Paint.net not appearing in "Open with" list

[Murphmario]

The current version of Paint.net is not appearing for me in the "Open with" list in Windows Explorer. I have to click "Choose another app" in order to open it from right-clicking a file, which is annoying.

 

If it helps, OS is Windows 10 Home 64-bit, and I have additionally tried reinstalling Paint.net multiple times. Any help towards fixing this would be appreciated.

[IHaveNoName]

How Windows handles some file association matters has been poor or at least unhelpful as far back as Windows XP.

 

https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/cant-add-program-to-open-with-menu-list-windows/

 

You either have to registry edit or use a third party program to disassociate it if an inappropriate program gets added to the Opens With list.

 

I've not had this particular reverse of that problem: adding to the list but the are plenty of threads out on other forums which suggests that, as you've found, simply choosing an alternative program to open, in this case, an image file does not always automatically add it to the Open With menu.

 

I do not know and have not found any third party program which will simply add the option to the Open With menu.

 

Trying a work around (as I later found is also suggested in the MS forum thread below): selecting it as the default, risks having to disassociate it from being the default for all the other image file types too. Adding it as a separate right-click main context menu option by creating a new shell key is even more complicated than what is suggested below.

 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-add-a-program-to-open-with-menu-in-windows/9cf96860-256f-49ca-a78a-6ce20f34eb17?page=2

 

The only 'solution' that is offered to fix this 'bug' is to registry edit which is not something I'd recommend unless you're confident you know what you're doing and, vitally,  have created a registry backup beforehand.

 

If somebody knows of a better solution, like a method or program that will do this for you, I'd be interested to know myself.