This is perplexing and more than a little frustrating. I hope someone can shed some light into a newly darkened corner. 
I bought an 8Gb USB flash drive to replace my 4Gb one; used a backup program to copy all my files over; all the programs work just fine now on the 8G key.
The problem is with Windows XP.
I had set several portable programs to run some file types by default on the 4GB key (which for the sake of brevity I'll call F: because that's how it always loaded; the 8GB key is E:). This worked great, because I never used those file types without F: inserted. Some were common file types, for example, html; and others more specialized, such as .mm (FreeMind mind maps).
Of course, now that the drive letter has changed for the applications I want to run, the file associations in XP have to be updated because it took F: as a constant. But when I choose a portable app off E: (either through Folder Options>File types, or by right-click and "open with") I can browse to and select the application on E: but the file association window never shows the program I just selected! It continues listing its "recommended" programs and never allows me to complete my selection. (I hope that's describing the problem well enough.)
What's happening? I've never---never---seen this before... and it would be tragic to not be able to set my favorite programs as defaults in XP. Why would it work for the F: device but not the E:? Does anyone know if anything can be done about this??
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I tried rebooting with E: still connected (not sure why I thought that might help, but I'm trying everything I can think of), tried reinserting F: and stopping it, just for fun, and inserting E: again; tried selecting with the shortcut menu from the file selection dialog; I don't know what else to try or what I haven't tried or whether it even matters......
Cheers!
---Fox
I got a few ways.
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provided you have admin access, it is easy enough to do
1) unplug BOTH drives
2) insert ONLY the new one
3) Right click on My Computer, choose Manage
4) Click on Disk Management on the left (it is in Storage)
5) On the BOTTOM half of the right hand pane, right-click on the (right hand, white portion) that represents the drive you've just plugged in and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths
6) Change the drive letter to be the one that the 4Gb used to be on (F: in your example)
7) Click on all the OKs and Saves and Closes to get out.
8) unplug and reinsert the new drive, to check that it still gets the same letter
9) very important... while the new drive is still plugged in plug the old one in. Windows will see that the letter is assigned, and allocate it a new one. This should also become relatively permanent.
All of your old associations should be good to go.
Thank you both for your quick and helpful replies.
I never looked at that "Manage" option before. Guess I should have.
Thanks; it worked, of course, so everything is back to normal. I still don't understand why XP wouldn't accept the new associations, but that's a null point now that it's fixed.
I'm going to go have a look at CafeMOD now...
Cheers!
---Fox
CafeMod is good, but I like PortableFileAssociator better. It uses the registry to set default applications rather than monitoring clicks, so it is a bit more reliable. Search for it in the search box above.
I agree. As the author or CAFEMod, I recommend using PFA. If Brian23 or myself have time, CafeMod may eventually use the registry as well.
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705