Changing File Type Defaults in the Registry

Got another tricky question to throw out here today:

Gotta terminal server going. Employees log on remotely. We run OpenOffice on it instead of MS Office. For most of us, .doc files open in OO automatically, but one user (who happens to be the CEO) has a problem that .doc files always open into Wordpad.

So you'd think that's simple enough to fix -- Just get him to change his file defaults next time he logs in. Nooooo, not doing that, they want me to fix it from where I am as admin for them from my admin account specifically. Why I can't just have him do it from his is beyond me, but hey, let's go the hard route and learn something new.

So, one would think the answer lies somewhere in the registry, right? Is there a way I can go in and change the file type default for .doc files for everyone so that they open in OO and not Wordpad?

Hmmm,

The value is in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, but it sounds like the problem is on his local machine, and that is where it will need to be fixed.

Great, and I think I found the entry I need to change then:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT + .doc + WordDocument + ShellNew

That's set to the value "winword2.doc". But what value does it need to be for it to default to OpenOffice?

Take a look at the value on a machine that opens .doc files in Open Office?

That's the only machine with OO unforunately, so I have nothing to go by.

Anyone around here configured with OO? Care to lake a look and report back real quick?

http://support.openoffice.org/index.html

If you join this site there might be someone who can help you.

Afraid that I don't use Open Office myself.

Can't you use policy editor to set registry key values for users?

Just posted to the OO forums. Dang, if completely forgot about that site! I posted a question once months ago and forgot about it ever since.

Don't know about the policy editor thing, might have to check that out...

Good luck mate! happy New Year :)