How To Set 7zip As Default Windows 10

#1

clayto

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Posted 20 February 2016 - 09:54 AM

I have made several programs the default in Windows 10, for example Maxthon is now my default browser and Foxit is my default for pdfs. But I am unable to make 7Zip my default for zip and rar files etc.and I dont find the help available in the 7Zip webpage / forum at all user friendly for a non-techie.

The main problem is that Windows 10 does not even recognise the presence of 7Zip in Settings or Control Panel or Open With, and making the program the default from within 7Zip has no effect (though I have tried to follow the instructions).

I would be grateful for help with this.

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#2 JohnC_21

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Posted 20 February 2016 - 10:18 AM

Try the following. Right click the 7zip File Manager file7zFM.exe. Select Run as Administrator. Open the options and associate the extensions you want.

#3 Agouti

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Posted 20 February 2016 - 11:22 AM

#4 clayto

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Posted 21 February 2016 - 07:29 AM

The ghacks article is very informative, I have scanned it quickly and will read it more carefully later..... I had not realised there is such a major issue with mobile programs in W 10.

At the start I tried running 7Zip as Administrator as it is what is suggested in the 7Zip FAQs, but it did not work. I set 7Zip as the default in the program itself which had no effect.

However, I have used File Associator in Ashampoo WinOptimiser, which is the only place i have found on my computer which recognises 7Zip. I was able to set it as the default there. As a result, 7Zip now appears in the Open With context menu which is very helpful. However, Open With WinZip still appears as a main item in context menus, and all my zip files have the WinZip icon and open in WinZip when clicked, not 7Zip. This is after I have instructed WinZip not to act as the default for zips. I am wondering what will happen when I cease to renew my subscription to WinZip, which I intend to do --- not that there is anything wrong with it,. I think WinZip is an excellent program for someone who makes a lot of use of Zips and other compressed files but I do not.

#5 RolandJS

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Posted 21 February 2016 - 07:45 AM

Tell us more aboutAshampoo WinOptimiser -- I'm hoping that is not accidentally mis-tweaking your Windows.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin revisited.

#6 clayto

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Posted 21 February 2016 - 08:32 AM

What do you want to know? I have used WinOptomiser for years, on an XP and W10, without any issues.

#7 Agouti

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Posted 21 February 2016 - 10:56 AM

I had not realised there is such a major issue with mobile programs in W 10.

FYI, the correct terminology is portable apps or portable programs, not mobile programs. If you say "mobile programs" other users may not understand what you are referring to.

However, I have used File Associator in Ashampoo WinOptimiser...

I wouldn't recommend using Ashampoo WinOptimizer. It has a "registry optimizing" component which I am sure is, not only completely unnecessary, but also has the potential to damage your system just as any other "registry optimizer" could. Bleeping Computer does not recommend using registry cleaners and optimizers.

#8 clayto

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Posted 21 February 2016 - 11:23 AM

I had a fleeting notion that 'mobile' was not the right terminology but could not bring to mind the appropriate 'portable' term.

As to Ashampoo WinOptimiser I expected some comment as I know all too well about Bleeping's 'thing' regarding such programs. While I dont have any technical expertise I do have years of trouble free experience with Ashampoo and in fact a variety of other management suites (see for example my comments on IOBit elsewhere in this forum.) I regularly use around four 'management suites' but exclude their Registry cleaners, including CCleaner's. It has been my experience that some management suites (often free) have at least one function which I find useful.

I greatly respect Bleeping's advice on most things but I do not treat it as gospel.

#9 britechguy

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Posted 21 February 2016 - 11:34 AM

. . . but exclude their Registry cleaners, including CCleaner's. It has been my experience that some management suites (often free) have at least one function which I find useful.

I greatly respect Bleeping's advice on most things but I do not treat it as gospel.

Amen!! I don't get the endless invective against suites that include a registry cleaner/optimizer but where one must explicitly invoke it. I've used CCleaner for well over a decade now, and used to use its registry cleaner option but stopped a long time ago not because it damaged anything but because I didn't see any functional improvement from it.

I understand Bleeping Computer's advice on registry cleaners/optimizers and actually follow it. That doesn't mean that many products that have this function are to be avoided, it's just that function itself that is to be avoided. This isn't rocket science and insisting that the many very useful functions contained in these suites should be forgone because there's one function one shouldn't use is throwing the proverbial baby out with the bath water.

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A lot of what appears to be progress is just so much technological rococo.
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#10 RolandJS

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Posted 21 February 2016 - 08:20 PM

Clayto, Britechguy -- I also use a registry cleaner from time to time; however, this thread is about a problem with an OS not working with 7zip. Sometimes the problem's cause can be traced to something "disrupting, fixing, or tweaking" Windows 7, 8 or even 10.

A software example: I've used Avast AV for several years. Suddenly modern-day Avast often self-implodes [within my desktop and on the two laptops] with a missing dll error. Now, I can continue doing modern-day Avast the same way I've been doing Avast for years -- all the while hoping I get different results; OR, I can troubleshoot and resolve the problem by either changing operations what has worked for me for years, or by not using anymore what has worked for me for years -- and therefore get different, desired, results.

Thread-starter, in this game of software Chess -- your move now.

Edited by RolandJS, 21 February 2016 - 08:22 PM.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin revisited.

#11 clayto

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Posted 22 February 2016 - 06:24 AM

I should clarify that I do get 7Zip to work, but use it by drag and dropping the zip file onto the desktop icon. This is OK but I have missed being able to use it via either Open With or simply clicking on a zip, plus I would rather see the zip files with the 7Zip icon rather than WinZip icons. I expect to stop using WinZip when my subscription runs out but I feel obliged to add that I think WinZip is an excellent program (with good support), especially in the way it integrates with Windows and my Cloud accounts. (In fact for a while when Google Drive went pear shaped for some reason still not explained WinZip was the only way I could access my Google Drive files). However, I have not found that I have used zip (or other compressed) files anywhere near as much as I had expected a year ago. So it just makes sense to replace a paid for and more resource hungry program with a free and light-weight one.

#12 RolandJS

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Posted 22 February 2016 - 06:36 AM

Clayto, we're thinking alike, I also am beginning to replace several resource-taking programs with lighter ones. I'll be listenin' and learnin' in this thread, I want to know how this OS-7zip hiccup gets resolved.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin revisited.

#13 britechguy

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Posted 22 February 2016 - 10:31 AM

Back to the original question with a follow-up: Did you actually install 7Zip? [And, by that, I mean the installed version, not the portable version which, while present, is not actually installed (registry changes are made for installed programs).]

You cannot place a portable version of a program on your computer and have Windows pick up on that at all easily as the default program for opening a given file type.

7Zip was installed by the previous owner on my machine when it was still running Win8.1 and it carried over through the upgrade to Win10 as the default program for zip files.

Brian

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#14 Agouti

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Posted 22 February 2016 - 10:52 AM

I already posted the solution in post #3 but doesn't look as though the OP really read the article.

#15 britechguy

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Posted 22 February 2016 - 12:53 PM

I already posted the solution in post #3 but doesn't look as though the OP really read the article.

Yep. I even read the article but by the time the small tangent had resolved itself I'd forgotten that you gave a pointer to every last bit of information necessary to achieve the stated goal whether for an installed program or a portable one. There's really nothing else to be said. If those techniques aren't working then there's something wrong with the OP's installation of Windows 10 that needs to be addressed either by running DISM and/or a Reset.

Brian AKA Bri the Tech Guy (website in my user profile) - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit
A lot of what appears to be progress is just so much technological rococo.
~ Bill Gray

How To Set 7zip As Default Windows 10

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/605954/making-a-program-the-default-to-open-zip-files/

Posted by: vancelawas1993.blogspot.com

How To Set 7zip As Default Windows 10