Emergency - Help Needed

Hey, today after i was using the internet, when i logged of and logged back in. I cannot access anything that has an extension of .exe. I get the following error message "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Folder Options control panel." Can somebody plz tell me how i can fix this as i cannot open or run anything that has a .exe extension. This is a really urgent matter. Any help would be really appreacited. I am running Windows XP with SP2. If u need any more info, then plz ask. Thanks.

 

Are the desktop icons different looking and do you have Norton's installed/uninstalled?

Steve

 

Registry entries for exefile are corrupted or deleted, you got to clean up your drive as soon as possible from the pest you caught on the internet. But you may not be able to run any software, since there is no more association between the extension .exe and windows. Try to fix up this way: open up a text editor (notepad) and copy-paste the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe]
@="exefile"
"Content Type"="application/x-msdownload"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe\PersistentHandler]
@="{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile]
@="Application"
"EditFlags"=hex:38,07,00,00
"TileInfo"="prop:FileDescription;Company;FileVersion"
"InfoTip"="prop:FileDescription;Company;FileVersion;Create;Size"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\DefaultIcon]
@="%1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open]
"EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command]
@="\"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas\command]
@="\"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\DropHandler]
@="{86C86720-42A0-1069-A2E8-08002B30309D}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\PifProps]
@="{86F19A00-42A0-1069-A2E9-08002B30309D}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\ShimLayer Property Page]
@="{513D916F-2A8E-4F51-AEAB-0CBC76FB1AF8}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\{B41DB860-8EE4-11D2-9906-E49FADC173CA}]
@=""


Then save it to a folder and name it Foo.reg (you need to change the extension .txt to .reg in order to fix your issue). Then right click on the file and choose Merge, say OK to the dialog box. A brand new entry will be created in your registry, allowing you to run exefiles. Note: if you can't launch any text editor, you got to create this file on another PC, assuming that the commands for .regfiles are not corrupted too...Good luck

 

Matacumbie all the desktop icons look the same. Except that most of them except for my computer, my documents and internet explorer don't work. I have got Zone Alarm installed, but it doesn't seem to be starting up. I tried the sfc /scannow command but it doesn't work because the file name has .exe.

manmachine i cannot merge any of registry files also 4 some reason. I cannot access regedit also. Otherwise i would have done it manually also.

Is there any way to get it fixed? I tried system restore, but it can't start also.

 

Look at this post about creating a batch file that just includes a command in this case regedit.exe. Don't know if it will work in your case.

 

sach2 i tried wat u asked me to, but it still gives me the same error message. Actually i don't think i did it right. Can u plz tell me step-by-step how to do it. I'm pretty sure i did something worng. Thanks.

 

This is assuming notepad won't open from the start menu. You would find a small .txt file on your computer any .txt file will do. Then right-click on it and choose open in Notepad. In Notepad>Edit>Select All>cut. Then type regedit.exe. Under File menu>Save As>(Location:desktop, A new file name[so that your original .txt file is not overwritten] Filetype .txt). Then from desktop right click on this file and rename to Name.bat (you have to have Show Extensions enabled to do this-I think you already do).

Then double click on Name.bat and see if opens regedit

********************************
Basically, your creating a file with one line in it which reads regedit.exe and naming that file with a .bat extension. Then double-clicking on it to run the file.

 

Nope. Still gives me the same error message.

 

I thought it was a long shot but was hoping it might work. I've seen posts about this before, Ill try to find another resolution.

 

This link http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?showtopic=148&st=0&p=380&#entry380
has text that bypasses regedit to edit the registry. It may be worth trying.

 

sach2 the link that u gave me in the second post had a link to another site, that fixed the problem. I had to open Task Manager, and hold down Control, and then press New Task, which opened up Command Prompt. From there, i typed in regedit.exe and it opened Registry Editor. And then i imported the file. It worked. Thanks a lot guys, i really appreacite it. Mainly thanks to sach2. You're the best!!!

Regards,
Abraham

 

Thanks for the tip! I'll try to file this away for future reference. Glad you got things working.