The associated helper application does not exist: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 18:25, 26 June 2007

This article deals with causes of the message "(filename) could not be opened, because the associated helper application does not exist. Change the association in your preferences." Firefox stores file type and application associations separately than Internet Explorer does, which can explain why one would work and not the other.[1]

Application uninstalled

This error message sometimes means that the program that Firefox thinks should open a specific type of file is no longer installed. You can reconfigure Firefox to use a different program:

  • Firefox 2: Tools -> Options -> Content -> File Types -> Manage
  • Firefox 1.5: Tools -> Options -> Downloads -> View and Edit Actions

Find the entry relating to the file type you're trying to open, then click Choose Action... and pick the application you want to handle that type.

User permissions

On Windows systems, to properly set an action, Firefox must be able to write to the Windows registry. To work around this problem, remove the association

  • Firefox 2: Tools -> Options -> Content -> File Types -> Manage
  • Firefox 1.5: Tools -> Options -> Downloads -> View and Edit Actions

Find the entry relating to the file type you're trying to open, then click Remove Action. Then, when you try to download the file again, browse for the application rather than accepting the default action.

See also