Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

"Open with" doesn't work and makes windows hang.

Feb 27, 2016 7:38AM PST

For example when I try to open a .dll file nothing happens.
When I right click it, the first option in bold, the default option, is open with. So when i double click that's what I should see, the open with dialogue. What happens is, the window in which the file is located just hangs no matter what i click on it. If I click anywhere outside the window it gets fixed and works normally again, but I still can't get to the open with dialogue because every time I try the same thing happens.
It's also the same if I get to it by right clicking and then selecting it, or if I go to properties to try to choose a default program.
What it feels like is that the dialogue does "open" but it's invisible and doesn't respond to me, since if i click anywhere outside the window that summoned it everything goes back to normal.
Anyone have any suggestions? I'd rather not have to reinstall windows for this.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Re: open with
Feb 27, 2016 8:17AM PST

What program do you want to use to open a .dll file?
Does it behave the same way if you try to open, say, a Word file (.doc, .docx) or a .pdf-file?

- Collapse -
Re: open with
Feb 27, 2016 8:21AM PST

My issue isn't opening .dll files. That was just an example. Any file that doesn't have a default program associated with it is impossible to open because the dialogue that let's me choose programs doesn't work. That's my issue.

- Collapse -
Answer
Fixed!
Feb 27, 2016 12:38PM PST

I got an answer on the microsoft windows forum and it got fixed.
1.Click Start.
2.Type cmd, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to open elevated command prompt (I.e. Command prompt with admin rights).
If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
3.Type or copy paste the below command lines into it:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

sfc /scannow

(These are 3 separate commands and each will take a while to complete. After one is done it will let you use the next one.)