reg file opening with notepad

Question

for some reason, now, when i doubleclick a reg-file to merge it with the registry, it is opening with notepad instead of merging into the registry as it has done in the past.. i don't know how this happened.. i still have the option in explorer's context menu to merge the file, but before, they would automatically merge instead of opening with notepad when i doubleclicked them..

i created a reg-file for testing by exporting a regkey using regedit, and, in properties, it shows that the file opens with notepad..

Mary G · Answer

This is actually a safety feature so you don't accidently Merge a key. The default action is Edit. To merge, right click and choose it. You can reset the default action to merge.

Denny Denham · Answer

redwolfe_98,

Open Windows Explorer and go to Tools|Options|File Types tab. Scroll down and select REG and click the Advanced button. On the dialog that opens click to select Merge then click "Make Default." That will return the actions on .reg files to normal. Changing the default to Edit, which is what happened on your system, prevents users from inadvertently merging a .reg file when it is double-clicked, but that is not the default behavior.

Windows General

reg file opening with notepad

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