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I wanted to set up Xenia on my computer, which is an emulator that used .xex files. While loading the game, I wanted to always open my .xex ROM with Xenia, and so I clicked Open with, selected xenia and selected "always open with".

However, this process has somehow caused Windows to also run .exe files with Xenia. I am now unable to open ANY programs, as they all just open Xenia, even Xenia itself is not working. All programs also now take the icon of Xenia. I have tried deleting the Xenia file and restarting according to another thread, but it does not seem to reset the extension override. .lnk files also stopped working for me.

Any help would be appreciated.

2603003199
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  • There is no Default App type for EXE (built into Windows). About the only in place repair (might not work here) is a Windows Repair Install - Keep Everything. – John Aug 07 '23 at 11:20
  • @John: Repair Install requires running "setup.exe". – harrymc Aug 07 '23 at 11:28
  • If you have a Windows boot USB, and if System Restore is enabled, you could try to do a System Restore from Boot - [link](https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4588-system-restore-windows-10-a.html), to a date before this was done. – harrymc Aug 07 '23 at 11:38

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Open Explorer which should still work, enable showing file extensions in its settings. Then create a .bat file, edit it with Edit from the right-click menu and just put cmd in it. Then you can use reg.exe to change the value if you have sufficient permissions:

reg add HKCR\.exe /ve /t REG_SZ /d exefile
Jan0660
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  • Thanks for the answer! I was able to open a command prompt window by making a `.bat` file, then in the window that asks me "what do you want to open the .exe file with" I choose the said .bat file. The command worked for me. – 2603003199 Aug 07 '23 at 11:47