XnView Software

XnView 1.82.2

Windows XP Professional SP2, and all updates as of February 14, 2006

Problem: Every time I set file associations in XnView, they stay for awhile (a matter of hours), but then come undone for some reason.

The file types are not becoming associated with any other third-party viewer. Instead, when the problem occurs, Windows is opening them by default in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

I'm running as a member of the Administrators group.

This is not a registry permissions issue.

I've tried going to Options > Associations, and doing the "Restore All" > "The most used" routine. It doesn't work.

Right now, under Options > Associations, XnView shows JPG files as being associated. Yet, when I double click a JPG file, the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer opens the file. There is no ".JPG" key at all under HKCR or HKCU\Software\Classes.

Sometimes, if I play around under Options > Associations long enough, I can manage to associate files temporarily (i.e. get them to open in XnView correctly, when double clicked). Other times, I can spend 15 minutes screwing around, with no change occurring.

I have been using the Use registry to save options setting (for performance reasons), but I'm going to try disabling that setting, to see if it makes a difference.

Using Sysinternals Regmon, I can see what's happening, though it may not be the exact, full problem. When I try setting just the BMP association (as a test), XnView correctly creates the master file type (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\XnView.bmp), but it does not create the file type key itself (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp).

XnView should not assume that file type keys already exist (e.g. HKCR\.bmp, HKCR\.jpg, etc.).

Actually, even after manually creating the file type keys, XnView doesn't update the value of (Default).

nameless wrote:Using Sysinternals Regmon, I can see what's happening, though it may not be the exact, full problem. When I try setting just the BMP association (as a test), XnView correctly creates the master file type (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\XnView.bmp), but it does not create the file type key itself (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp).

XnView should not assume that file type keys already exist (e.g. HKCR\.bmp, HKCR\.jpg, etc.).

Actually, even after manually creating the file type keys, XnView doesn't update the value of (Default).

Strange, i've checked and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp is created by XnView too.
Are you in admin account?

xnview wrote:

nameless wrote:Using Sysinternals Regmon, I can see what's happening, though it may not be the exact, full problem. When I try setting just the BMP association (as a test), XnView correctly creates the master file type (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\XnView.bmp), but it does not create the file type key itself (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp).

XnView should not assume that file type keys already exist (e.g. HKCR\.bmp, HKCR\.jpg, etc.).

Actually, even after manually creating the file type keys, XnView doesn't update the value of (Default).

Strange, i've checked and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp is created by XnView too.
Are you in admin account?

Yes, as mentioned above, I'm running with Administrator privileges. XnView does not create keys such as HKCR\.bmp on my system. I've created them all manually now (quite a lot of work, I assure you), and so far it is all working.

I previously used ACDSee 7.0, and this problem never occurred. I've never had this problem before, at all.

I don't know why, but XnView doesn't create the necessary registry keys...

nameless wrote:

xnview wrote:

nameless wrote:Using Sysinternals Regmon, I can see what's happening, though it may not be the exact, full problem. When I try setting just the BMP association (as a test), XnView correctly creates the master file type (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\XnView.bmp), but it does not create the file type key itself (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp).

XnView should not assume that file type keys already exist (e.g. HKCR\.bmp, HKCR\.jpg, etc.).

Actually, even after manually creating the file type keys, XnView doesn't update the value of (Default).

Strange, i've checked and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp is created by XnView too.
Are you in admin account?

Yes, as mentioned above, I'm running with Administrator privileges. XnView does not create keys such as HKCR\.bmp on my system. I've created them all manually now (quite a lot of work, I assure you), and so far it is all working.

I previously used ACDSee 7.0, and this problem never occurred. I've never had this problem before, at all.

I don't know why, but XnView doesn't create the necessary registry keys...

Someone with the same problem????

Yes, I have similar problem too. I had to manually update the default values of HKCR\.bmp, HKCR\.jpg (and its variation), HKCR\.gif, HKCR\.png, HKCR\.tif (and its variation), and HKCR\.emf so they'd point to XnView.bmp, XnView.jpg etc..., otherwise the XP's default viewer will always kick in.

Changing the Associations in Options doesn't change anything at all.

I don't save the settings in registry. They are in the default .ini file, and I have admin right.

Also, I am not sure if this bug is related but it also shows that either the installer or the XnView itself doesn't update registry correctly: I first installed XnView 1.82.2 normal version in %WinDrive%\Program Files\XnView, start it, then only set association to open JP2 files, then I uninstall it later, then without reboot I install 1.82.2 full-pack version in %AnotherDrive%\Programs\XnView, start it, set the association to JP2 again, but it doesn't work. Double clicking on a jp2 file and I get the error message of XnView can't be found. When I check the registry I found HKCR\XnView.jp2\shell\open\command was still pointing to the folder of first install (%WinDrive%\Program Files\XnView), and of course, the DefaultIcon too. Manually updated it and it works now, but then XnView itself doesn't update the value no matter how I try. It looks as if it only checks the presence of the key but not its value.

Hope this helps. I am running XP-SP1 with a Sempron 2600+.

shadeless wrote:Also, I am not sure if this bug is related but it also shows that either the installer or the XnView itself doesn't update registry correctly: I first installed XnView 1.82.2 normal version in %WinDrive%\Program Files\XnView, start it, then only set association to open JP2 files, then I uninstall it later, then without reboot I install 1.82.2 full-pack version in %AnotherDrive%\Programs\XnView, start it, set the association to JP2 again, but it doesn't work. Double clicking on a jp2 file and I get the error message of XnView can't be found. When I check the registry I found HKCR\XnView.jp2\shell\open\command was still pointing to the folder of first install (%WinDrive%\Program Files\XnView), and of course, the DefaultIcon too. Manually updated it and it works now, but then XnView itself doesn't update the value no matter how I try. It looks as if it only checks the presence of the key but not its value.

Strange i've tested and registry is updated with good path for me

Still can't make it work with 1.82.3. In fact the Associations setting in the Options doesn't seem to make any change to the registry regarding those not most-used format in my case. Trying to associate Eri-chan format, for example, don't make any change. Then if try to turn off the association, clic OK to close the Options dialog, then go back again to the Association setting, it is still turned on!? This happens with other not-most-used extensions too. Once I turned it on it remains on and can't turn it off... But regardless the setting the double clic still doesn't work if I don't make manual changes to the registry.

I am using Japanese Windows XP, could this be the cause? Or it was because of the way I uninstalled and reinstalled the program? I copied the XnView.ini in the original install folder directly to the new install folder, could this have affected anything? Or is this a particular problem with the full-package version, not the standard version?

Either way, it's kind of time-consuming to have to manually change the registry, and I am not even sure if I am doing it properly (creating an extension in the HKCR then make its default to XnView.images seems to work but is that enough?). In case this bug is just particular in my case, I wonder if there is any reg file available to create the associations at once?

I really don't think that your Japanese language environment has anything to do with it. I'm using US English and seem to have the same problems.

I'm running XnView 1.82.3, and the problem is still there. I've tried the Restore All function, uninstalling/reinstalling XnView, storing settings to the INI file, storing settings in the registry--nothing works.

I see one very strange thing about XnViews file association behavior. Normally, you have a file type key, and a master file type key that it points to. For example:
Which points to: But XnView seems to depend on the FileExts key, rather than a standard file type key:
I don't know if this is some alternate way of making file extensions work, but it isn't working for me.

nameless wrote:

Code: Select all

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.bmp

I don't know if this is some alternate way of making file extensions work, but it isn't working for me.

Yes i use it, because there is some problem on Xp with HKEY_ROOT key...

But it's strange that you have not HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\XnView.bmp