J
jhg6308
THIS IS NOT A DUPLICATE - I HAVE TRIED THE EXISTING REMEDY
I have already read The file may start a different program when you run an .exe file in Windows and applied the registry fix to no effect.
This started immediately after I created a file association for
.tsv (tab-separated values) -> excel.exe
All the executable icons on my desktop changed into the Excel icon.
Any attempt to launch any .exe directly launches Excel instead and tries to open the .exe file as the input document, which of course fails with varying errors depending on whether Excel thinks the executable is merely unrecognized or possibly a plugin.
It is completely impossible to launch a .exe file by directly invoking it. This includes even cmd.exe, regedit, taskmgr, notepad, etc. If you double-click the executable, or enter its name in the Windows Start menu, Excel launches instead.
Curiously, programs that have a file association, and for which an associated document file exists, can be launched by double-clicking the associated document or data file. For example, I have the association .txt->TextPad, and can launch TextPad by opening an existing .txt file, even though launching TextPad directly (i.e. from a pinned taskbar icon) launches Excel instead.
I tried the registry fix in the article cited above. It applied without errors but did not fix the issue. I cannot start regedit in order to verify the registry changes were applied.
I then booted into the recovery command line and was able to run regedit. I mounted the correct user hive and looked for .exe file associations, and was unable to find anything that looked unusual; no mentions of excel.exe in unexpected places. Also, the registry key mentioned in the above fix (FileExts) does not exist. (Did file associations move somewhere else in Windows 10 1909 or earlier?)
Next I thought to uninstall Excel to see if that would reset the association. There is no separate entry for Excel in the apps list, only for Microsoft365. Attempting to uninstall that gives "This file does not have an app associated with int for performing this action" which I suspect is because it's trying to execute OfficeClickToRun.exe and that is failing.
I'm stumped. I can't even download the upgrade to 20H2 and run it because it comes a .exe file -- which I can't open. And it's not certain that would fix the problem
If I download and copy the ISO image to a usb stick, will I still have the in-place install option to keep all apps and data?
Continue reading...
I have already read The file may start a different program when you run an .exe file in Windows and applied the registry fix to no effect.
This started immediately after I created a file association for
.tsv (tab-separated values) -> excel.exe
All the executable icons on my desktop changed into the Excel icon.
Any attempt to launch any .exe directly launches Excel instead and tries to open the .exe file as the input document, which of course fails with varying errors depending on whether Excel thinks the executable is merely unrecognized or possibly a plugin.
It is completely impossible to launch a .exe file by directly invoking it. This includes even cmd.exe, regedit, taskmgr, notepad, etc. If you double-click the executable, or enter its name in the Windows Start menu, Excel launches instead.
Curiously, programs that have a file association, and for which an associated document file exists, can be launched by double-clicking the associated document or data file. For example, I have the association .txt->TextPad, and can launch TextPad by opening an existing .txt file, even though launching TextPad directly (i.e. from a pinned taskbar icon) launches Excel instead.
I tried the registry fix in the article cited above. It applied without errors but did not fix the issue. I cannot start regedit in order to verify the registry changes were applied.
I then booted into the recovery command line and was able to run regedit. I mounted the correct user hive and looked for .exe file associations, and was unable to find anything that looked unusual; no mentions of excel.exe in unexpected places. Also, the registry key mentioned in the above fix (FileExts) does not exist. (Did file associations move somewhere else in Windows 10 1909 or earlier?)
Next I thought to uninstall Excel to see if that would reset the association. There is no separate entry for Excel in the apps list, only for Microsoft365. Attempting to uninstall that gives "This file does not have an app associated with int for performing this action" which I suspect is because it's trying to execute OfficeClickToRun.exe and that is failing.
I'm stumped. I can't even download the upgrade to 20H2 and run it because it comes a .exe file -- which I can't open. And it's not certain that would fix the problem
If I download and copy the ISO image to a usb stick, will I still have the in-place install option to keep all apps and data?
Continue reading...