2 dialog boxes are provided for users to configure the Windows Explorer File Type associations -
In the Registry, an EditFlags Binary Value (4 bytes) can be used to keep users from using these dialog boxes to re-define selected associations. Of course, the user can always edit the registry itself in order to change a protected association, but the easiest way to make changes is to simply
Under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,
each file extension points to a FileType definition.
An EditFlags parameter may be part of this definition.
Each context sensitive menu selection
(defined under the FileType/shell key)
may contain its own EditFlags parameter which, when present,
over rides the flags defined at the higher level.
Each of the 11 active EditFlags bits disables some function ...
3 flags affect the File Types tab and will
Byte:Bit | ||||
Hide the existence of the association | 01 00 00 00 | |||
Disable the Remove button | 10 00 00 00 | |||
Disable the Edit button | 08 00 00 00 |
7 flags control the Edit File Type dialog box and will disable the
Byte:Bit | ||||
Change Icon... button | 00 02 00 00 | |||
Description of Type edit field | 00 01 00 00 | |||
MIME edit field | 02 00 00 00 | |||
New... button | 20 00 00 00 | |||
Edit... button | 40 00 00 00 | |||
Remove button | 80 00 00 00 | |||
Set Default button | 00 04 00 00 |
1 flag supposedly controls whether an Open/Save dialog box is presented when MS Internet Explorer reads a file of that type. Set for .AVI, Excel, Midi, MPlayer, PowerPoint 8.0, RealAudio, Text, MS Word 8.0, and RTF files. However, it is not set for HTML files. (Go figure :)
Byte:Bit | ||||
Disable Open/Save dialog box | 00 00 01 00 |
Byte | Bit | Affected Dialog Box | ||
0 | 7 | Disable the Remove button | Edit File Type dialog | |
6 | Disable the Edit button | Edit File Type dialog | ||
5 | Disable the New button | Edit File Type dialog | ||
4 | Disable the Remove button | File Types tab | ||
3 | Disable the Edit button | File Types tab | ||
2 | Reserved | |||
1 | Disable the MIME edit field | Edit File Type dialog | ||
0 | Do not display any information | File Types tab | ||
1 | 7-3 | Reserved | ||
2 | Disable the Set Default button | Edit File Type dialog | ||
1 | Disable the Change Icon button | Edit File Type dialog | ||
0 | Disable the Description of Type edit field | Edit File Type dialog | ||
2 | 7-1 | Reserved | ||
0 | Disable MS Internet Explorer Open/Save dialog | |||
3 | 7-0 | Reserved |
Bit 7 is MSB
Bit 0 is LSB