Open .docx files with Word Starter after uninstalling trial Word 2010?

Question

I installed a Trial version of Microsoft office (against my will) as a requirement for a class I attended. Once installed all .docx files opened with Microsoft Word 2010. When the Trial ran out, i uninstalled the software and now none of my .docx files will open.

I can open them manually after opening Word Starter, but I cannot open the files directly.

I've seen people all over the internet suggest that changing the default program to "Microsoft Office Virtualization Handler" will work, and while that may technically 'be' Word Starter, it does not work.

Doing that changes my icons to a weird sheet of paper looking thing and when I double click them I get a ding error sound, no pop-up and nothing opens.

Answer 1

You simply need to repair your installation of Office Starter. This will rebuild the file associations.

Go to Programs & Features, right-click Office Starter, then click Change. The next window to open will ask you if you want to repair Office. Click yes, and after the repair, documents should open properly again.

Note:

Do not uninstall Office Starter. You cannot reinstall it unless you reformat your computer from an OEM recovery partition.