file association won't stick

[Dominic Tocci]

I have a few files here with .m4v extensions. The VLC media player works
great to open and view them. However, when I try to set up the file
association, it doesn't take. I've tried in the following ways:

Method 1:
Double click the file. Select "select the program from a list". Select VLC
and check the box "Always use the selected program..."
Result:
File opens and plays in VLC. If I close it and double click the file again,
I have to go through the same process.


Method 2:
Open My Computer in an explorer window. Go to Tools -> Folder Options ->
File Types. M4V is not in the list. I click on "new". I specify M4V as the
extension. I click OK. (I have also tried hitting "advanced" here and
assigning it to mpeg 4 video) Then I click on "Change..." to change the
"opens with..." option. I select VLC. Click OK. The "Opens With" remains
blank. The file still won't open with a double click without me specifying
the VLC application over and over again.

I'm stuck. Any help would be appreciated.

Dominic

PS - Incidentally, recently I had a similar problem with ".torrent" files,
but the association seems to have settled in on that one. I don't know if
that bit of info helps. All my other associations seem to be working
perfectly.

 

[Dominic Tocci]

Nevermind. I figured it out myself. For some reason the permissions in my
registry would not allow the change to save. I had to go into
\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.m4v and allow full control. Then I set the (Default) key
to the same value I had for mp4 files, which was VLC.mpeg4. I also went to
\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\vlc.exe\SupportedTypes and added .m4v. I'm
not sure if that was necessary or not, but now it works.