Windows 10: Registry: Adding a new file type to HKCR\SystemFileAssociations

I want to create a new context menu that is only visible on audio files.

Doing this on an extension-by-extension basis is not a solution because I need the added context menu to be visible when selecting multiple different audio types (i.e. different extensions, such as .wav, .mp3, .flac etc.).

I can get this to work by creating my new context menu key in HKCR\* but this adds the context menu to every file type (so it appears on non-audio files where the context menu is not wanted).

I did some digging around in the Registry and found the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\audio (there's also ones for documents, images and video).

Adding my new context menu key only to SystemFileAssociations\audio (and nowhere else) works as intended: My context menu shows up on .wav, .mp3, .wma, .aiff, .au, and a few other audio file types, and it remains visible even when selecting across multiple different audio file types in Explorer.

However, the problem is that the audio file formats over which this works is rather limited. It does not work with .flac, .ogg / .oga, .opus and .wv (which are other audio file types that I want the new context menu to show up on).

Does anyone know how I can add these file types to the list of extensions that are already recognized as audio files? (i.e in the same way that .mp3, .aiff and .wav files etc. are being handled)

I've checked the PerceivedType for my audio files, but that makes no difference. I then saw some suspiciously familiar extensions lists in Windows Media Player's file association and MIME type lists (which matched the extensions that had responded to my new context menu) but adding new file types to WMPs extensions and registered MIME types didn't work either.

I even tried (in a clean OS in a virtual machine) installing a codec pack so that pretty much every audio file type could play back in WMP, then I associated all those audio file types with WMP by default to see if that would make these extra audio file types become recognized as belong to the group 'audio', but that didn't work either.

Interestingly, my context menu also got added to .mid files even though they are not audio files (in the sense that they don't actually contain any audio). So there is some kind of music / audio classification of extensions going on somewhere, regardless of the actual content of the file. It's by designation rather than by content.

I have seen other posts on the net mention similar problems with other file association groups (such as 'images' and 'documents' where certain basic files (such as .bmp in the case of 'images') respond and work as intended, but other file types from the same category do not.

What's the best way to achieve the outcome I'm looking for (either by being able to add more audio file types to the existing list of files currently being affected by the 'audio' key in SystemFileAssociations, or perhaps there is another key elsewhere (that already exists, or which could be created) that allows a context menu to be visible on the specified types even when more than one of the specified file types has been selected.

:)

 

Are my Registry Files all legitimate programs?

Isn't there a web tool whereby I can check if programs listed in my REGISTRY FILES are legitimate programs?

 

Change Default Image Editor

Hey Ramesh, since we've got you here, can you tell us where Windows stores the list of file extensions it treats as "images" and that are affected by HKCR\SystemFileAssociations\image\ ?

 

Custom Registry Files

Techpowerup nor myself are in no way responsible for anything that may or may not go wrong with a users system if s/he decides to use these registry hacks. You are doing so at your own risk and agree to release me and or Techpowerup from fault that may occur. If a user decides to use these registry hacks, you must BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY FIRST!

To backup your registry click Start>Run (or use windows search from the start menu) and type "Regedit" without quotes. Click on File>Export. Name the file whatever you wish and save it somewhere that is NOT on your Windows drive.

Contained inside the attached RAR file you will find 13 registry hacks. They are:

• Copy To - Adds Copy To to the right click context menu
• Move To - Adds Move To to the right click context menu
• Enable Balloon Notification - Self explanatory
• Disable Balloon Notification - Self explanatory
• Extended UI Hover Time - Despite its name it decreases the time it takes to preview a thumbnail
• Instant Aero Peek - Self explanatory
• Last Active Click - If you have multiple of the same program open, click the icon and it will bring to you your last open window of that program. Click again and you can cycle through.
• Menu Show Delay - Decreases the time it takes for the start menu to appear
• Move Kernel - Moves the Windows Kernel from the HDD to memory increasing system performance slightly.
• Stop Snap - Disables the Windows 7 Snap feature (when you drag a window to the corner of the screen)
• Stop Space Checking - Keeps Windows from constantly checking disk space
• USB Write Protect - Disallows Windows to write to any USB device but will still allow the device to be read from.
• Wait To Kill Service Timeout - Decreases the time it takes windows to wait for a program to fully close before shutting down.

I have tested all but Move Kernel, Stop Space Checking, and USB Write Protect and they all work 100%. If you open up the registry file I provide, it will give you more information on where the key specifically is along with some information on what it does. Obviously the Aero Peek and Hover time hacks will not work on versions of Windows earlier than 7.

I got the Copy To and Move to from How To Geek and the rest I just Googled and turned into a registry file for convenience. Not sure how many of you guys will need this but i found some new registry hacks that Ill be using now while doing this so I thought I would share with the community. Make me good for something. *Roll Eyes

If I come across more Ill edit this post and upload the new zip. Feel free as well to tell us any registry hacks you use and I could even add them to the list. *Smile

Enjoy!