PowerShell SFTA

PowerShell Set File/Protocol Type Association Default Application Windows 10/11

Features

• Set File Type Association.
• Set Protocol Association.
• Get File Type Association.
• List File Type Association.
• Remove File Type Association.
• Get Protocol Type Association.
• List Protocol Type Association.
• Register Application.
• Unregister Application.
• Apply multiple file associations from a configuration file with optional group-based targeting.

Usage

Type Get-Help command for information

Get-Help .\SFTA.ps1 -full

Basic Usage

Set Acrobat Reader DC as Default .pdf reader:

Set-FTA AcroExch.Document.DC .pdf

Set Sumatra PDF as Default .pdf reader:

Set-FTA Applications\SumatraPDF.exe .pdf

Set Acrobat Reader DC for .pdf only when the user is in "Adobe Acrobat Users":

Set-FTA AcroExch.Document.DC .pdf -AllowedGroup "Adobe Acrobat Users"

Apply associations from a config file (UNC paths supported):

Set-FTAFromConfig \\mydomain.local\fileshare\SetUserFTAconfig.txt -LogFile SFTA.log -Silent

Config file lines use comma-separated values:

.pdf, AcroExch.Document.DC, GRP_Adobe_Reader

The third value (group) is optional. Lines starting with # or blank lines are ignored. Quote group names with spaces when calling Set-FTA directly; config files can omit the quotes.

Read the current .pdf association including the registry hash:

Get-FTA -Extension .pdf -Detailed

Remove a custom or user-specific association for .pdf:

Remove-FTA -Extension .pdf -ExtensionOnly

Set Google Chrome as Default for http Protocol:

Set-PTA ChromeHTML http

Register Application and Set as Default for .pdf reader:

Register-FTA "C:\SumatraPDF.exe" .pdf -Icon "shell32.dll,100"

Notes

• Windows KB5034765 introduced a UCPD.sys protection that blocks registry writes to UserChoice keys for some extensions and protocols. SFTA now writes those values through a dynamically named temporary copy of powershell.exe to ensure associations can be updated successfully.
• If the temporary PowerShell helper cannot write the UserChoice/UserChoiceLatest values, SFTA falls back to direct writes so association changes are applied instead of failing. The fallback now uses the registry API to create missing keys directly so the helper failure does not surface path or access errors.
• If UserChoice keys carry deny ACLs that block writes for the current user, SFTA clears those deny entries before applying values so the association can be saved.
• When a ProgId has not previously been recorded for an extension, SFTA also seeds the corresponding OpenWithProgids entry so Windows does not prompt to pick an app even though the UserChoice hash is already present.
• Windows Insider builds have begun migrating associations into UserChoiceLatest with a new machine-bound hash (AppDefaultHashRotation / AppDefaultHashRotationUpdateHashes). SFTA now writes that companion hash and ProgId branch when a machine ID is available so new protections don’t ignore freshly-set defaults.
• Pass -SuppressNewAppAlert to disable the "new app installed" default-assignment prompts by setting the NoNewAppAlert policy flag for the current user (and HKLM when elevated) before writing associations.
• Capture a run log via -LogFile <path>; if you pass only a filename (no directory), the log is written to your %TEMP% directory. Combine this with -Silent to run unattended without console output while still writing a transcript.
• After setting associations, SFTA now restarts explorer.exe to immediately apply the new defaults in the shell and file picker dialogs.
• Use -AllowedGroup (or specify a group on each config line) to scope an association update to members of a specific local or domain group.
• Set-FTAFromConfig defers the explorer.exe restart until the end of the batch, only restarts when a mapping or missing hash is written, and skips entries that already point to the requested ProgId.

Additional Instructions

Set Microsoft Edge as Default .pdf reader from Windows Command Processor (cmd.exe):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -command "& { . .\SFTA.ps1; Set-FTA 'MSEdgePDF' '.pdf' }"

Set Sumatra PDF as Default .pdf reader from Windows Command Processor (cmd.exe):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -command "& { . .\SFTA.ps1; Set-FTA 'Applications\SumatraPDF.exe' '.pdf' }"

Set Sumatra PDF as Default .pdf reader from Windows Command Processor (cmd.exe) (Load Script From GitHub Raw URL):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -command "& { [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12;Invoke-Expression ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DanysysTeam/PS-SFTA/master/SFTA.ps1'));Set-FTA 'Applications\SumatraPDF.exe' '.pdf' }"

Release History

See CHANGELOG.md

License

Usage is provided under the MIT License.

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