Default Browser Problem : Solved

[xpgeek]

On Vista Ultimate, Firefox IS set as the default browser, but when opening an article in my RSS reader in the default browser, still opens in IE, no matter what I try.

I know its a known bug in Firefox and is and supposed to be one of several Vista probs fixed in 2.0.0.2, but, anyone know any workarounds for the time being? I remember I had this prob on Vista RC1 too, and I did something that fixed it, but I can't remember what it was.

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Solutions I got from another forum.

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right click it (the shortcut used to launch firefox) then press run as administrator otherwise when you click yes to make default browser it will fail to set itself as the default browser, you won't get an error but the default browser wont change from i.e
You don't need to run it as administrator all the time just the once.

Tried it. No luck.

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Or if you just go into Default Programs, select Set Program Access and Computer defaults, then select custom then set default browser to Firefox. Works also....

Tried it. No luck.

Also just tried using latest nightly branch build. No fix yet I guess. This is an annoying problem.

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Ok, I been playing around for a while now trying to figure this out, and its not a Firefox problem, its a Vista problem, it has to be, because Opera has the SAME problem.

It works the first time, is the strange damn part. When I first install Opera, just like the first time I installed Firefox on Vista, it works fine, exactly as it should, actually the default browser with no problems. But, then as soon as I set IE back as the default, thats it its the default again for good, even if I uninstall and reinstall Opera/Firefox. It works the very first time I install them to Vista, but then never again.

And that doesn't make any sense does it? Why does it work the first time and ONLY the first time? I even went entirelyyy through the registry deleting leftover keys making sure Opera was completelyyyy wiped from the system, then reinstalled it, no difference, still not working again, no matter what I do or how many times I set it as the default, IE refusing to let anything else be the default again. But it worked the very first time.

This is a Vista bug, its got to be. Am I the only one having this problem? Its REALLY getting on my nerves now, because its the ONLY problem I'm having with Vista at all, and if I can't figure it out its going to be the reason I go back to XP.

[xpgeek]

I figured it out !!!

Was determined to find a solution this morning to this. Spent hours trying different things. First I set all windows services back to their defaults, exactly the way they were before I disabled some of them, I figured its got to be a service I disabled, maybe WebClient or something. But nope doing that made no difference whatsoever either.

So then I figured, let me try creating a new user account to play with. So I created a new user account, logged onto it, and set Firefox as the default browser on it, and opened links in the default browser from my RSS reader to test which browser the system is opening as default. Its opening Firefox, its working. Then I opened the Default Programs panel, and using the bottom option 'Set program access and computer defaults', I went to custom and set IE as the default again. Opened another link in my RSS reader, ok its opening IE, then I set Firefox as the default again, another link from my RSS reader, its opening Firefox again.

To make a long story short, I figured it out. Its the first option in the Default Programs panel, 'Set your default programs', thats causing the problem. Because as soon as I used that option instead to set IE as the default, that was it, locked in, and this entire problem starts again. I successfully switched the default browser back and forth between IE and Firefox a good ten times in a row with no problems using only the bottom option on the Default Programs panel, but as soon as I used the top option instead, its screwed.

I'm positive of this, as I went and created 3 more new user accounts too to test this 3 more times. Using only the bottom option in the Default Programs panel gives me no problems. And each time on all 4 new user accounts, as soon as I use the top option on the Default Programs panel instead, this problem starts again.

This could only mean that the bottom option in the Default Programs panel is setting the default browser in an entirely different way then the top option, and Firefox is not taking back the associations in whatever way the first option sets them. So Firefox needs an update to work with the first option in the Default Programs panel, and so does Opera.

But I figured it out. Yay! So all I have to do now is create a new user account to use as my main one, and do NOT touch the first option in the Default Programs panel.

Hope this makes sense the way I've described it, but I tested it 4 times, I'm positive of this problem.