"slate_leeper" wrote

| HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
|
| Under pdf were a program id (points to Acrobat) and "FirefoxHTML"
| I deleted the FirefoxHTML entry.
|
| I then duplicated the \.pdf entry here into
| HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\classes
|
| But clicking on a pdf file still doesn't open it directly in Acrobat.
| Now the choices are "Acrobat" and "Find another program...."
|

You need to check what HKCR\.pdf points to. There's
a basic 2-step system for default programs in the Registry,
but like so many things, Microsoft have mucked it up
and added complicated layers of complexity.

HKCR\.pdf should have a default value. That was
probably the "FirefoxHTML". I'm guessing the "program id"
was under HKCR\OpenWithList\ or some other subkey.
You didn't specify that.

In other words, you probably didn't set the default
program. You set an item on the Open With... list.

The way a default program gets assigned:

HKCR\.xyz
default value: "xyzfile"

HKCR\xyzfile\shell\open\command\
default value: "C:\Program Files\XyzEd.exe" "%1"

You can either write the HKCR\.xyz default value
yourself, or you can change the target key. In other
words, if you have a class key named something like
"AdobePDF" then you can just change HKCR\.pdf default
value from "FirefoxHTML" to "AdobePDF".
Alternatively, you can create the keys yourself
(assuming Acrobat doesn't have an option) by creating
the HKCR\.pdf default value and then pointing it to a
key you create.
For instance, HKCR\.pdf default value "PDFFile1", in
conjunction with a key
HKCR\PDFFile1\shell\open\command\
The default value there would then be the Acrobat path.

For default opening there must be a shell\open\command
subkey that corresponds to the HKCR\.xyz default value.

If you're using the current user values then you'll also
need to either update or delete the entries under
HKCU\software\classes. (Personally I never use those,
but if you have multiple users set up you might want
to do it that way.)