How to change default app in Windows 11?

[M76]

Just when I thought windows can't get any worse, I found out that it is impossible to change the default application for anything in Windows 11.

You want irfanview to be your default image viewer? Well you have to change all 600 file associations one by one. Brilliant! FFS Microsoft.

 

[pendragon1]

its only 20 file types, but i hear ya. just right click on the file> open with>choose another>always. havent found a simpler way, not that ive look that hard.

 

[owcraftsman]

I followed this toot for Faststone Image viewer and worked fine for me Windows 11 Pro. Maybe it's a problem with Irfanview.

1 – Right-click on the Start button, then select Settings from the menu that pops up.

2 – In the left-hand column, click Apps.

3 – In the right-hand pane, click Default apps.

4 – Scroll down and click FastStone Image Viewer. You should now see a list of image file types.

5 – Scroll down and click on the file type that you use most often (.jpg for example).

6 – Click FastStone Image Viewer and then click OK.

7 – Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you have designated FastStone Image Viewer as the default app for every image type you work with.

Source

 

[M76]

7 – Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you have designated FastStone Image Viewer as the default app for every image type you work with.

Source

That's exactly my point that I shouldn't need to repeat the steps for each separate file extension. It was one click pre-windows 10, it can be still done in Windows 10 although it has been made more inconvenient by not allowing programs to set up themselves as default. But windows 11? You are screwed, set it up one by one by file type it is insanity.

its only 20 file types, but i hear ya. just right click on the file> open with>choose another>always. havent found a simpler way, not that ive look that hard.

If we are being pedantic it is at least 50 image file types that irfanview handles.

Try doing it 50 times or even 20 on a slow HTPC with a terrible air mouse. Sufficient to start playing a video, definitely not to perform acrobatics in the settings app of windows.

 

[owcraftsman]

I don't know but I prefer the granular control instead of blanket one click fit all. If you think about it that approach means no resolve for a file type you want handled another way. To each his own I guess.

 

[Domingo]

This is one of my few major gripes with Windows 11. There's no reason they can't make a single program the default for opening a large class of files while still allowing you to edit individual extensions in a big ass list. That's how it worked for years, and I've heard nothing but complaints from typical users. Power users have always known how to do it individually, so they're forcing everyone to edit these things one at a time. Or in the case of a lot of people, just watching them open as much as possible with Microsoft apps...which is probably what they're shooting for.

 

[GotNoRice]

Well you have to change all 600 file associations one by one. Brilliant!

95%+ of images are usually either JPG or PNG. Then there are a few other less common formats like BMP, GIF, WEBP etc. Others, you would be highly unlikely to encounter other than very niche scenarios. So in reality we're talking about 15 seconds to set the default for JPG and PNG, and the others can be dealt with over time as you come across them. I highly doubt you have "600" different types of picture files on your computer that you regularly access.

 

[GotNoRice]

Or in the case of a lot of people, just watching them open as much as possible with Microsoft apps...which is probably what they're shooting for.

Par for the course these days, and hardly exclusive to Microsoft. If anything, Microsoft has been more of a follower, watching what Google, Apple, Amazon, etc get away with constantly and finally deciding to join the party. An example would be on new versions of Android. Permissions for 3rd party apps get removed if you don't use the app "often". They tout this as a privacy feature of course. But you end up in situations where, for example, you don't watch a video on your phone for a while and then all of a sudden you can't open a video in VLC because it had it's permissions removed. Of course, the stock apps are exempt from this and never get their permissions removed, thus funneling people into the default apps.

 

[M76]

I don't know but I prefer the granular control instead of blanket one click fit all. If you think about it that approach means no resolve for a file type you want handled another way. To each his own I guess.

You could still pick and choose every extension to open with a different app previously, this is not new, there is never anything new with windows these days, only the granual erosion of user control and oversight.

95%+ of images are usually either JPG or PNG. Then there are a few other less common formats like BMP, GIF, WEBP etc. Others, you would be highly unlikely to encounter other than very niche scenarios. So in reality we're talking about 15 seconds to set the default for JPG and PNG, and the others can be dealt with over time as you come across them. I highly doubt you have "600" different types of picture files on your computer that you regularly access.

It doesn't really matter how many of the pictures aren't jpg, if I have 999 jpegs and one tif, I still want the one file to be opened by the same viewer.

And as I said I was faced with this issue on a htpc with no mouse controls. "Oh niche scenario so it doesn't matter" BS, the option existed before, and now it doesn't that's all there is to it, stop making excuses for them. There was / is no good reason to remove this option, outside of their petty interest to make it harder to switch away from ms default apps.