Changing File Associations: Security

[bartzlederman]

I am changing my preferred viewer from VLC to SMPlayer. This requires changing the file associations for many extensions. I have started SMPlayer with "Run as administrator". gone into Options > Preferences > File Types, looked at the extensions, and clicked on "Apply". This returns a message "Not all files could be associated. Please check your security permissions and retry."

There is a big problem here, at least for me. There is no information as to WHAT security settings need to be checked, and where to find them. The description "security permissions" could apply to hundreds of files or settings. Is there another programs that has to be run, or do I have to change the settings on all of my video files?

I would greatly appreciate an example of what has to be done. (This is on Windows 10).

Thanks in advance.

[smplayer-dev]

The right way to do it in Windows 10/11:
The cleanest method is through Windows Settings, not SMPlayer's preferences:

Open Settings -> Apps -> Default apps
Scroll down and click "Choose default apps by file type"
Find each video extension (.mp4, .mkv, .avi, .mov, etc.) and click the current app next to it, then choose SMPlayer

Or, even faster:

Right-click any video file in Explorer
Choose "Open with" -> "Choose another app"
Select SMPlayer and check "Always use this app to open .[ext] files"
Repeat for each extension you care about

[bartzlederman]

I'm sorry, but I already know about the Windows setting, and I strongly believe that this is not really the "right" way.

If you take the time to look, you would find that there are 40 or 50 file extensions (maybe more) that have to be changed. If you feel like spending a day making that many changes one at a time, go right ahead. I, and most other people, need a way to change all of the extensions at once.

Besides that: in a properly constructed application, everything you see should work. SMPlayer has a preferences page that is supposed to be able to change file associations. If it's in the application, then it should work. The error message returned strongly implies that it is supposed to be able to change file associations from within SMplayer, therefore the program should have a way to make it work or that feature should be removed or clearly labeled that it's display only.

There are other programs that run on Windows that can do it, and I think it would be a very welcome feature if SMplayer could do it as well.

[smplayer-dev]

I'll try to fix this properly in a future version. In the meantime, you can use a free tool called SetUserFTA, which handles file associations correctly on Windows 10 and 11.

Here is an example batch script you can use to associate the most common video formats with SMPlayer all at once:

@echo off
SET SETUSERFTA="C:\Program Files\SetUserFTA\SetUserFTA.exe"
SET PROGID=SMPlayer

%SETUSERFTA% .mp4   %PROGID%.mp4
%SETUSERFTA% .mkv   %PROGID%.mkv
%SETUSERFTA% .avi   %PROGID%.avi
%SETUSERFTA% .mov   %PROGID%.mov
%SETUSERFTA% .wmv   %PROGID%.wmv
%SETUSERFTA% .flv   %PROGID%.flv
%SETUSERFTA% .webm  %PROGID%.webm
%SETUSERFTA% .mpg   %PROGID%.mpg
%SETUSERFTA% .mpeg  %PROGID%.mpeg
%SETUSERFTA% .m4v   %PROGID%.m4v
%SETUSERFTA% .ts    %PROGID%.ts
%SETUSERFTA% .ogv   %PROGID%.ogv
%SETUSERFTA% .3gp   %PROGID%.3gp

echo Done.
pause

Save that as a .bat file, adjust the path to SetUserFTA.exe if needed, and run it. All extensions will be associated with SMPlayer in one go.

https://setuserfta.com/

[bartzlederman]

Thank you very much for this answer, it does indeed solve the problem. It's now on my list of essential programs to pass on to others when needed.