Resolved How to get a file type association to stick

I'm having trouble getting XP to associate .stu with Pinnacle Studio. I've been able to do so in my administrative account, but not my power user account. BUT . . . I change the power user account to Administrative (verified that), rebooted, and it still will not let me associate .stu files with Pinnacle Studio.

Whether I do this through Explorer/Folder Options/File Type, or if I right click one of the files, it looks like it would make the change, but it won't stick. If I open one of the files selecting Pinnacle Studio, and click the checkmark to tell Windows to "always use the selected program to open this type of file" it still doesn't work on the one account. It just won't associate .stu with Studio on that one account.

Any ideas?

Terry

 

What is Windows trying to open the file with? When you right click and choose "open with ", do you get choices? Do you get your preferred choice listed there?
~J

 

The Pinnacle Studio is listed in the prefered list. And when I select it and hit okay, the program starts okay. The checkbox that says to use this in the future for files of this type is not grayed out.

But despite all that, the association of Studio with that file type does not happen. Next time you try to open an .stu file, the process starts over again.

All of this is with the one user. The other administrative user also was originally unassociated with the program, but when I selected it, it locked in and it Studio works correctly there. I've tried multiple reboots and this odd behavior remains.

 

File Association problem

I continue to have problems getting XP to associate a file type to a particular program. It works for one user on my computer, but not the other. Should be easy, but it isn't.

Admin: Merged with original thread.

 

Just open Windows Explorer (right click on the start button and select Explore), then go to Tools, then Folder Options, then File Types and scroll down to the file type and select the program you want to use. Once set, you should be good to go.

 

Hello Rockster2U,

I've tried that before (see my previous posts that are linked to my first message). But I just tried it again. Here is what happened:

1. Followed your steps above
2. Look in list for extension STU. It is not there.
3. Clicked "New" button and typed in STU
4. Hit the "Change" button, and popup says "Windows cannot open this file." So I select the radio button "Select Program from a list" and hit Okay.
5. "Studio program file" is one of two options listed in the "Recommended Programs" list. I select it, and make sure the window is checked at the line that says "Always use the selected program to open this type of file. "
6. Hit okay

Unfortunately, the file does not associate. I tried it a couple of times.

So then I just tried this:

1. Followed your steps above
2. Look in list for extension STU. It is not there.
3. Clicked "New" button and typed in STU
4. Clicked the "Advanced" button. Small window pops up with a dropdown for "associated file type. "
5. Looked for "Studio program file" in the dropdown list
"Studio Program file" isn't listed, however there are lots of "Pinnacle" programs. I tried one, but it didn't stick either when I hit okay.



The functionality of associating an extension with a program works for other file types (I tried changing one to something different and back again). But it doesn't seem to work with .STU, in this "power user account. "

As I noted in my previous post, .STU DOES associate with "Studio program file" in another account I have on my computer. That account happens to be an administrative account, but I don't think that is the issue, since I've tried all of this while temporarily resetting the problem account from "power user" to "administrative user."


It seems like .STU specifically is buggered up somehow in this "power user account." Could this be a corrupted registry entry, or something like that?

 

Ah, glad you mentioned that this problem is occuring with a restricted (Power User) account. I'm not that familiar with Pinnacle Studio and permissions even though I do have a couple versions (not installed) of the software itself. I don't know if there is an installation option to apply to all users or whether a seperate set of files has to be installed for each user (similar to older Office 2000 software) to provide full functionality. Let me do a little research and I'll get back to you. In the meantime, perhaps someone else will respond with an appropriate fix.

 

Repeat method 1 above again.
When done, select the STU entry in the list then click the Advanced button from below.
In the Actions pane, select the open entry then click Edit.
Verify that the Application used to perform action: field is set to the correct path, (most likely wrapped in quotes) and followed by 1 space then "%1" (in quotes as well if the path is)
You could also use the Browse button to locate and select the proper executable for launching the correct program.
When done, click OK, then select the open entry again and click Set Default.
Click OK, then Close.

 

There you go..........
And all of this while you were probably sleeping.

 

If that doesn't fix the problem, it may well be a permissions problem in the registry (Power Users do have permissions to change file associations by default) preventing it to stick. There's a relatively painless method to reset those permissions, and I would only ask if you're using Home or Pro addition prior to posting those instructions.

 

Do have or don't have?

 

That was not a typo. Power Users DO have the necessary permissions to edit or create file associations.

 

When I click the Advanced button, the "button" moves, but nothing else opens.

 

Time for me to try something else. I'm using XP Pro SP3.

 

I change the user to Adminstrative User, and tried to associate it. No luck.

I went to the Program Files folder, Pinnacle, and found Studio.exe. So I backed up the Pinnacle folder, right clicked it, went to permissions and reset to Full.

This did NOT allow me to associated to the .STU file type.

Any other ideas?

 

This procedure is documented on the Microsoft.com website for resetting registry and system file permissions, as well as default security descriptors. While it might not fix the problem, it should do no harm either. First, make the user account an Administrative User account and restart.

Now, download and install SubInACL from Microsoft.

Close out all other programs and open windows.

Highlight and copy the contents of the code box below.

Code:

cd /d  "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Resource Kits\Tools "
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /owner=administrators /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f /grant=RESTRICTED=r
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /owner=administrators /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f /grant=RESTRICTED=r
subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /owner=administrators /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f /grant=RESTRICTED=r
subinacl /subdirectories %SystemDrive% /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
subinacl /subdirectories %windir%\*.* /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose 
exit
cls

Click Start>Run and type cmd then hit enter to open a command window.
Right click in the command window and select paste.
It will take a while for the commands to process, so please be patient.
The command window should close on it's own when finished.
Reboot for the changes to take effect.

Now see if you can successfully associate the file extension.

 

What version is your software? I read last night in Pinnacle's own FAQ's about a problem with Version 9 and believe that a patch was issued to address it, however, I was trying to cover a lot of ground and would certainly want to "bone up" on this before trying to draw any parallels. Sorry that my knowledge in this regard is quite limited but you can do keyword searches in Pinnacles Knowledge Base.

In the meantime, I'd stick with Dave - if anybody can resolve this, he's the man.

 

Dave, this fixed it!!

Thanks very much.

Terry

 

Yeah! Glad to hear it Terry.

Thanks for that vote of confidence Rockster

 

I will say it was a little scary. It scanned over 100,000 lines, showed "failure" on about 14 items, and took over a half hour.

Terry