Program doesn't show up in Other Programs in Open With Menu

Question

ever since i upgraded PHPstorm the file association to it has been lost so when i go to the Open With setting to change which program a .php or .xml file opens with, when i go to browse and select C:\Program Files (x86)\JetBrains\PhpStorm 6.0\bin\PhpStorm.exe and hit open it doesn't appear in Other Programs or Recommended Programs and when i hit OK it just associates the original program it was associated with (which happens to be the selected)

this problem isn't just PHPStorm, it happens with Notepad++ since as an alternative i can associate a .php file with notepad++ but it does the exact same thing

i am wondering what's going on and if there is an alternative way to associate files with programs

NOTE: this only happens on my workplace PC, it has never happened on C.C (Home/Gaming/Personal Work PC)

Solution 1

Since you tagged the question with Windows 7, I'm guessing you have Windows 7. If you want to continue using the "Open With" context menu, then create a shortcut of the program you use a lot, and place it here:

C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

Just replace your username with the foldername that corresponds to your Windows logon username.

Edit: If you want to create a special context menu option which will be static and outside of the "Send To" submenu section, you can add the below code to your Registry. Open Notepad and paste this below in, then save it as OpenWithPHPstorm.reg. I use this code for a Static notepad.exe context menu

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Open with PHPstorm]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Open with PHPstorm\command]
@="c:\path\to\phpstorm.exe %1"

Edit 2: You could also try right clicking on a phpstorm file, Selecting Properties, and then selecting Change... next to "Opens With", then find and select PHPstorm. This is another way to try and force the association.

Solution 2

I was having the same problem. What I did to fix this was searched in regedit for "php" and eventually i noticed a value that was reflecting the location of the first version of phpstorm was but the location is invalid and because of this, it wont add to the open with context menu. Just find it and update the value and you should be good to go

Solution 3

If your program/app is installed to somewhere other than "Program Files" Windows 7 has trouble including it in these lists. It's usually better to stick with OS defaults.

Solution 4

Have you tried using "Default Programs" to change the file-type association? I'm assuming you're on Windows Vista or above:

Open up Default Programs by clicking Start and typing Default Programs. Click on "Associate a filetype or protocol with a program".

Once that finishes discovering filetypes, select the file type you want to change the default program for and select "Change program". Choose the program from the list and Accept.

Solution 5

I have the same problem today, here is how I fix the issue. run regedit, and search the application name, you wiil see the one of the result in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\"your exe".exe\shell\open\command\ then change the default value back to the absolute directory to your exe, eg: "D:\AA\bb.exe" "%1"

that's it.

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Comments

[Memor-X]

just tried it however it's still doing the same, for both PHPStorm and Notepad++

[Memor-X]

that works but considering that i have a bunch of other programs that's added stuff to the right click menu and the send to menu has a crap load of network drives on it phpstorm will eventually get lost, i would like to know what the problem is

[Pat]

I'm not familiar with phpstorm, so not sure what's wrong with it. I've edited my answer with another potential solution you could try.

[Memor-X]

Properties -> Open with doesn't work either, think the problems likes in the window which lists the programs to open with, the registry solution was a better open since it's near the top, would i be right to guess if i did HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\Common Programs\Open with PHPStorm\command i could create an option called Common Programs which opens a sub menu with PHP Storm, like i said before, the problem isn't just PHPStorm, Notepad++ does the same and who knows how many others

[tcrosley]

This worked perfectly for me also. In the registry, the entry for Phpstorm.exe/shell/open/command had "C:\Program Files (x86)\JetBrains\PhpStorm 4.0.1\bin\PhpStorm.exe" "%1" I changed the 4.0.1 to 6.0.2 and Phpstorm then showed up in the recommended programs list.

[andyface]

you'd hope this kind of thing would be something the developer would change rather than having to do it manually every time you update phpstorm

[Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style]

May be in need of comment conversion.

[Youssef]

I wanted to comment, but it says I must have 50 reputation !

[Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style]

You should be able to press flag and then the option in need of moderator intervention and then ask them to convert to a comment I suppose. This popped up in the review module for being such a short answer so I looked at only the answer without seeing all the other answers from this post but there are a lot of short answers here. Maybe your answer is fine on this old question, I'll let others decide that though; that was just a comment and guess what.... I may be wrong so move forward how you please but work on getting your rep up so you can comment, poke around the site, Help, etc...

[MotherDawg]

My own opinion of this answer is it's just a patch, a work around. It does not fix the issue. See below for what fixed it for me.

[MotherDawg]

Wouldn't you know? A post that actually points toward a cause. Personally, both "Program Files" on the system drive is for windows stuff. I never install anything in there. For system related apps, I create a folders named "Programs" on the system drive. I install all other apps to a second drive. See below for the fix that worked for me. THX Ropata

[MotherDawg]

As you say Zdong, That Is It !!! - For what ever reason, there was no path to executables, just the names of the executable itself. I added the paths and voîlà! The applications are now appearing as options in Windows' “Open With” dialog and it now saves the associations. -- Zdong, Your tha man! THX Dude.