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Word files OK in administrator but not other user profiles


micken
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As in the title and description really. Word files are recognised as such in my user profile as administrator. However for other users on this home pc they are recognised as .doc files and open in Wordpad. I've been into properties and tried to change what they open with to Word but the setting is ignored in XP pro.

I've got the same thing with .pdf files not being recognised for opening by Acrobat Reader to.

Puzzled since I've tried to research the problem but I can't find any leads on it.

Ideas anyone?

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Hi pops, thanks for the reply. Yes I've got both applications installed for all users.

I've found a workaround for the time being by making all users administrators. I set the applications that files open with in the relevant properties boxes for each user.

Interestingly, if I then change the status of the user the problem crops up again, or reverts possibly.

I would be interested in finding a solution that allows me to have other users who are not administrators.

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Strange!

A limited account should give the user the ability to use all the installed programs but, as you may know, some programs ask if they are to be accessible by all users.

A limited account is able to install most programs. As an experiment, you could try installing one of the problem programs via the limited account. Not ideal, I know but could get you out of a difficulty.

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Sounds like a MIME type problem. But it should stay when you check the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file". Another way to chage this is to open a folder then go to Tools, Folder Options, File Types, find the .doc file type. Left click on it and click the change button and change it to word. Make sure you check the "Always use the ......" button. If there is more than one .doc file type change all file associations to wordpad. You may have already tried this but its the only thing I could think of.

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Thanks cozofdeath, I've checked that the settings are as you suggest in all user profiles. If I revert a profile back to limited it losed .doc extensions from the filetype list.

When I log off from a limited profile I'm getting a message that "dll failed to initialise" so it looks like it's over to MS website to research the issue.

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Not sure if I've understood this correctly but word documents do have the ext .doc but it does not normally show up in your files as the default setting is to 'hide' known file extensions. If you go to control panel/appearance & themes/folder options/view tab then scroll down a little you will see a check box [Hide extensions for known file types] This should have a tick in it by default, if you remove the tick then all the ext for all your files will then show. I found this out when I wanted to save a notepad file as a .PHP ext for my website.

Even though I right clicked on the file, typed in .PHP it was still saving as a notepad file because the ext was hidden. I altered the file view to show hidden ext and was then able to get rid of the ext and save the notepad file as a .PHP.

Hope this makes sense to you and is of some help. :)

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Thanks djohn, that's an interesting contribution you made. I've checked what you said against the original issue but it does not make a difference. For the time being I'll leave all profiles as administrators.

I'm getting ready for a holiday so I'll look into it further when I get back.

Best regards

Mick

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