How to Remove File Type Associations in Windows 10

File association can be a very useful action, however, sometimes it can cause some problems when we try to open some files because the action can be corrupted. If you are having problems with this application, we tell you how you can remove file type associations in Windows 10.

What is file type association?

File Association associates a file with a specific application that can open the fileSimilarly, a file type association associates a file type with a corresponding application. The file type is usually determined by the file name extension. For example, .docx files may be associated with Microsoft Word.

A single file extension can have more than one association to perform different actions. Specifically speaking, one application may be associated with a file extension to open these types of files, but another program may also be associated with it to open and edit the files.

File type association It is very useful, but it could be damaged. As a result, a file will be opened with another application other than the appropriate one. In this case, you need to remove file type associations so that the file will no longer open with the associated application by default.

How to remove file type associations from Windows 10

Here are 6 methods you can try to remove file type associations from Windows 10:

Method 1. Change the utility in Control Panel with the default program editor

El default program editor can help you to remove file type associations. But as Default Program Editor is an external toolkit, it needs to be installed in the system software first. After the installation of Default Program Editor, following are the steps to follow in the control panel to change the file type association utility.

• Once the Default Program Editor is installed on the system, start the program with the Control Panel.
• Go to the file type settings and click the option Remove extension.

• By doing the same, the file type associations will be removed and the Delete file type associations will be sorted and ordered easily.

Method 2. Remove file type associations from the registry

Unassociating the file type from the registry can help as a permanent solution for removing file type association. To do so, the user needs to follow some steps to remove file type associations from the registry.

• First the user must open registry editor writing "Regedit» in the start menu search.
• Click on the extension key y open the value name. Delete all data content of the value and press OK. Removing all value data content does not allow the window to associate the data with anything else.

• In Regedit, look for the File extension, delete it and then close the registry.

Method 3. Manually remove file type association for a particular application

Removing file type associations manually proves to be an excellent technique to remove the association of a particular application. For this, the following are the steps that need to be followed.

• open notepad and click the option Save as. Then, write the name of the file with the extension whose association is to be changed.
• Select the location where you want to save the file and select “ALL FILES» in save as type and click save.
• Then right click right button in the file and choose to open with. There, go to the option to select another application.
• Now Check the application you want to open the file with and click save as for all other files with the same format.

Method 4. Using Command Prompt Restore File Type Associations

El symbol of the system It remains a true tool in case you want to restore or make a change to your Windows files and systems. And so, in case of deleting file type associations, it helps the user by resetting the file type association. For that, the following are the steps to follow:

• Open the command prompt administrator and writes:

online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:”%UserProfile%\Desktop\DefaultAppAssociations.xml”.

• This will help to create a default application association file on the desktop.
• The next thing you need to do is copy the file to a USB. And also, the user must copy the bad file to the desktop.
• Now, to restore the original file contents to the system, type the following command and press Enter.

online /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:”%UserProfile%\Desktop\MyDefaultAppAssociations.xml“

• Reboot the system and check if the file has been restored.

Method 5. Using the association of unrecognized file types

Using an unrecognized file type association can help remove file type associations as it does not give the file a valid association and the system cannot find the program to open the file. To do so, follow the steps below:

• Make a copy of the file executable on your system. change the name of the data but do not change the extension type.
• Take the right click in the file and click on the open with option. Now Open the submenu to open with and click on detach file.
• Now save the file with unrecognized file type association and the problem will be solved.

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Method 6. Reset all files to their associated Microsoft default value

Last but not least, associating all files with their Microsoft default automatically eliminates file type association issues with Windows. To do so, there are two options you can try.

Option 1. Through Windows settings

• Opens Configuration on your Windows PC and open the applications in the submenu menu window settings.
• Now click on the option Default applications, which will be on the left panel.
• When you click on the default app key, the option to reset to default will appear. «Reset to Microsoft recommended defaults». Click on the reset option and then restart your computer to solve the file type association removal problem.

Option 2: Via DISM Tool

If the file type association on your computer is messed up, you can use another PC where the association is fine. To do that, you need to prepare a USB drive and follow the steps below.

• On a working computer, open command prompt as administrator.
• Enter the following command line and press the Enter key:

dism / online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:”%UserProfile%\Desktop\DefaultAppAssociations.xml”

• This will export the computer's default file association and create a .xml file on the desktop.
• Now plug in USB drive prepared for the computer and copy the file created on it. Then, unplug the USB drive and plug it into your problematic PC and move the file to the desktop.
• Run command prompt as administrator on this PC. Type the following command and press Enter:

dism / online /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:”%UserProfile%\Desktop\MyDefaultAppAssociations.xml «

• Thereafter, reboot your system and the file type association on your PC should be successfully restored.

Final words

If you are having trouble opening some files or you see errors associated with the file type association utility, we wanted to show you some methods you can follow to Remove file type associations in Windows 10 to help you resolve errors and issues. If you know of another method that we have not included, please feel free to leave it in the comments.