I am unable to set a file association (e.g. opening cif files with enCIFer) on Windows 11

Modified on Thu, 1 Aug, 2024 at 12:16 PM

If this happened after you updated the software or moved it to a different location, it is a result of a bug in Windows 11, which gets confused when an executable file is moved and fails to update the association. The workaround is to delete the existing registry keys so that Windows allows you to create a new association via the normal Windows methods. For the example of associating cif files with enCIFer the keys to delete are

Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.cif
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\encifer.exe


Was this article helpful?

That’s Great!

Thank you for your feedback

Sorry! We couldn't be helpful

Thank you for your feedback

Let us know how can we improve this article!

Select at least one of the reasons
CAPTCHA verification is required.

Feedback sent

We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article