In Windows 10, it is possible to open different Settings panel pages using various commands. If you receive a program association error when opening such Settings page, this article may be helpful for you. The same issue can also occur when opening a third-party file on your Windows computer. The complete error message in such cases is:
This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Please install a program or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel.
If this issue or error message here are a few things, you need to do to fix the issue. A
According to some people, this particular error message can also appear if your computer is infected with the Spora ransomware. So proceed with caution in this case.
This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action
Before making any change in Registry Editor, don’t forget to backup your registry files and create a system restore point.
You need to make sure that your Windows Registry settings have not been corrupted. To do this, Run regedit to open the Registry Editor and navigate to this path-
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTLnkfile
On the right-hand side, you should find a string value called IsShortcut.
If you do not find it, you need to create it. To do so, right-click on space area on the right-hand side, select New > String value. Name it as IsShortcut. There is no need to set any value.
You need to check another value. So now navigate to this path-
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}shellManagecommand
On the right-hand side, you should find a Default string value. Make sure the following value is set as default-
%SystemRoot%system32CompMgmtLauncher.exe
In case, you do not find the command key; you need to create that under Manager key. However, you may need to Take Ownership first.
Now a wrong or missing image path can create such problem on Windows. Almost every app has a particular image path, and you need to check whether it is currently present or not. For doing this navigate to this path-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetservices[app-name]
On the right-hand side, you should find a string value called ImagePath.
Make sure it has a valid value. It should point to the exe file for that program – which is throwing up this error.
Finally, you might want to open Control Panel and set the Default Programs. In Windows 10, you can also press Win+I to open the Settings app and select System. Next, scroll down to Default Apps in the left pane and set the defaults here.