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I am using Picasa Photo Viewer and have associated all JPG and PNG files to open with it. However when I open an image from the Recent Items list in the Windows 7 Start Menu it opens with Windows Photo Viewer.

recent items with images

The context menu for such items reveals no actions that would make it go to Windows Photo Viewer, and the default (one in bold) opens with the Picasa viewer as you'd expect. It's just that the left click behaves differently for some reason.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

The output from reg query hkcr\.jpg /s:

C:\Users\Jay>reg query hkcr\.jpg /s
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg
        Content Type    REG_SZ    image/jpeg
    (Default)    REG_SZ    jpegfile
    PerceivedType    REG_SZ    image
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\OpenWithList
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\OpenWithList\ehshell.exe
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\OpenWithList\Illustrator.exe
    (Default)    REG_SZ
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\OpenWithList\ois.exe
    (Default)    REG_SZ
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\OpenWithProgids
    jpegfile    REG_SZ
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg\PersistentHandler
    (Default)    REG_SZ    {098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}

The output from reg query hkcr\jpegfile /s:

C:\Users\Jay>reg query hkcr\jpegfile /s

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile
    (Default)    REG_SZ    JPEG Image
    EditFlags    REG_DWORD    0x10000
    FriendlyTypeName    REG_EXPAND_SZ    @%SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll,-305
96
    ImageOptionFlags    REG_DWORD    0x1

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\CLSID
    (Default)    REG_SZ    {25336920-03F9-11cf-8FD0-00AA00686F13}

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\DefaultIcon
    (Default)    REG_EXPAND_SZ    %SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll,-72

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell\open
    MuiVerb    REG_EXPAND_SZ    @%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\photoviewer
.dll,-3043

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell\open\command
    (Default)    REG_EXPAND_SZ    %SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe "%ProgramFi
les%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll", ImageView_Fullscreen %1

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell\open\DropTarget
    Clsid    REG_SZ    {FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell\printto

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell\printto\command
    (Default)    REG_EXPAND_SZ    "%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe" "%SystemR
oot%\System32\shimgvw.dll",ImageView_PrintTo /pt "%1" "%2" "%3" "%4"
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  • Could you post the output of reg query hkcr\.jpg /s and reg query hkcr\jpegfile /s?
    – Hugh Allen
    May 12, 2010 at 5:44
  • @Hugh Allen: nice find, I think you might have it there, but why are these references there when my default is clearly Picasa?
    – Jay Wick
    May 12, 2010 at 10:16
  • I guess Recent Items remembers file as well as the application which opened the file last.
    – Vasyl Boroviak
    May 13, 2010 at 9:05

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1
+100

You should be able to fix it using the registry editor. Run regedit.exe and navigate to the key

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell\open\command

Change the (Default) value to the path (and filename) of Picasa Photo Viewer. You might also like to delete the MuiVerb value in the shell\open key - I think it will affect the text displayed for the "open" action in the context menu.

EDIT: it might be better to do the following instead: navigate to

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.jpg

and change the (Default) value to Google.PhotoViewer.3.0 (assuming you have at least version 3 of Picasa)

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  • out of curiosity is there a reason why my defaults have not been reflected on the registry? JPGs open with Picasa anyway, the registry obviously thinks not.
    – Jay Wick
    May 14, 2010 at 21:59
  • @jay: I don't know. I don't see any reference to Picasa in the output you posted. You could try querying hkcu\Software\Classes\.jpg, hkcu\Software\Classes\jpegfile, hklm\Software\Classes\.jpg, and hklm\Software\Classes\jpegfile and report the results. Do you perhaps have a 64-bit version of Windows? (in which case you might have to look under hklm\Software\WOW6432Node - see support.microsoft.com/kb/305097 )
    – Hugh Allen
    May 15, 2010 at 8:03
  • I changed the default of HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell\open to Google.PhotoViewer.3.0. And the original problem I had is solved. For some reason, Windows 7 no longer changes the shell\open\command, instead it changes defaults through HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.jpg\UserChoice. And for some reason the Recent Items menu ignored it and referred back to the (unchanged) \shell\open\command. Although this does raise more questions (for a later day). Anyway, thanks heaps!
    – Jay Wick
    May 17, 2010 at 0:40
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Do:
Start -> "All Programs" -> "Picasa 3" -> "Configure Picasa Photo Viewer"
to configure which image types it will be the default viewer for.

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