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graham.geary
graham.geary
Participant
November 21, 2017
Answered

Photoshop 2018 can't be set as default "open with" for any file type

  • November 21, 2017
  • 21 replies
  • 35172 views

I installed CC 2018 yesterday. When I try to set Photoshop as default program to open JPG, PNG, etc., the program is not listed under Recommended Programs. When I choose Other Programs > Browse and navigate to PS 2018, select and hit open, nothing happens -- it's not added to the list of other programs.

If I go to Control Panel > Set Default Programs, NONE of the Adobe CC 2018 programs are available to select as default programs.

Please help!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer graham.geary

    This issue might have resolved itself: after dragging the problem file types into Photoshop to open them, eventually Windows learned to associate Photoshop 2018. For example after dragging JPGs into Photoshop a few times, all of a sudden Photoshop appeared as a possible default program for JPGs. I guess this issue is resolved for me, sort of? Do you get the same results if you drag files in a few times?

    21 replies

    D
    dethrat
    Participant
    April 5, 2020

    This Worked for me:

     

    Close Photoshop. Right click on any photoshop file and go to Properties.

    In the General Tab where it says "Open With:" click the Change... button.

    Set to the Photoshop.exe.

    Double click the .psd file to open.

     

    If you go back to the Windows Settings you will see that .psd has magically changed to Photoshop

     

      B
      brazenPhrasin
      Inspiring
      June 11, 2020

      This solved my issue instantly. I had the issue described above because i had cc2018 and cc2020 installed at the same time and removed 2018 thinking that would solve the problem of opening in the wrong program but it didn't. now even jpeg and other photo files have cc2020 in the "open with..." context menu! Koodos brother! 

      cliffords10226705
      cliffords10226705
      Known Participant
      December 22, 2018

      Not sure what you mean when you report that dragging in files.  If I open a .jpeg or a png I get rhe same result, the default won't c hange.

      E
      Eric Jay Toll
      Known Participant
      December 19, 2018

      Hip Hip Hooray! Microsoft has resolved the issue with a new patch

      My IT department told me that they received word from Microsoft that it was deploying a patch, beginning this week, that fixes this problem. Hopefully this will resolve this issue for all of us.

      Apparently the problem was caused by a conflict generated by Microsoft Edge, which tries to claim association to nearly all graphic and image file types.

      Thank you all for your advice and suggestions.

      Eric

      D Fosse
      Community Expert
      D FosseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 19, 2018

      Sorry to burst the bubble, but this has been a general problem ever since Vista and Photoshop CS3. I speak from experience, i*ve been around the forums in all that time and it happens with every new version. Install a new version > uninstall old version > file associations broken and can't be restored to new version. Regular as clockwork.

      There was, however, a small subset of related issues caused by a recent Windows 10 update. This is likely what they're fixing now, and it might take care of a few of the people affected by this.

      TopgunB
      TopgunB
      Participating Frequently
      November 22, 2018

      So what has worked for some people is right click jpg file---open with---  choose another app--more apps-- then browse to the photoshop.exe file in Program Files and select it. Did not work for me. I have two identical Win10/Photoshop systems one on my desktop and one on my laptop. My desktop works absolutely fine but having tried all the suggested solutions I have not come right on my laptop. My next step is to find out what registry corrections I can make--if anyone can help with that on Win 10--there is a VISTA one out there but it's different!

      M
      MartinJLeitch
      Participating Frequently
      November 17, 2018

      Adobe, has recognized this as a fault in their application.  After struggling for hours with their nightmarish support they sent this response. "Issue you are facing with Photoshop CC is known issue and you need to wait till next update and mean while you can do it manually.  Hence We are closing your case. If you face any other feel free to contact Adobe.

      Regards

      Adobe Support"

      By "manually' they mean, right click on the file and choose "Open With" and select Photoshop.

      Darlyne2012
      Darlyne2012
      Participant
      November 17, 2018

      I am having the same problem. CR2 files can be changed to default with Photoshop CC 2019 but JPGs, PNGs, etc can't.

      I uninstalled Photoshop CC, Lightroom, and Creative Cloud all together and ran CCleaner to clean up everything. Shut down, restarted, reinstalled. Still gives me the same problems.

      I don't have enough confidence in editing the registry so that's not an option, I had to reinstall Windows after the last time I tried that.

      Any new answers?

      E
      Epicenter
      Participant
      November 16, 2018

      This was happening to me after updating to 2019. I right clicked a jpg, went to properties, and selected the .exe that way but it wouldn't change and it said "unknown application" was the default. But I also noticed that the window would freeze after doing this, so I used task manager to end the task. After that File Explorer went "not responding" so I restarted the app. As soon as it was finished, the image I had clicked opened in photoshop and it was now the default application. So, I guess try restarting File Explorer!

      nickhemphill
      nickhemphill
      Participant
      October 30, 2018

      For Photoshop CC 2019, my fix has been:

      Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.jpg\OpenWithProgids

      Adding a binary value with "Photoshop.Image.20" as the name and leaving zero length data. I had to do this for each extension that didn't work and it works. TOTALLY [computer] GHETTO. Fix this, Adobe so that you can clean up our registry hacks to make this work.

        C
        chetd12857457
        Participating Frequently
        October 30, 2018

        Thanks!  All of the other regedit solutions I have tried didn't work...this one did.  Fantastic.

        C
        chunkysteveo
        Participating Frequently
        October 24, 2018

        Can also confirm that updating REG key - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.psd to "Photoshop.Image.20" worked for me finally. Original value was something like "Photoshop After Effects.16".. which was odd to have After Effects in there?!! Works now, another sucky fix!

          J
          jeffreyh96105683
          Known Participant
          October 26, 2018

          Unfortunately the solution given by the adobe document shown in the D Fosse post above didn't work. That registry key may have existed at that time, but it does not exist at this time (10/26/18).

          However, the solution from chunkysteveo above did work. The entry was "Photoshop.Image.19". I simply changed it to "Photoshop.Image.20", then went back to settings | Apps |Default apps|Choose Default Apps By File Type .

          I then scrolled down to .psd, and it then allowed me to select Adobe Photoshop 2019.

          The user should not have to resort to registry editing at all in order to have the psd extension just work - in fact, for someone not familiar with the registry, there is a chance for a misstep. D Fosse said that this is being investigated by Adobe engineers now. Do we have to file a bug report in the feedback/family forum? From forum postings it seems that this problem has been going on for some time. In fact, I've used Win 10 for several years now - this is the first time I've had to resort to this to get a default file extension for a program to work.

            D Fosse
            Community Expert
            D FosseCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            October 26, 2018

            jeffreyh96105683  wrote

            D Fosse said that this is being investigated by Adobe engineers now. Do we have to file a bug report in the feedback/family forum?

            I got in touch with the Photoshop product manager through the back channel ACP section of the forum, so they know about the problem. That's how we got the updated help document.

            What they may not know - if they haven't kept watching this and other threads subsequently - is that the registry edit doesn't work for everybody. That should definitely be brought to their attention, and the feedback site is the place to do it. I'd encourage everyone still affected to post there, and keep posting.

            I'm not affected by this myself (at this time), so there are limits to my usefulness in the bug reports. It has much more weight coming from people who can report first hand experiences.

              D Fosse
              Community Expert
              D FosseCommunity Expert
              Community Expert
              October 23, 2018

              This is being investigated by Adobe engineers now. In the meantime, try this: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/file-association-broken-psd-after-photoshop-cc-2015-on-windows.html

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