Skip to main content
Topic: Viewer 2.5.4 "Open in NWC version 2" not working (Read 3965 times) previous topic - next topic

Viewer 2.5.4 "Open in NWC version 2" not working

I removed NWC 2.5.5 Beta 2 and installed the NWC 2.5.5 update from 2.5.4
Ctrl+2 from the Viewer for both *.nwc and *.nwctxt fails with an Information popup:
Quote
The Windows Shell reports that the file could not be opened using the "Open with NWC version 2" verb.

NWC 2 may not be completely installed on your system.

I seem to have lost "Open with NWC version 2" some time ago. IIRC it was removed by a Microsoft "Fix-it Center" option to reset file associations.

Removing the Viewer and reinstalling it does not fix the problem.

I'm fairly sure that I can create the shell verb needed to fix this, but I  was surprised that the the fix was not automatic.

IMO, "Open with NWC version 2" is an awkward name for a verb.

Environment: Win XP, NWC 2.5.5 installed. NWC 1.75 is not installed.
Registered user since 1996

Re: Viewer 2.5.4 "Open in NWC version 2" not working

Reply #1
The verb name in the registry is actually nwc2.

The NWC Viewer installer will recreate the *.nwc file associations directed at nwc2.exe if NWC2 is installed and its Add/Remove entry still exists in the registry. You can confirm this by looking at the Viewer install log, which will show something like this:

Setting NWC 2 Associations (C:\Program Files\Noteworthy Software\NoteWorthy Composer 2)

Re: Viewer 2.5.4 "Open in NWC version 2" not working

Reply #2
The NWC Viewer installer will recreate the *.nwc file associations directed at nwc2.exe if NWC2 is installed and its Add/Remove entry still exists in the registry.
The entry existed but, pointed to a USB drive (E:) that is not present. No mystery here, a few months ago I was experimenting with installing old versions to a USB stick.

I do find it odd that the NWC 2.5.5 update changed 'DisplayVersion' and 'VersionMinor' to reflect version 2.5.5, but did not change or warn about 'InstallLocation' and 'UninstallString' pointing to an invalid device. I fixed 'InstallLocation' and 'UninstallString'. All seems to be well. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

The verb name in the registry is actually nwc2.
Not on my system. The verbs for 'nwcomposer' and 'nwctxtFile' are:
  • open
  • play
  • view
In any case, the Information popup indicates the wrong verb.
Registered user since 1996

 

Re: Viewer 2.5.4 "Open in NWC version 2" not working

Reply #3
The entry existed but, pointed to a USB drive (E:) that is not present. No mystery here, a few months ago I was experimenting with installing old versions to a USB stick.

This explains why the Viewer did not restore your NWC2 *.nwc associations. The nwc2.exe program must exist in the folder indicated by the Add/Remove entries.

Not on my system. The verbs for 'nwcomposer' and 'nwctxtFile' are:
  • open
  • play
  • view
In any case, the Information popup indicates the wrong verb.

It indicates the correct verb as you would see it in Windows Explorer. Internally, the verb is nwc2, as stated previously.

The Viewer actually tries several things when sending to NWC2. It first attempts to use the shell with the nwc2 action. If that fails, it looks for a running instance of NWC2. If not found, it manually looks up the location for NWC2 via its Add/Remove registry setting.