

For example:

C:\Program Files (x86)\ExampleApp\YourExampleApp.exe.FriendlyAppName

C:\Program Files (x86)\ExampleApp\YourExampleApp.exe.ApplicationCompany

Most likely one of these 2 is missing which causes the application to be dropped out of the "Open with" menu.

The MuiCache list is cached from the properties of the application's VERSIONINFO resource embedded in the application, so if such resource is missing from the application, some items may be missing from the cache as well. For more details have a look at the above references.

Coder12345
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Coder12345 had the correct answer for me, thanks a ton! I would like to expand on it briefly; I wanted Shotcut to appear in the first open with... context menu. I had to add the registry entry for ApplicationCompany. It appears that it doesn't matter what you put for the value of that key, just as long as it's there. No restart of file explorer was required, the change takes place immediately.

Also, the FriendlyAppName changes what text appears in the open with submenu. Shotcut appeared as shotcut.exe so I changed it to just Shotcut.

Jerm
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