Mark,
It appears that the "Merge" verb is set to launch Notepad in your system. By default, it should run the following command:
regedit.exe "%1"
where "%1" is the file name passed.
Alternately, to merge the REG file, open Regedit.exe and from the File menu, choose Import.
--
Regards,
Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting
http://www.winhelponline.com
Hi Ramesh:
Thanks for your post. The link that you provided led to the
download of a file named xp_scr_fix.REG.
This filename extension is new to me, but I assumed that the Merge
command available at the top of this file's right-click menu is for
moving information from the .REG file into the registry.
So, based on this assumption, I clicked Merge. I do not know if any
changes were made to the registry because clicking Merge resulted in
a launch of Notepad that displayed this .REG file's contents.
That's not what I expected to see.
I immediately closed Notepad and rebooted Windows XP.
The same issue remains, but the symptoms are now different. I still
cannot get Windows XP to run a screen-saver application by
double-clicking an .SCR filename (or choosing Run from the
right-click menu) or trying any of my previously-working shortcuts
that launch various screen savers. Before clicking Merge on the
..REG file, these actions to start a screen saver manually would open
the contents of the .SCR file in Notepad (as I originally posted);
now these actions bring up a dialog box, instead. This dialog box
gives the options to either select an application from a list or
allow Windows XP to access the Internet to look for one.
The "Merge" changed something, but I don't know what was changed to
alter XP's behavior. It seems odd to me that Notepad would launch
and display the contents of the .REG file upon clicking Merge. How
do I determine whether or not the intended registry information is
what it should be now that I used this .REG file's merge command?
Or, perhaps the next step should be to check something else.
My installation of Windows XP still has what it needs to execute
..SCR files because it properly activates whatever screen saver I
choose using the Desktop Properties dialog box. What XP lost is the
ability to execute these files when I try to start them manually
using my shortcuts or Windows Explorer.
~ Mark
