Fix: All EXE Files by Default Open with Notepad or Other Application

Problem

Due to some misconfiguration or change in the setting of the ‘open with’ program, Windows opens particular file extensions with incompatible software, such as the example depicted below –

The chromsetup.exe has a .exe extension, and this file should open as Windows Explorer. However, it shows the default open program to WinRAR, which is incompatible with opening the Windows executable exe files.

Solution

Follow the below steps to reset the default open program of executable files to Windows Explorer.

1. Open CMD as an Administrator user.
2. Run the following command – 

assoc .exe=exefile

That’s it.

This command will reset the file open values to the system default.