Revit no longer recognized as default program, can't be reassigned

[mhiserZFHXS]

There seems to be an issue with Windows not being able to recognize Revit as a default program for .rfe and .rvt files. Windows tells me there are no programs on my computer when I try to open a file or add a default program to those file types.

I can open files from Revit (yes I know this is best practice anyway) but there are times that I open families from the file explorer when I already have a Revit session open which had never been a problem before. Honestly the biggest thing is that it really annoys me that I can't see the .rfe and .rvt symbols next to the file name.

Any one experience this before or know how to address it?

[HVAC-Novice]

define " no longer".  Did it work before yesterday, but not today? What changed in between (updates etc.)? What Windows, what Revit version? Multiple versions installed?

I just checked on W10 and R2024.2 and all seems fine for me and I can open families from explorer and  also have Revit as default app for all Revit file types. 

[barthbradley]

My guess is that you got hosed by a Windows Update.  I would search for a Windows Solution.  

...update: I just got a ton of hits that address this issue.  

[syman2000 · Accepted solution]

Perhaps you may want to tinker with the registry and assign the default software. Here is a link to old article but it still works if you are using Windows 10.

https://www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/115001442129-Revit-2017-Lost-File-Association

[mhiserZFHXS]

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@HVAC-Novice wrote:

define " no longer".  Did it work before yesterday, but not today? What changed in between (updates etc.)? What Windows, what Revit version? Multiple versions installed?

I just checked on W10 and R2024.2 and all seems fine for me and I can open families from explorer and  also have Revit as default app for all Revit file types. 

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Not sure unfortunately. Been a couple weeks, in which time I've both had a windows update and a Revit update, as well as trying to reinstall R21 which caused some issues. Could have been any of those. I don't usually open files from the explorer, but I will open families from there if I am doing some general family work throughout multiple families, which is what I was just trying to do today.

[mhiserZFHXS]

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@barthbradley wrote:

My guess is that you got hosed by a Windows Update.  I would search for a Windows Solution.  

...update: I just got a ton of hits that address this issue.  

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What did you search for? Most of the results I see are about trying to get a specific version of Revit to open with .rfe and .rvt files.

[mhiserZFHXS]

Looks like that did it! Digging into that stuff made me a bit nervous but the article was straight forward enough

Edit: It did look like the culprit was trying to reinstall R21, as the program name had been changed to that. And since the reinstall failed, there was no program to open the files with.