In this tutorial I’m going to explain How to Reset File Associations in Windows 10. Sometimes when you start a program, you mistakenly select the wrong program and set it to default and you only wanted to use that program to open that file type only that time.
Using this tutorial I will show you how to reset file associations in Windows 10.
There are two methods, one for setting a specific file type to a program, and the other to reset all file associations of one program back to that program.
How to Reset File Associations of a File in Windows 10
If you only want to reset the file association of one specific file type then this is the best method to use.
1. Browse to any file of the file type you want to reset, for example I will use a TXT file in this tutorial
2. Right-click the file and choose Open With and then click on “Choose a Default Program”
3. Windows will now see you this pop-up, choose the program you want to use
If the program does not appear in the list then you can click on More Options, if the program then still not shows you can click on “Look for another app on this PC” and browse to the application.
How to Reset Multiple File Associations
1. Right-click the Windows start button in the task bar and choose Control Panel, if you’re using a touch enable device you can touch and hold the button, then choose Control Panel
2. Click on Programs
3. Then click on Set your default programs
4. Click on the program that you want to set the defaults for, for example Windows Media Player
5. You now have two options: Set this program as Default or Choose Defaults for this program, choose the option you want. If you need to know which you should choose then read further below.
Set this program as Default
The program will open all files it can open, and all file associations will be set to this program, even if another program took them it will retake them.
Choose Default for this Program
If you choose this option then you will now see a list of all file types this program can open, according to the information it gave Windows during the installation, choose which files it should open and click on Save
I hope this tutorial successfully showed you how to reset file associations in Windows 10 and that files are once again being opened by the program you like!