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[Fixed] IrfanView Portable hijacks File Associations

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depp.jones
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[Fixed] IrfanView Portable hijacks File Associations

Hi!
I ecountered the same problem I always had with IrfanView used portable before it came out in PAc-format. I just didn't remember the issue before.
When switching through options to change to preferred settings, irfanview portable hijacks file associations for images if I don't remeber to uncheck that. I was confused when all my settings from my local installation were gone, but then realized that Irfanview was started from my still connected USB-drive (bypassing its launcher as well Wink ).
When I unplugged it, all associations were gone. I had to start IrfanView manually and check options, then all was fine again as IrfanView restored its associations from its local settings file.

It's not a real problem when you know what to do, but I consider it a design flaw. Maybe it is possible to backup the local settings first and then switch back after the PA.c Version quits.

dj

-edit-
Unchecking is no remedy. And associations are not gone but unfunctional after unplugging. (See post below).
As long as I don't change settings, all is fine, but that cripples IrfanView a bit as e.g. Fullscreen options are done with the same dialog-box.

ottosykora
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unchecked on my

currently installed version from this site.

The file associations are all unchecked by default. I would have to explicitely go and tick each of them and still tick if it should be valid for one user or all etc.

Do you have the copy from this site?

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

depp.jones
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Sure, that's why I stated it

Sure, that's why I stated it as PA.c version.
I re-checked:

  • clean boot, WinXP SP3 Admin, IrfanView locally installed (4.27) files associated to it
  • freshly installed IrfanView Portable (from this site...)
  • Options -> Properties/Settings: all my (local) associations are selected. So, when I click ok, it is saved and then they are associated to my portable installation, bypassing the launcher.

To revert that, I have to manually start my local version, choose options/properties again and all is back fine.

ottosykora
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this is not nice

it apparently reads the registry part done by the installed version.

I have no local install here so my tickboxes are empty. When I tick one of them, it works, but seems to correctly wipe that out when properly closed.

In your case, for some reason, it seems not to write back the original state after shut down. Or do you have the local instance open as well?

But this will be anyway a task for the developer I think.

Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland

solanus
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Is this a confusion on the registry level?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think what may be happening is that the portable version temporarily writes keys to the registry, which are in the same location as the local version.
Is this something that can be fixed with the right ini setting in the launcher?
Chris Morgan may have some insight into this.
Is this an occasion where you might use the [RegistryValueBackupDelete] in the ini file?

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depp.jones
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Did a little research... I

Did a little research...
I compared different regshots after starting IrfenView portable, then local installation and vice versa. Every time I enter properties/settings and click ok, all associations are transferred to the according installation. It's done with registry entries in classes_root (see regshot snippet):

Example reghot for JPG:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\IrfanView.jpg\DefaultIcon\: "C:\Programme\IrfanView\Plugins\ICONS.DLL,14"
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\IrfanView.jpg\DefaultIcon\: "G:\PortableApps\IrfanViewPortable\App\IrfanView\i_view32.exe,0"
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\IrfanView.jpg\shell\open\command\: ""C:\Programme\IrfanView\i_view32.exe" "%1""
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\IrfanView.jpg\shell\open\command\: ""G:\PortableApps\IrfanViewPortable\App\IrfanView\i_view32.exe" "%1""

.jpg is associatad to IrfanView.jpg

Unchecking the associations brings no solution as then all associations are simply deleted.
As said before, I think the launcher should better make a backup of existing associations and restore them afterwards. I think it can be done with the launcher but means transferring a whole bunch of reg-keys twice.

I'll edit the opening post since closer inspection revealed that the behaviour is different to what I have written before.

yours,
dj

depp.jones
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I'm just curious... Is this

I'm just curious... Is this bug worked on or cued somewhere on the list? As this bug seems possibly very invasive to the host system it stopped me from using IrfanView portably.

John T. Haller
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Base App Bug

As this is a base app bug itself (it's an issue with IrfanView's 'portable' mode) and it only affects a PC where the base app (IrfanView) is already installed and associated with files, I'm unsure if we'll await a developer fix or attempt a workaround in our launcher at the moment. I haven't seen the bug myself as I don't use IrfanView locally.

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3D1T0R
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I don't see it.

I'm not experiencing this, please try a clean install of the latest version and see if it's still a problem.

~3D1T0R

depp.jones
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That's exactly what I did

That's exactly what I did before... twice.

It apparently seems to be a bug in IrfanView's portable mode as it is quite the same behavior it shows without the PA.c Launcher. It should normally be adressed by the Launcher, as I don't know if it will ever be fixed in the base app. It seems to be known since some versions now.
Maybe I'll better file a bug report to Irfan, too.

John T. Haller
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Fixed in 4.33

This is fixed in IrfanView Portable 4.33

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Axel Foley
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association in registry get deleted

I just installed IrfanView portable.

When setting file associations (for images only), entries are correctly created in registry (HKLM\Classes\Irfan.*); as soon as I quit the portable app, registry gets cleaned.

I don't know if this is intentional behaviour, could I make the associations permanent in some way?

Thanks.

John T. Haller
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By Design

You should never set file associations within a portable app. They will associate the app within the portable app and run in local mode, storing everything in the registry or local hard drive.

The proper way is to either manually add the file association locally to IrfanViewPortable.exe or make a temporary association using one of our portable file association utilities like eXpresso or PortableFileAssociator. We'll also have the ability within the platform shortly.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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