How to set a flag as default on an *.EXE file?

Question

When I open Sumatra I need inverted colors by default. But even though I changed the shortcuts to: "/sumatraPDF.exe" -invert-colors the program runs without the flag when I double click a PDF file at a time where the program is closed.

How do I make sure the flag is used when double clicking PDF files?

Your program shortcuts are unrelated to the extension association. — Lightness Races in Orbit, Mar 23 '17 at 13:31

score 44 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 22 '17 at 16:49

44

How do I make sure the flag is used when double clicking pdf files?

You need to modify the command that is run, using ftype:

Find out the file type using assoc:
```
assoc .pdf
```
This will return something similar to:
```
.pdf=AcroExch.Document.DC
```
Now use ftype to get the current command run for a .pdf:
```
ftype AcroExch.Document.DC
```

This will return something similar to:

AcroExch.Document.DC="C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\AcroRd32.exe" "%1"

Now set up a new command with your extra flag:

ftype AcroExch.Document.DC="C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\AcroRd32.exe" -invert-colors "%1"

Note:

I've used Acrobat in my example above as I don't have Sumatra installed.

@Coolwater Great! – DavidPostill Mar 22 '17 at 17:31
4

You can do the same thing by editing the registry directly, but instead of using `ftype`, you'll be chasing references starting at `HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf`. – Mark Mar 22 '17 at 21:28
2

@Mark I know. I went for the simpler, less dangerous approach :) – DavidPostill Mar 22 '17 at 21:29
Oh, nice. And it should work form WinXP forward. – Ajasja Mar 23 '17 at 12:10
1

I think it might be worth mentioning that application updates and upgrades might overwrite these changes so it might be something that has to be done repeatedly. I would expect this from Adobe at least. – Matt Mar 23 '17 at 14:14

How to set a flag as default on an *.EXE file?

1 Answers1

How do I make sure the flag is used when double clicking pdf files?

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