The file associations for .LNK files on a Vista Home Premium SP1 computer have changed from their default association to another application program, ie. Internet Explorer Picture Viewer, with the result that none of the program shortcut icons or desktop icons launch their respective programs - they all attempt to launch Explorer. Changing the file association on an individual shortcut results in all shortcuts being changed to the selected program. Is there a way to change the .LNK file associations back to the Windows default in order to relate the shortcuts to their respective application program?

http://cid-4fc3e8fc77f77286.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/lnkfix.zip

Compress the zip file and simply double click the .reg file and it will some add registry entries, restart the computer and see if the issue is resolved.

Hope this helps!

• Proposed as answer by Error_Counter Friday, May 22, 2009 11:28 PM

• Proposed as answer by eniwei Tuesday, February 09, 2010 4:37 PM

Hi Boogysk,

Thans for the post.
You can restore the file associations for .lnk filetype by running a registry fix from the following link.
http://www.winhelponline.com/fileasso/lnkfix_vista.zip  

I am sure it should work.
Check it out.

• Proposed as answer by eniwei Tuesday, February 09, 2010 4:37 PM

Hi Sean,

Your post was extremely helpful...saved me lots of stress :)

Thanks for your advice. The error was fixed straight away.

Hi Sean

Just to let you know that you have made another person very happy. After trying to resolve this exact same issue (Windows 7) for 2 hours. I searched the web and found your solution. It worked first time.

Thank you.

Error Counter,

I cannot thank you enough for your simple solution to what appeared to be a complex problem!  I took a leap of faith that there wasn't anything bad in running that file, and all the darned .LNK obsession my new Win 7 laptop had developed has disappeared.  I really appreciate that your method did not involve my having to unzip stuff, access the sacred registry, etc. 

BTW, do you know a way for file extensions to show in Win 7 without making the .LNK mess?  That's how it all began, I suspect.  I'm an old DOS user, so I really like to see what is what, and Win 7 seems to be determined not to let me know.  After all these years, using DOS, Win 3.1, Win 95, 98 and XP Pro, I couldn't believe that Win7 seems the least user friendly!  Go figure.  Perhaps I'll change that opinion over time, though.  Again, thanks, and to anyone who is afraid to just do it, it works like a charm!

Sincerely, Gini

Error Counter,

Does it work with XP Pro as well?  I understand that it works on Vist and Win7 but what about XP Pro?  Thanks in advance.

Holy ____ Error counter. i cant thank you enough for this, been looking for a week (not very hard, but still looking.) and finally, finally my links work again.....im super freakin stoked....now immma go play some halo, USING MY NOW WORKING DESKTOP LINK. Thanks bro.

oh i have windows 7 x64 bit BTW

Nice Link everyone I fix my problem in 1 second! thanks a lot.

http://cid-4fc3e8fc77f77286.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/lnkfix.zip

Don't forget to unzip

This worked fo me on XP> http://rapidshare.com/files/405904508/lnk_and_exe_fix.rar.html

(both fixes and instructions)

I had same prob with lnk and exe files.

I can upload seperately if you are unable to decompress the rarred files.

I'm sure it was an issue with adwatch.exe that caused the initial problem, unticking "automatic " stopped the problem recuring.

Error Counter that fixed the problem try for ages to fix with other things but yous link fixed it first go thanks for your help.

glummy

Got the same 'fix' from another site and didn't fix mine.  Still searching before I reload the whole thing

hey sean ,

ur ink zip just worked for my girlfriend's laptop in windows 7 os,

thank u very much :)

hey!!

thanx a lot for the help....it really worked....thanx again!

OMG i love you guys, =D just i got one little thing, as all my programs were changed to link files all the icons are unable to change to the real ones, so i got like 50 things on my desktop with all the same icon, and it doesn't allow me to change them?  and yes i am admin of my PC...

it works GREAT!! with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit.

Can i Please get some help
byronbay_007@hotmail.com

• Edited by 1Byron Monday, October 04, 2010 10:38 AM Edit

Try to download the registry fix file from here:

http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/105/1/File-association-fixes-for-Windows-Vista.html

Click on either exe or lnk from the blue box to download. Unzip and import the registry file and restart. I worked fine for me this morning.

Hope that helps.

Tam

Hi, thanks for the post. We can modify registry to fix the issue. Let's download the file below:

 

http://cid-4fc3e8fc77f77286.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/lnkfix.zip

 

Compress the zip file and simply double click the .reg file and it will some add registry entries, restart the computer and see if the issue is resolved.

 

Hope this helps!

Hey guys, its been long time. The link is working but looks like tis damaged can any1 post the reg or zip?

BTW: what causes this issue? is it a trojon /virus? my nephew did some mess with my lappy :(

• Proposed as answer by mscarz_techgeek Wednesday, August 21, 2013 3:54 AM

Thanks man you rock, This worked for windows7 too :D

made my day!!! 5/5 :)

Thank you a gazillion times it worked like a charm on Vista SP1.

It's nice to actually receive a tried and true resolution for a common problem. So many posts are untried or only work for the person who made the post. 

Thank you for this resolution, as I only wish I found it 8 hours earlier :(

Thanks so much! This file worked perfect on my Windows 7! I couldn't even get this problem resolved at my local tech store, this is great!

thnx a lot man

you help me just in middle of my revision for exams

again, thnx loads

I"m not sure if it was installing Open Office or the file search I did right before, but I surely wandered into one of the biggest computer mine fields of my career. Every icon had went all white and nothing would work. Not from the desktop... Start/Programs. Nothing. We're talking about my poor Win7 pooter going from a champ to a boat anchor in about 3 seconds. 

I did manage to get Firefox going and finally found my way to you. I had tried every other piece of advice.

Anyway, I ran the program, rebooted, and I'm back to the way it is sposed to be. I have NO idea what that fix does...but it WORKED!!!  MANY greatful thanks.

If all of your icons have gone berserk, all with that goofy .lnk extension, all the same, and not working..grab the little restore program and run it. No guess work or buttons to push. Run it, see it say all fixed, and then reboot. All happy then! Three seconds flat.

Mega Monster Thanks!!!

Norm

Thanks Error counter

This is perfect, I got my issue fixed.

Thanks alot for your technical support. As per the directions in the solution, I just down loaded the http://cid-4fc3e8fc77f77286.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/lnkfix.zip and installed. Then I made my computer to restart. Problem was solved.

Onceagain I thank you for your support

m paul prasad. 

@Error_Counter

It worked...! on Win 7 as well!

thanks

Thank you very much Error Encounter !! you just saved my day and health!!

It worked like magic after searching through the internet for a whole day!!

Regards

Hey Error_counter this file association type was making my mind sick for almost 3 hrs but coz of ur link with just 1 click and restart i was surprised to c every thing fine ,,,thank u vry much error counter bundle of thanx and hats off to u.

for all others! it also works on windows 7....

sean zhu: man i tried this and downloaded the infix file but when i double click on it ,its  registry editing has been disabled by your administrator...please give me solution for this problem

best  and the easiest solution thanks dude you are just.. tooo great

THIS FILE IS A LIFE SAVER thank you so much :D

Hello, I had the identical problem on my Windows 7 highest version. Actually how it happened> I received over the SKYPE connection a .jpg picture file. Normally I open these in Windows Live Gallery. This time, it asked me, what program I want to open it in. I must have unintenmtionally, without a second thought hit the Windows Photo Gallery (different from above)  and probably indicated to always associate it with this type of files. The picture did not open, but it changed all my icons on my desktop from .exe  to .exe.lnk  Thereafter I could not get to my programs from the icons.

Thanks to the Post by Sewan Zhu - MSFT -- on  May 19, 2010 at 6:26 AM -- after two days of going around in circles I resolved my problem in less then two minutes. Thank you,  Leslie

I had the identical problem as BOOGYSK on Monday, May 18 2009  11:21 PM -- on my Windows 7 highest version (Laptop) as BOOGYSK. 

Actually how it happened: I received over the SKYPE connection a .jpg picture file. Normally I open these in Windows Live Gallery. This time, it asked me, what program I want to open it in. I must have unintentionally, without a second thought hit the Windows Photo Gallery (different from above) and probably indicated to always associate it with this type of files. The picture did not open, but it changed all my icons on my desktop from .exe to .exe.lnk Thereafter I could not get to my programs from the icons.

Thanks to the Post by Sewan Zhu - MSFT -- on May 19, 2010 at 6:26 AM -- after two days of going around in circles I resolved my problem in less then two minutes.

Thank you, Leslie

Hi, thanks for the post. We can modify registry to fix the issue. Let's download the file below:

 

http://cid-4fc3e8fc77f77286.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/lnkfix.zip

 

Compress the zip file and simply double click the .reg file and it will some add registry entries, restart the computer and see if the issue is resolved.

 

Hope this helps!

i have had this problem via a windows movie maker video and now everything on my desktop goes white...i have tryed the vista .lnk file but it just keeps coming up with a wordpad file? plz help me as i cannot open any of my games.

little late i know and you probably fixed it by now, but for those with the same issue...

if you are unable to execute the .reg file:

manually link your .reg files to the regeditor

start > enter "%windir%\system32\control.exe /name Microsoft.DefaultPrograms" in the search bar end enter.

choose associate a file type or protocol with a specific program,

scroll down to the .reg extension

double click the extension and double click the Register editor icon.

if the icon is not there browse for it, it usually is located in "C:\Windows"

now you are able to start the reg file to restore your icons

regards,

Marcel

3 years ago and it's still the answer. 

thanks so much!

hi bro i owe you big time i was going to restore my window. but saw ur link ..thnx a lot man....life saver

God bless u

This work too :)

10 cents from burn ;)

• Proposed as answer by Paul Kappler Sunday, March 17, 2013 12:22 AM

i got it fixed right now, means today... too 

pheew, what a relief! :P

If your using windows 7. Try this

1. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.lnk 

Note:  Make sure you back up the FileExts folder before deleting the UserChoice Folder

2. Delete the UserChoice folder

3. Restart your computer

• Proposed as answer by vykram Monday, May 06, 2013 3:03 AM

Thanks Error Counter,

The Fix also works with windows 7.

Cheers

OMG.  Can't believe that the fix worked within seconds after I've spent hours of total frustration getting nowhere.

Thanks Error Counter, I'll buy your drink any time you like.

Grumpyoldbloke now happyoldbloke.

Thanks again.

Thank you so much! Works perfectly fine in Windows 7 Ultimate. Thumbs up for this info. :)

-here at Philippines.

Thank,s man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank,s...

i don't know how i did it but all of my programs even solitare has an icon of windows documents.  also i don't know how to unzip a file or remove what your instructions are telling me to do to get rid of this .LNK file. once i download a fix, i have windows 7

can you PLEASE walk me through it? 

can u help me?  i don't know what i did but somehow all of my programs have the 'windows documents' icon, can't even open solitare.

i don't understand what exactly to download to fix or get rid of .LINK file.  i also do not know how to unzip and then take out what? 

would you please help me?

thank you

diane

once u download the infix.zip folder what do you do for it to run and return all the files back to normall

Hi, thanks for the post. We can modify registry to fix the issue. Let's download the file below:

 

http://cid-4fc3e8fc77f77286.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/lnkfix.zip

 

Compress the zip file and simply double click the .reg file and it will some add registry entries, restart the computer and see if the issue is resolved.

 

Hope this helps!

Hey Error_Counter  

Thanks so much!!!! This worked for my laptop. I thought I would have to take it to a computer shop or something bc I couldn't fix it myself and all my programs and files were changed to lnk. You saved me a lot time and money. Thanks again!!!

Nice!

As I'm on a computer with no administrator privilege, this solution resolved my file associacion problem.

Great! Thanks!

this solution works to my user.. I've tried downloading those unassociate.exe but it doesn't work at all.. i just deleted some values under .lnk, leaving OpenWithList and OpenWithProgids and restart the whole pc.. all icons was back to normal..

thanks a lot! 

So, 4 years later the link fix STILL works on Windows 7! Just fixed a client of mine who opened a link from a dropbox file. It changed all her icons to .lnk association. Ran the registry fix and it worked great. Immediately I had programs back. I was trying to figure out how to get the images for the icons back to normal - I went and changed one and all of them changed back upon refresh. I would probably suggest a reboot of the machine as a good practice, too.

Thanks for the solution! I like things that work!

Just go to this site:

http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/unassociate-file-types-windows-7-vista/

You'll download a file (I swear it's not infected, tried it myself) and then be able to eliminate the .lnk extension.

Hope this helped, it sure helped me.

Thank you so much, I was very dubious about using this program because I don't know too much about computers, and the one drive site looked very strange to me, but it works very well and I am so grateful, I thought my PC was dead for sure.

thank you

Thank You Error_Counter

The http://www.winhelponline.com/fileasso/lnkfix_vista.zip link helped after trying countless programs that asked for money.

Jessica

works great thanks so much would you have a fix to restore the icons and make the programs show as exe as mine are sill showing as lnk and the reason why i ended up with this cause i chose windows explorer in system 32 which i was told is supposed to fix the open up all default issue as i set mine 7zip by accident for all 

i have windows 7 

It works as a magic for WIN 7

                                           Thanks!

Hiii...

Thank's for the post

It's work for me.

Hi Boogysk,

Thans for the post.
You can restore the file associations for .lnk filetype by running a registry fix from the following link.
.. link .. <- can't post it here cause this forum wants to verify my account. I just wanna say thanks and get the h3ll out of here :)
I am sure it should work.
Check it out.

I'm not reviving old thread, but I had encountered this problem today, July 24 2014 and found your post Boogysk. It had helped me in windows 7. I had accidently associated .lnk to windows media player. I tried the registry delete (manually) from other website, it made all shortcut icons to turn white and if let's say I create a winword shortcut, same result occurs. If I associate winword.lnk to open winword, all other shortcuts will open winword, and this sir, is a royal pain in the @$$.

Once again, thanks a gazillion times. You saved me from formating my computer. KUDOS.

Restore .lnk default behavior

1. Remove the unwanted registry change
2. Click Start Menu, and then type regedit in the Start Search and press ENTER.
3. Browse to the following registry branch:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.lnk
4. Click on the arrow to expand it and delete the sub-key named UserChoice.
5. Exit from Registry Editor and reboot your machine.

Thank you very much for the "clarification". One would obviously feel safer editing the registry onself than "clicking on an icon/link". 

On the other hand, the original lnkfix.vista.reg did solve my problem on a Windows 7 Home Premium edition. So, kudos to you both.