Windows File Associations Not Working

Apologies but:
Typing in .xls in the Extensions box automatically generates:
"xls_auto_file" in the "File type of extension" box and
"excelcnv.exe" in the "Personal application for extension" box. If I then click on the arrow to the side of this box I get a standard looking "what do you want to open these files with" sort of option - from which I can select Excel (though it already seems to be pointing that way) but no change to the "Personal application for extension" box.

To finish I tried clicking on the top right button (with three ticks in it).

Still can't open an excel unless I'm in Excel though.

Picture 1.png

I have tried to attach a screenshot (above). If this doesn't work I can email it to you?

Hope you can help.

Cheers
Dave
 
Hello Dave,

I am sorry I can't offer you another workaround. We are investigating the file associations issue but we did not manage to reproduce your bug yet. We keep on working on this task and I will let you know as soon as it is fixed. We apologize for putting you to inconvenience.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
Ah well, thanks for getting back to me Xenos - any idea when the (excel) file associations problem (which I think is generic, not just me) will be fixed?
Dave
 
Hey guys,

I'd like to report the same problem. Freshly installed Parallels 5582 running freshly installed Vista, no updates. I installed Acrobat reader and also DRail (model railroad track layout editor) and both my PDF files and my DRail files were not associated.

Good luck!

Vinz.

PS: This is on a iMac 24" 2.8GHz with 2GB ram running Leopard (not updated).
 
Maybe this will work...

I have been having the same problem with the xls_auto_file association. I used WAssociate to change the extension to one of my choosing by doing the following:

1. Open WAssoc (duh!)

2. In the Extension drop-down list, type in (or scroll to) .xls. To the right, the "File type of extention" list should change to "xls_auto_file".

3. Further Right in Application for extension, EXCEL.EXE should show up. If it doesnt, you can select it using the little browser arrow to the far right. Be sure to select the Windows version of Excel

4. In the "Shell new template for extension" list, select excel.xls

5. Down to the bottom left of the WAssoc. window type you desired extension name into the "Descr file type" field. You can put whatever name you want, like "This is a pain in my ass"

6. To assign this new name, click the lightning button at the top left of the window.

7. In order to see the new file extensions take effect, you need to restart Windows.

Of course, you can do this for any of your programs, so you'll probably want to change your ppt and pdf file extensions as well.


I hope this works for you guys. Sorry i I destroy your registry, I'm new to WAssociate as well.

Regards,
geilrd

As far as getting the icon to change, I uses Xenon's advice: right click on file, open with, choose program, select prog. from list and check box to always use program...
 
Thanks for the reply but such a complicated solution is not neccesary. If you double click the unknown file in Explorer, Windows will ask you with which program to open it. If you choose your program and check "Always use this program to open this file type" you're done.

Nevertheless this is something that needs fixing...

Regards,

Vinz.
 
well, sort of...

That was the solution initially proposed, which does attach the correct icon to the files, but doesn't solve the problem of the extensions that read: xls_auto_file or the like. Changing that requires some manipulation of the Registry.

Or maybe I'm mistaken..
 
Yet another user having the same problem!!!!!

Hi all,

I recently just got a 3.0 dual quad-core MacPro about 5 days ago. I installed Parallels 3.0 and Windows XP, and I have the same problem with Excel files, PowerPoint files, and PDF files (but not Word files). They show up as xls_auto_file, ppt_auto_file, and pdf_auto_file. That's even when the file is created within MS Office, and saved to the desktop. It's doesn't recognize it's own file (of course I can tell the system to open those files with Excel, PPT, etc, but that's silly). When I called for support, I got that same diagnostic run through as many others on this blog...disengage all the sharing folders/applications functions, disengage smartselect, reinstall Microsoft Office, etc. Nothing worked. It's surprising that this issue has apparently been around for well over a year. This is a serious bug that needs to get fixed. Please support team, make this a high priority! If there is any information I can send you that help you in your investigation, I will gladly do so. But most of the information I am able to provide has already been stated several times on this blog. A resolution of this issue would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Ben
 
I'm trying build 5582 for the first time (I converted a v2.5 XP image) and can't get SmartSelect to work with Office documents. After associating .doc and .xls (within XP) to open in Mac Office 2004, the documents fail to open. In the case of Word, a dialog box appears that says "Convert File" and I'm supposed to select from a list (none of which work). In the case of Excel, it says "File format is not valid" and fails to open. I know the files are fine since I created them in the Mac (and when I copy them back over to the Mac side, they open fine). Any suggestions? Thanks
 
Hello,

Bwelle, did you try the workarounds proposed above?

1. Point to any Excel file
2. Right-click it to open the menu
3. Select "Open With" Menu item. Open With dialog appears.
4. Select Excel application from the list or use "Browse" button and select the appropriate application.
5. Put a check in the box at "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file".
6. Click OK.

Make sure you do not choose Excel for Mac.

Or try WAssociate 3.4.3. Start WAssociate 3.4.3, type .xls in "Extension" field and choose Excel in "Application for Extension" field.

Pbw, did you launch the applications directly in Windows OS at least once after the installation of 5582?

Best regards,
Xenos
 
Xenos,
Yes, I did launch Word/Excel 2003 within XP after converting to 5582. I didn't intend to but I was testing the SmartSelect settings (which were set to open Mac Office). But due to what appears to be a known issue with SmartSelect, the documents opened within XP instead. The only way I can get Parallels to open a document on the Mac side is to use Open With (but this is a different issue which I will worry about later).
Thanks
 
Window's File Association Issue

Hi Xenos,

Thanks for your quick reply. Yes, I did steps 1-6, however, that doesn't solve the problems with the incorrect icons and file descriptions (which causes some problems with programs I run that auto-link to office). I used WAssociate, and that worked for renaming the file descriptions for Excel and PDF (still having difficulty getting the PPT change to work). However, that doesn't solve the problem of getting the icons changed. Many people rely on looking at the icon differences to know what version of an application they are working on (e.g. 2003 excel vs. 2007 excel icons). I'd like to get this differentiation working. Anyone know how to do this? I have downloaded the appropriate icons, yet I can't seem to figure out how to get all .xls files associated with the excel 2003 icon and .xlsx files associated with the excel 2007 icons, for example. Any thoughts you guys might have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Ben
 
Quick fix

I ran into this problem myself. Here's the fix:

1) Get a windows registry editor that has some batch capabilities, such as Registry Crawler
2) Search for "(Mac"
3) Delete all of the matches. (Should be just one click)

All my VM's are set for high security in the Parallels preferences. No Coherence, no shared apps, etc. However, the annoying flaw with recent Parallels versions is that the Parallels Tools installation on the Windows side of things is completely disconnected from the settings for the VM itself. e.g., if the VM settings have Shared Applications disabled, then when Parallels Tools is installed it should not install Shared Applications features or muck with the file associations in the registry. Otherwise, you end up with broken file associations as described in this thread.

So for end-users, the above steps are a quick fix. But really, Parallels needs to have a fixed tools installer for Windows.
 
pbw said:
I'm trying build 5582 for the first time (I converted a v2.5 XP image) and can't get SmartSelect to work with Office documents. After associating .doc and .xls (within XP) to open in Mac Office 2004, the documents fail to open. In the case of Word, a dialog box appears that says "Convert File" and I'm supposed to select from a list (none of which work). In the case of Excel, it says "File format is not valid" and fails to open. I know the files are fine since I created them in the Mac (and when I copy them back over to the Mac side, they open fine). Any suggestions? Thanks
Click to expand...

I've haven't used Parallels for ages (since 2.5 really) as have been using VMWare, but have decided to resurrect my Parallels VMs in 3.0 and Leopard now because of these features, but get exactly the same issue as you with Word files.

Double-clicking the file in the VM, launches Word Mac (2004 with all updates) but it them prompts me to 'Convert the file'. Doesn't appear to recognise it. If I copy the file to the mac desktop and launch it, then it opens fine, so there is nothing wrong with the file.

Cheers

Russell
 
Xenos:
I am running Parallels build 5582 and Leopard 10.5.1 and have the same file associations problems others have described in this thread. When I try to open a Word document from the Mac I get a request to "convert File from:" and a list of programs, none of which is Word. I have tried right clicking on the file and selecting "open with" and then "Microsoft Word"(the apple version) but this takes me right back to the "convert file" box that I got at the start.

What to do? Is there a work-around and when do you expect a fix?

I don't seem to have the problem with Acrobat files - if that is any help to you in finding the source of the problem. I did not have this problem with Tiger and the then-current build of Parallels.
 
Bradder said:
What to do? Is there a work-around and when do you expect a fix?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, my workaround was to uninstall Parallels (again) and continue using VMWare Fusion. Parallels support (and stability) continues to disappoint me (a paying customer). And frankly, Smart Select introduces more security risks by giving Windows full access to my Mac's Home directory so it was probably a good thing that it didn't work.

Good luck
 
Hello everybody,

We keep on investigating the issue...
Here is what I would like to ask you:

1. Could you uninstall Mac Office?
2. Recreate all file associations.
3. Check if the file associations will work in VM after that.

To recreate file associations:

When your VM is on but Windows not running, go to Configuration Editor -> Shared Applications and put check in the box at "Enable SmartSelect". Start Windows.

Go to the Applications menu and choose the "SmartSelect - Set to default" menu option to recreate file associations.

After that click one of the buttons ("Only for this VM" or "For all VMs").
You should press Apple together with Shift while clicking the button.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
Dear all,

Here is a workaround found with one Parallels User's help: please install MacFUSE 1.3.0.

We would like to know if this will work for everybody. Thank you in advance for the feedback.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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