# Windows: Breaking a file association **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-breaking-a-file-association/307197 "2005-06-06T20:14:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-breaking-a-file-association/307197/1 "2005-06-06T20:14:52Z")
. . . when you can’t find the extension in File Types. This is Windows 98 SE, by the way. I finally got around to buying _The Sims_ – with _TS2_ out the price dropped on the original and it runs on this creaky inherited system. Anyway, I’ve started poking around the bones of the program and, as anyone who’s done so knows, there are an awful lot of .iff files for objects. Since I also have Adobe Photoshop 5.5 installed, that extension is associatated with it and whenever I accidently click on one in WE, PS opens up then finds it can’t parse the file. So I go to the help files for PS and discover that it thinks, “_The Amiga™ Interchange File Format (IFF) is used for working with Video Toaster and transferring files to and from the Commodore Amiga system._” Hmmm, doesn’t sound like anything I’m likely to run into; I’ll just go to Folder Options/File Types and remove the entry there and associate it with IFFPencil. So I go to the As – nothing for Amiga, and the four Adobe entries don’t include .iff. I look in the Cs – no Commodore. I look in P – no Photoshop. I look in V – no Video Toaster. I click on every stinkin’ entry in the table – at no time does the .iff extension show up. I try to add .iff – Explorer chides me that “_The extension ‘.iff’ is already in use by file type ‘Photoshop.IFFFile’. Choose another extension._” Back to the list – nope, no Photoshop. So now I’m stumped. I think I can uninstall PS, then reinstall it. I _think_ there’s an installation option where you can pick and choose which file types the application will be working with, but it’s been a long time since I installed PS last and can’t be sure. Can anyone come up with an alternative method? Just where is that little bugger hiding? DD ---
**Author:** ![Anvil\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cab0a1/32.png) [@Anvil\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anvil_Soup)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-breaking-a-file-association/307197/2 "2005-06-06T20:31:43Z")
I don’t have a win98 machine handy, but in 2000/XP the file extension associations are maintained in the registry at HKEY\_CURRENT\_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts (I would assume they’d be there or someplace similar in win98.) If you’re comfortable with regedit, this is probably the easiest place to start. If not, ignore this and wait for someone to give a more user-friendly tip. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-breaking-a-file-association/307197/3 "2005-06-06T20:43:37Z")
Well, I’m at work on a Mac, with my Windows 98 at home, so I may be mis-remembering. But this might work - Right click on any \*\*\*.iff file, choosing "Open with . . . " rather than “Open.” You should get a list of possible options, with a choice to look for other options. Pick one of these choices, and make it the default by clicking in the “Make this option the default” box. ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-breaking-a-file-association/307197/4 "2005-06-06T20:59:35Z")
> [@Papermache Prince](#): > > Well, I’m at work on a Mac, with my Windows 98 at home, so I may be mis-remembering. > > But this might work - > > Right click on any \*\*\*.iff file, choosing "Open with . . . " rather than “Open.” You should get a list of possible options, with a choice to look for other options. Pick one of these choices, and make it the default by clicking in the “Make this option the default” box. Actually, in 98SE you have to Shift+Right Click to get the “Open with…” menu item, otherwise it doesn’t show up if the file type is already registered. ---
**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-breaking-a-file-association/307197/5 "2005-06-06T21:21:06Z")
I can’t remember if Win98 had the assoc command or not, but you could try opening up a command prompt and typing: ```auto assoc .iff= ``` and then hitting enter. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-breaking-a-file-association/307197/6 "2005-06-06T23:21:10Z")
> [@critter42](#): > > Actually, in 98SE you have to Shift+Right Click to get the “Open with…” menu item, otherwise it doesn’t show up if the file type is already registered. Bingo! That did the trick. Once again distributed knowledge comes through. Thank you. DD