Replace Notepad on Windows 11

PeterJones

I do not have Windows 11 to verify. However, on Windows 10 and earlier, if you go into the registry, in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell, and right click “New Key”, add one named something like Notepad++, set the (Default) for Notepad++ to Edit with Notepad++; then right clock on the Notepad++ on the left, add a new key command, and set the (Default) to something like "C:\usr\local\apps\notepad++\notepad++.exe" "%1" (where you would use your path to notepad++.exe, not my path).

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\Notepad++]
@="Edit With Notepad++"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\Notepad++\command]
@="\"C:\\usr\\local\\apps\\notepad++\\notepad++.exe\" \"%1\""

However, as I said earlier, it looks like Windows 11 doesn’t always show all the verbs; you can use your favorite search engine to search the internet for windows 11 not showing all right-click actions or similar; I do not have Win11, so cannot do tests to tell you what exactly will work.

mmjoshi

@Neil-Schipper Thanks for your suggestion. Ultimately figured out a way to add “Open with Notepad++” to the right click menu in Windows 11. Takes care of my needs. Boy, Windows 11 is surely tough to customize to the ways one worked in Windows 10!

mmjoshi

@PeterJones Thanks. Worked in Windows 11 too! Windows 11 has certainly made it harder to be customized to the look and feel of Windows 10!

cipher-1024

A little late to the party but if you’re using a portable version, you can add it to the “Send To” list on a context menu by opening File Explorer, putting “shell:sendto” in the address bar, and in that directory add a new shortcut to your portable Notepad++.exe. Hopefully SendTo isn’t borked in Windows 11 too.

jadelise

Here is a possible solution for those who want to replace Notepad.exe with NotePad++.

The previous hack still works if you set the redirection registry settings underneath it. The following batch file code shows a solution.

@ECHO OFF & CLS & ECHO.
NET FILE 1>NUL 2>NUL & IF ERRORLEVEL 1 (ECHO You must right-click and select &  ECHO "RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR"  to run this batch. Exiting... & ECHO. &  Timeout /t 10 & EXIT /B)
REM ... proceed here with admin rights ...
REM http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7044985/how-can-i-auto-elevate-my-batch-file-so-that-it-requests-from-uac-administrator
SETLOCAL
::
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe" /v "Debugger" /t REG_SZ /d "\"%ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\notepad++.exe\" -notepadStyleCmdline -z" /f

reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe\0" /v "FilterFullPath" /t REG_SZ /d "%ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe\1" /v "FilterFullPath" /t REG_SZ /d "%ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe\2" /v "FilterFullPath" /t REG_SZ /d "%ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\notepad++.exe" /f

::Use the the following comment to undo the replacement:

:: reg delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe" /v "Debugger" /f


ENDLOCAL
GOTO :EOF

Technical Notes
Replace Notepad on Windows 11

The following code Reverses the change
```@ECHO OFF & CLS & ECHO.
NET FILE 1>NUL 2>NUL & IF ERRORLEVEL 1 (ECHO You must right-click and select &  ECHO "RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR"  to run this batch. Exiting... & ECHO. &  Timeout /t 10 & EXIT /B)
REM ... proceed here with admin rights ...
REM http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7044985/how-can-i-auto-elevate-my-batch-file-so-that-it-requests-from-uac-administrator
SETLOCAL


::Use the the following to Reset the default for Windows 11 notepad.exe to undo the replacement by Notepad++

reg delete "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe" /v "Debugger" /f

reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe\0" /v "FilterFullPath" /t REG_SZ /d "%ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\notepad.exe" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe\1" /v "FilterFullPath" /t REG_SZ /d "%ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\notepad.exe" /f
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe\2" /v "FilterFullPath" /t REG_SZ /d "%ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\notepad.exe" /f



ENDLOCAL
GOTO :EOF

Technical Notes
Replace Notepad

This has only been lightly tested but works for .cmd files and .txt files and perhaps others.  Let us know if there are issues.

ChaosDMNS

@jadelise Thanx… works great.

Ahmed Anssaien

@ChaosDMNS Yup, it works! I’ve just tried it on Win11 22H2. Thanks, @jadelise ! 🙏🏻

donho

@jadelise

Are you sure the batch file you provided still works in Windows 11?
I’ve tried it but it doesn’t work (*.txt are double clicked, but always notepad.exe is launched) on my Windows 11 Home Edition version 21H2.
ps. I didn’t uninstall notepad.exe

Edit: Obviously, Notepad UWP has to be removed to make it work: (https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/replace-notepad-text-editor-notepad-plus-association/)
I used powershell (admin) command Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.WindowsNotepad* | Remove-AppxPackage to remove Notepad.

Dome Torreto

i was facing same issue but now it helps me alot… thanks

Marcel Bosma

@jadelise

Amazing, that was the tweak i needed,

Running PS 7.5 within Win Terminal, i’m bound to wins terminal business related, but a big downside is not being able to switch out the core text editor, MS pushing their own products i get it. upside is now i don’t have to keystroke 2 times a ++ when editing is needed hehe,

so big big thanks and head off to you sir 🫡

Christian Janssen

@jadelise

FTW! - Many thanks for providing the solution (the nice simple hack the user asked for) - tested on 24H2.

Now I can (finally, after years!) right click on and edit .cmd files. What a relief not to be nagged to install an new version of notepad (even though I have explicitly removed the UWP instance of notepad from the user’s profile. (next – looking for a way to do that globally for the machine. I thought I did so quite a while ago with win10 and “mail and calendar”, but I could very well be mistaken.)