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Disclaimer

I posted this question on Super User without any responses, but I am working on a domain and want to change many computers as an administrator, so I believe it is also on topic here.

Question

On Windows 7 and Outlook 2013, attachments saved as .xml seem to open in Internet Explorer regardless of what is set as the default program. In Control Panel, under Default Programs, my users have .xml associated with their program of choice (UAD Reader if it matters.) If there is an .xml file on the user's desktop and they double click it, it opens in the default program as expected. But when the same .xml file is an attachment in Outlook, it always opens in Internet Explorer. After reading this Microsoft article, it doesn't seem that this is an Outlook security setting as Outlook allows the file to be opened as attachment, just not in the expected program.

Is there a way to change this? I don't believe there are any built-in GPOs for this. Perhaps a registry value that would force it to open in the program I want? I'm looking for a solution that doesn't involve installing third party software and that can be handled via Group Policy or a login script.

UPDATE: If I right click and choose "Open With..." and set Notepad++ to be the default program, Outlook will then open XML files in Notepad++. If I set it back to UAD Reader, Outlook launches IE to open .xml files. I am not sure if this is an issue with UAD Reader, I'm running into an odd Windows security feature, or something else entirely.

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thunderblaster
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  • In the Default Programs (`Set your default program`) do either Outlook or IE have an entry for .xml files? I've seen this problem with other file extensions, where the default association for the file type is something, but another program has that file type under its associations as well. – HopelessN00b Jan 07 '15 at 17:39
  • As a test, I just did the usual right click Open With..and changed it to Notepad++ and ticked it to always do so, and it appeared to have worked. On the desktop as you described, and also in Outlook (I use 2013). – Jon Weinraub Jan 07 '15 at 17:44
  • @HopelessN00b, they do not. The only association I can find is for UAD Reader. – thunderblaster Jan 07 '15 at 17:53
  • Does the behavior change if you change the default association? Set the association to anything else, and see if Outlook honors that change or not. – HopelessN00b Jan 07 '15 at 17:56
  • @JonWeinraub see my update. I'm not sure if this is an unresolvable issue with this piece of software, or if Windows just doesn't like it. I'll see if I can figure out what registry values are being changed and see if there's any differences between UAD and N++. – thunderblaster Jan 07 '15 at 18:08
  • @HopelessN00b see my comment to Jon and updated question. – thunderblaster Jan 07 '15 at 18:08
  • Can I download UAD Reader in order to test if I can repeat the same results? Maybe I am overlooking it but I cannot seem to find a download link - is it on the alamode software site, is that the correct one? – Jon Weinraub Jan 07 '15 at 18:41
  • @JonWeinraub You can; here's the link: http://www.alamode.com/UADReader. (Their website is kind of terrible.) I appreciate the help. – thunderblaster Jan 07 '15 at 19:14

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After diffing my entire registry before and after the change, I found that setting Notepad++ to the default set "Progid"="Applications\\notepad++.exe" in [HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-73586283-1229272821-725345543-2231\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.xml\UserChoice]. With UAD Reader as the default, "Progid" in the same location was set to "xmlfile".

To fix this, I set "Progid"="Applications\\alamode.uadreader.exe". This completely fixed my problem and now XML files open in UAD Reader even as attachments in Outlook.

NOTE: If you are manually editing that entry in the registry, you will need to give yourself write permission to it.

I don't know why changing this in Default Programs or setting it to Always open with... doesn't set this entry, but at least it's something that can be deployed via Group Policy.

thunderblaster
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