cfg file shown in Notepad format

[skysurfer 76]

Hello.

When I accessed p3d.cfg file I chose option 'Open with' Notepad and accidentally clicked Always Open check mark. Now all my cfg like files are shown as notepad. These type of files look like Notepad even though extention still sown .cfg.  I cannot figure out how to revert it back to cfg format. 

Thanks for looking. 

[jbriales 0]

I use the Take Ownership in Context Menu. And you can download App @ https://winaero.com/.
For any cfg. T.O. 1st then save it. Works all the time.

[skysurfer 76]

I have googled how to take ownership and it looked it is a whole great deal process. I would need to mess around with registry 🙂 

I will take a look at that software, may be it will be easier way. Thanks for the advice.   

[JRBarrett 3,070]

5 hours ago, skysurfer said:

Hello.

When I accessed p3d.cfg file I chose option 'Open with' Notepad and accidentally clicked Always Open check mark. Now all my cfg like files are shown as notepad. These type of files look like Notepad even though extention still sown .cfg.  I cannot figure out how to revert it back to cfg format. 

Thanks for looking. 

The graphic to the left of each config file simply shows that Notepad is the app currently associated with any file with .cfg as an extension.

Since all .cfg files in P3D are plain text files, (for which Notepad would indeed be the correct default app for opening and editing), why would you not want the permanent Notepad association? With the association in place, all you have to do is double click any .cfg file, and it will automatically load it into Notepad. Saves the trouble of having to specify Notepad each time. 

I can explain how to disassociate Notepad from .cfg, and it doesn’t require any special software or registry edits, but before I do, I want to be sure that’s what you really want.  Not sure I understand why you see this as being a problem...

Edited July 5, 2020 by JRBarrett

[skysurfer 76]

It is not a real problem to be honest. Maybe a personal preference.  

[edpatino 1,964]

If you want to jump another bit ahead, look for Notepad++ and associate your CFG files with it. It's a lot better than the default Notepad.

Cheers, Ed

[JRBarrett 3,070]

5 hours ago, skysurfer said:

It is not a real problem to be honest. Maybe a personal preference.  

For me, having the blue Notepad icon next to the config files is an advantage, because it makes them stand out when viewing the contents of a folder. Important to understand that the blue Notepad icon does not represent a "file format", it just shows that files with .cfg extensions are currently using Notepad for viewing/editing.

I also have Notepad assigned as the default app to open .log and .ini files, which are also almost always plain text files.

But, if you really want to break the association with Notepad, proceed as follows:

The important thing to understand is that Notepad is an executable program, and in Windows, only an executable program can open files. What you are going to do is associate another file as the default app for .cfg files which is not actually an executable program.

First, find a .cfg file in Windows Explorer, and copy it to your Desktop to make it easy to find later.

Right click on the .cfg file, and from the resulting menu choose "open with" then "choose another app".

You will get a dialog box that says "How do you want to open this app?" Notepad will already show at the top of this dialog as the current default app assigned to open .cfg files.

Put a check mark in the box that says "always use this app to open .cfg files", then click on the blue text "more apps"

This will display a list of various executable apps installed on your PC. Scroll down to the bottom of that list and click on the blue text that says "look for another app on this PC".

This will display a Windows Explorer file window, that should open by default in the "C:\Program Files" folder.

In the lower right-hand corner, next to the "File name:" box, you will see "Programs (*.exe, .pif, *com." 

Click the downward-pointing right arrow next to that and change the box to "All Files(*.*)"

Now, in the left side of the Explorer window, click on "Desktop", and find the .cfg file you saved there earlier. Click on it, which should copy it to the "File Name:" box.

Finally, click on the "Open" button This will bring up an immediate (and expected) blue error message that says "This app can't run on your PC". Click the Close button.

What you have done in this process is to tell Windows to open .cfg files with... .cfg files! Since a file with a .cfg extension is really just a text file, (and not an executable program), Windows will display the error box that says the app cannot run on the PC. After you close that error message, you will find that the association between Notepad and .cfg files no longer exists, and all .cfg files on your PC will now have just a blank white box next to the file name instead of the blue Notepad symbol. 

Going forward, you will have to right-click a .cfg file, and specifically choose Notepad to open it.

 

 

Edited July 5, 2020 by JRBarrett

[skysurfer 76]

Jim. That did the trick. Thanks so much. I have installed Notepad++ and will give it a try. Looks like a good prog to have it. 

Thanks you all very much as well. 🙂

 

Edited July 5, 2020 by skysurfer