Some findings about file type associations (FTA) in Windows 8.1, 10 and Server 2012 R2

There is a lot of confusion about FTA since Microsoft introduced some changes since Windows 8. There are already very good blog posts on the internet which give some insights and suggestions.

One of those blog post, which in my opinion has done currently the best deep-dive into the inner workings of FTAs is from The AppSence Bigot.

If you are not aware of all the confusion about FTAs I would suggest to read the above mentioned blog post. It gives you a very good introduction to the issues.

This blog post has the intention to add further insights into FTAs and to maybe add an additional piece of the FTAs puzzle.

It is already know that Microsoft introduced since Windows 8 a hash to secure the default handler for a file type. Which means you can no longer use a script or something else to manipulate the registry directly to change the default handler. According to a Mircrosoft Technet blog post, this hash is calculated based on the application and the user. This matches also my findings. And I would like to go a little further and estimate that the hash is calculated base in which place the ProgId of the application has been registered and the user. In the example below the ProgId is FoxitReader.Document.
In contrast to James Rankin (Appsense Bigot), in my environment I am able to roam these settings between different operating systems as long as the application has the registered ProgIds in the same place on each system.
ProgIds can be registered in the following locations, where 1. takes precedence: (example .pdf)

1. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\OpenWithProgids
2. HKCU\Software\Classes\.pdf\OpenWithProgIds
3. HKLM\Software\Classes\.pdf\OpenWithProgIds

I asume, we all know that HKCR is a combined view of HKCU\Software\Classes and HKLM\Software\Classes where HKCU takes precedence.

Some further rules for FTAs regarding registry entries:

1. If there is a valid Hash and ProgId in HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoice then this is your default handler.
    
2. If hash is invalid or does not exist then OpenWithProgIds and OpenWithList keys are compared. OpenWithProgIds has precedence. That means the MRUList value gives you the ordered list of applications. In our example below MRUList is bac, which means:
   first is b = SumatraPDF.exe, second is a = FoxitReader.exe and third is c = AcroRd32.exe.
   That means SumatraPDF is only used as default handler for .pdf if there is actually the correct corresponding ProgId in the OpenWithProgIds Key.
   
   Please remember that OpenWithProgIds can also exist in HKCU\Classes\Software\.pdf\ and in HKLM\Software\Classes\.pdf\.
   
   
   
   
    
3. If 1. and 2. does not match, then the selection for the default handler falls back to ProgId which is found in HKCR\.pdf\(Default). As we know this is a combind view of HKLM\Software\Classes and HKCU\Software\Classes, where HKCU takes precedence.
   
   

Session Picklist for VMworld 2015, Barcelona

There are so many session I am interested in at VMworld, but I need to make compromises because of conflicting schedules. This is my initial interest list:

STO5336 - VMware Virtual SAN - Architecture Deep Dive

This session walks you through the architecture decisions made for VMware’s Virtual SAN (VSAN) product and the reasoning behind those decisions. The first part of the session... 

Christian Dickmann
Rawlinson Rivera

PAR6413 - VMware Virtual SAN Architecture Deep Dive for Partners

This session will walk you through the Virtual SAN product architecture, so that you can have an in-depth technical conversation with your customers about the inner workings... 

Simon Todd
Tony Waldemarsson

PAR6641 - How to Reduce Time to Sale and Increase your Deal Size for VMware’s End-User Computing Business
In this session, you will learn about two FREE tools that will help reduce your sales cycle and make you become a trusted advisor for your customers. SysTrack Desktop... 
Garry Owen
Ben Goodman
Marilyn Basanta

SDDC6281-SPO - Veeam Availability Suite v9 Deep Dive

Join us for a deep dive into Veeam® Availability Suite™ v9. Anton Gostev (@Gostev) and Doug Hazelman (@VMDoug) will introduce v9’s new features and enhancements designed to... 

Doug Hazelman
Anton Gostev

STO4649 - Virtual Volumes Technical Deep Dive

All about Virtual Volumes - the technical goods of what it is and how it works from a senior architect in technical marketing and the manager of the VVol R&D team!VMware... 

Ken Werneburg
Patrick Dirks

EUC4509 - Architecting Horizon for VSAN, the VCDX way - VMware on VMware.

VMware Horizon is a proven desktop virtualization solution that has been deployed around the world. Balancing the performance and cost of a storage solution for Horizon can... 

Travis Wood
Simon Long

EUC5052 - Beyond the Marketing: Horizon 6 Technical Deep Dive

Horizon 6 continues to evolve with new features and functions that increase the breadth of use cases and enhance the end user experience. This session will provide a... 

Ray Heffer
Jim Yanik

EUC5434 - Beyond the Marketing: VMware App Volumes Technical Overview

VMware App Volumes enables real-time application delivery and lifecycle management for Windows desktops and RDSH servers. This session will provide a technical deep dive into... 

Andrew Johnson
Jim Yanik

CTO4621 - From Software-Defined Data Center to Software-Defined Car

The Internet of Things and connected cars are the next big thing. In this session you will hear how existing VMware solutions contribute to the value chain of connected car... 

Greg Bollella
Matthias Schorer
Emil Novakov

EUC5573 - Introducing Project Enzo – Low Cost, Simplified Desktop and Application Deployment and ManagementOrganizations are seeking to accelerate their ability to deploy and manage End User Computing (EUC) assets such as virtual desktops and applications. At the same time, they... 

Shikha Mittal
Ken Ringdahl

SEC5179 - NSX Security for Horizon View Deep Dive

This session will familiarize security architects and operators with the security features of NSX and how they apply to the Horizon View environment. We will review in detail... 

Bruno Germain

EUC6037 - Optimizing the End-User Experience: Deploying Corporate Virtual Desktops to Service Engineers Using Horizon FLEX in Krones AG

The delivery of policy-managed containerized desktops to end-points not necessarily owned by the business, or to end-points that are offline more than online are modern use... 

Garry Owen
Matthias Multerer

CTO6453 - The Future of Software-Defined Storage - What does it look like in 3 years time?

Futures & Trends for Hardware and Next gen distributed services" - Insight into the new storage server hardware architectures: shared NVMe/PCIe rack scale, flash densities,... 

Richard McDougall

NET6639 - The Next Horizon for Cloud Networking and Security with VMware NSX

VMware NSX is leading the transformation of networking into a software industry, bringing accelerated innovation and giving rise to new technologies and new use cases. How... 

Guido Appenzeller
Mukesh Hira
Scott Lowe

CNA1763-DevOps - Using Heat to Deploy and Manage Applications in OpenStack

Are you a vSphere expert? Curious about DevOps and OpenStack? In this workshop you will get hands on experience on deploying OpenStack on vSphere infrastructure and using... 

Trevor Roberts Jr

EUC4517 - VMware Workspace Environment Management (WEM) Technical Deep Dive

Everyone wants mobility and user freedom but at what price? Being able to provide user customized environment and session persistence, in a non-persistent Virtualized... 

Jim Yanik

EUC5921 - App Volumes Tips, Tricks and Troubleshooting

App Volumes is a great solution for Just-In-Time application delivery to your virtual desktops or your remote sessions (RDSH or Citrix). There are a lot of ways to deploy... 

Jim Yanik

STO5333 - Building a Stretched Cluster with Virtual SAN

In this session we will present how to build a stretched cluster configuration on VMware Virtual SAN, in order to expand your enterprise capabilities. A stretched cluster on... 

Rawlinson Rivera
Duncan Epping

EUC4879 - Horizon View Storage - Let's Dive Deep!

Some people say that if you get the storage right in your VDI environment, everything else is easy! In this fun-filled technical workshop, attendees will receive a wealth of... 

Jim Yanik
Michael Cooney

NET5213 - Operational Best Practices for VMware NSX

VMware NSX virtualizes the network and decouples logical networks and services from the underlying physical infrastructure. By bringing compute and networking together in a... 

Amol Tipnis
Deepesh Govindan

STO5704 - Using Virtual Data Services for IO Acceleration in vSphere

What kinds of virtual data services can plug into vSphere 6 and what would an administrator use them for? How does the Software Defined Storage model for vSphere 6... 

Manish Apte

CTO6121 - VMware and the 'Internet-of-Things'

Join us for a session on VMware in the ‘Internet-of-Things’ (IoT). We’ll share insights and feedback from some of our customers, discuss internal IoT projects and highlight... 

Greg Bollella
Matthias Schorer

EUC5430 - Why Everybody Needs VMware User Environment Manager (UEM)

Deep dive into UEM demonstrating all the features and showing why every customer can benefit from UEM. Demo packed session which is interesting for everybody who wants to... 

Pim van de Vis

CTO6659 - Ask the Experts – Cloud Native Applications

In the brave new world of IT there is a shift in customer expectations which which is driving a change in how applications are developed and operated (e.g. DevOps), how... 

Emad Benjamin
Ed Hoppitt
Martijn Baecke
Robbie Jerrom
Joe Baguley

EUC4825 - Horizon for Linux Technical Deep Dive

VMware continues to innovate and evolve, introducing Linux virtual desktops with Horizon. Come and join our session as we take you on a technical deep dive for delivering... 

Ray Heffer

STO6287-SPO - Instant Application Recovery and DevOps Infrastructure for VMware Environments – A Technical Deep Dive

Are you tired of managing complex backup workflows? Are you confident in providing a successful recovery in the event of a failure? Is your backup infrastructure a black hole... 

Chris Wahl
Arvind Nithrakashyap

EUC6807 - The Future of End-User Computing

The end-user computing landscape continues to evolve with ever growing heterogeneity, new breakthroughs in application and device management and unprecedented security for... 

Dor Zakai
Harry Labana
Erik Frieberg
Shankar Iyer

EUC5909 - VMware’s End User Computing (EUC) Strategy into 2015 and Beyond

Hear directly from VMware’s strategists and field professionals on End User Computing (EUC) Act 2 strategy into 2015 and beyond. The session will provide peek into the... 

Shawn Bass
Harry Labana
Karthik Lakshminarayanan
Garry Owen

CNA5983-QT - Accelerating Innovation with Microservices

How do you stay relevant when it seems that every other day, another Silicon Valley upstart attempts to disrupt your business? How do you keep up with its pace of innovation?... 

Chris Mills

INF5229 - Docker and Fargo: Exploding the Linux Container Host

Docker and container technology in general have been one of the hottest technologies of the last year. At VMworld 2014, VMware boldy announced that VMs and containers are... 

Benjamin Corrie

CNA6690-SPO - Keeping your developers happy (whilst keeping your job)

How do you deliver ever more complicated environments covering the vast array of technologies your developers are asking for? How do you do this in timescales quicker than... 

Chris Mills

CTO6630 - VMware CTO Panel

In this session you’ll get to insight into the perspectives and thinking of VMware’s Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), i.e. the leaders driving the technology agendas within... 

Guido Appenzeller
Ray O'Farrell
Joe Baguley
Paul Strong

EXPERTSSL - Container Challenges with Expert - Scott Lowe

Meet with a top subject-matter expert from VMware in this intimate one-to-few setting.  No presentations, just whiteboard tables, flip charts, laptops, and deep-dive... 

Scott Lowe

EXPERTSPV - UEM: User Environment Manager by Immidio with Expert - Pim van de Vis

Meet with a top subject-matter expert from VMware in this intimate one-to-few setting.  No presentations, just whiteboard tables, flip charts, laptops, and deep-dive... 

Pim van de Vis

STP1017 - Deduplication is Like Printing Money

A lot has been said and written about deduplication, and it seems like it’s old news.  There is a lot more than meets the eye, and not every deduplication technique is born... 

  

STP1006 -  Solving Application Performance Issues with Infrastructure In-Memory Computing

Using server memory to accelerate applications is not new. But the traditional approach, which requires extensive changes to the application and new hardware, is expensive... 

PernixData Architect Beta - Small Hurdles

PernixData Architect is currently in beta.
There are already good articles on the internet which decscribe the details and what it is all about.

PernixData Architect Software
PernixData Architect - decoupled datacenter management

If you are also interested in the private beta bits then -> Get Architect Beta

In this article i would like to help over small hurdles when getting started with PernixData Architect Beta.

The install guide of PernixData Architect is very good. If you follow the steps percisely you should not have much issues during setup.

If have two tips here:

1. Error: Could not find a trusted signer.

When you are trying to install the PernixData Host Extension Module on your ESX host using esxcli, you will get an error message.

  [InstallationError]  
  ('PernixData_bootbank_pernixcore-vSphere5.5.0_3.1.0.0-38307', 'Could not find a trusted signer.')  
     vibs = PernixData_bootbank_pernixcore-vSphere5.5.0_3.1.0.0-38307  
  Please refer to the log file for more details.  

It seems that the beta bits currently have not a valid signature.
To work arround this issue you need to add the --no-sig-check parameter to your esxcli command line to suppress signature checking.

 esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/PernixData-host-extension-vSphere5.5.0_3.1.0.0-38307.zip --no-sig-check  

2. Activate PernixData Architect Trial

After you have successfully installed the PernixData Host Extension and also the PernixData Management Server the install guide directs you to https://[PernixData Management Server]:60002 or http://[PernixData Management Server]:60001 in case you have not adjusted the default ports.

That looks good but where to find the PernixData Architect?
In my case PernixData Architect was not activated in the licensing tab.
Make sure to goto PernixData Hub > Licensing > Architect, select your vCenter Server and hit Start Trial.

Immidiately and magically you get the menu item you are looking for :-)

Have fun!