Notepad++ Windows 11 Context Menu Provision For All Users?

[erjh]

I’ve had a bit of a search, but not seen anything specific to this question:

Notepad++ appears to use a Windows 11 MSIX app of sorts to set up the “Edit with Notepad++” functionality in the normal Windows 11 Start menu. However, the installer just installs it for the current user, and I need to remove it in order to include it in an image generalized with Sysprep.

What ideally I’d like to do is provision it for all users (eg use add-appxprovisionedpackage -online -packagepath “<path to the nppcontext.msix package>”) -skiplicense), but it’s just giving a generic failure message.

I’m almost certainly missing something, but what?

[PeterJones]

@erjh ,

Notepad++ registers a Shell Extension when it is installed, which is what adds the “Edit with Notepad++” entry. It surprises me that it registers it only for the active user – there are Forum regulars here who understand the installer better than I, so I am hoping @xomx or someone similar will be able to chime in, and comment whether it’s feasible with the current installer architecture to make sure it’s registered for “all users”.

The User Manual page describes the process of manually registering that Shell Extension, so maybe your automation process can replicate that, if there’s no way to make register-for-all-users part of the actual installer.

[erjh]

Thanks for the reply, but I’m referring to the “Edit with Notepad++” entry on the “Modern” style Windows 11 context menu, which I’m fairly sure is implemented through the AppX package, not the shell extension DLL.

The installer adds an AppX package for the current user called “NotepadPlusPlus_1.0.0.0_neutral__7njy0v32s6xk6”, which I need to remove in order for the image to generalize. “Edit with Notepad++” still appears in the classic context menu (ie, shift-right click) after removing the package, but is obviously gone in the Modern version.

[xomx]

Probably https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/nppShell/issues/29

Digest (if I understand it right):

“the problem is that you cannot provision a sparse package on the machine level, since it doesn’t get installed by the user. Which is why we have to register the package for the user once they log in, since that is the way it can be done.
I don’t know why Microsoft hasn’t implemented the logic to allowed provisioning sparse packages. If Notepad++ was delivered using the store instead, it should have worked, since it would be possible to provision it for everyone.”

[erjh]

Much appreciated, thank you! If I understand the thread correctly, it should start working for a user anyway as it seems the package is triggered to be installed after a right-click.

(As an aside, I loathe this new appx paradigm, I’m not sure what problem Microsoft thinks it solves)

[xomx]

@erjh said in Notepad++ Windows 11 Context Menu Provision For All Users?:

new appx paradigm, I’m not sure what problem Microsoft thinks it solves

In a nutshell - APPX means MSIX, which in turn means containerization (isolation and possible virtualization in a sandbox) of the installed SW and, of course, easy deployment via the MS Store (also streaming, cloud attaching or traditional install possible).