Unable to change filetype icons in XP Pro

This has got me totally frustrated!

Changing a filetype icon in Win9x was the easiest thing in the world and, while I've previously done it in XP Pro on both my desktop and laptop computers, I seem to have lost that ability. Not only that, but on my XP laptop I've lost the ability to change the program associated with a filetype.

I installed the SP1 upgrade on both computers yesterday, but don't know if the problem is associated with the upgrade, or not. A look through Group Policies turned up nothing that seems to be related. Experience tells me that both problems could be related to registry settings, but I haven't a clue where to look.

I'm stumped, so any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Jim

 

Is this just with one file-type, or all?
I have had similar problems, usually with the most common file-types. Trying to change an .nfo file from a system information file to a text file was one. Then I changed it yet again to associate it with a reader called "nfodiz" and couldn't get the program icon to change, even though the file-association stuck. Then, when I changed the icon on one, they all changed! Very frustrating.
Don't really have any advice, except that returning all of them to default associations by hitting the "Restore" button in the association section, and starting over (possibly with a logoff and logon in between), finally got it straightened out for me.

 

This happened to me before SP1, so I'm not blaming that.

 

The problems are solved, but I suppose I could have provided a bit more detail in my first post.

I see no reason to open Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, or any of the other cumbersome multimedia programs just to play a .wav file. Instead, I use a little proggie called QuickPlay.

Its icon, however, is nearly as ugly as the WMP icon, and I like the old Win9x icon (the gold colored speaker with the radiating lines), which I have saved, along with other custom icons, in an Icons folder in C:\Windows.

My problem was that, on the File Types tab of the Folder Options sheet, I had lost the Advanced button, which opens the Edit File Type sheet where the Change Icon button is found. Instead, I had a Restore button in its place. As a result, although I could assign QuickPlay as the default .wav player, I was stuck with the WMP icon for .wav files.

In the end, I did much as you did ... I restored WMP as the default .wav player, which also changed the Restore button to Advanced. That then allowed me to change both the program and the icon to what I wanted. Whew!

The problem was slightly different on my laptop ... WMP was the assigned program, along with its icon but, for some reason, I had a Restore button instead of the Advanced button, which didn't make any sense. Clicking on the Restore button didn't change the .wav player assignment or icon, but it did change the button to Advanced.

I suppose that the moral of the story is that sometimes the obvious answer really IS the right one.

Jim