How can I restore functionality of notepad.exe on Win11?

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I despise the new Notepad app in Windows 11.  I have created shortcuts on my desktop and start menu for the old Notepad program (C:\Windows\notepad.exe) but I can’t figure out how to make it the default program for .txt and other extensions, not can I figure out how to add it to the ‘Open with’ context menu.  Help would be appreciated.

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Go to App execution aliases in settings (you can search for it from Start). Deselect Notepad, this will allow the old Notepad to open.

You’ll also need to edit the registry at:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\notepad.exe

Remove the “NoOpenWith” setting to allow you to associate files with it.

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Peobody

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That registry hack did the trick.  I had already uninstalled the Notepad app.

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I – and likely many others – went down the same path trying to get the old classic Notepad back. I finally found a post here in AskWoody:

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/i-made-the-mistake-of-updating-windows-notepad-app/#post-2678180

that referenced a post elsewhere with more detailed instructions:

https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/restore-old-classic-notepad-windows/

This had a couple more registry tweaks beyond the one noted above. They seemed to work fine for my Win11 Pro 23H2.

As an aside, I fumbled a bit on my initial attempt to get the shortcut just right. I had used the SendTo Desktop to create the shortcut which mostly worked until I tried to do a Save As for a new text document and it defaulted to the Windows directory instead of Documents because of how I had created the shortcut. I was about to fix that when I thought why not just use a copy of the Notepad shortcut from Windows 10 that I found at:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories

I liked that approach better as it used the environment variables instead of hardcoding paths. Yeah, I know not necessary, but just felt more elegant. I also noticed the shortcut in Win10 references notepad.exe in C:\Windows\System32 instead of the one in C:\Windows (again not that it makes a difference).

Over on the Win11 system, I pinned the Notepad shortcut (copied from Win10) to the Win11 Taskbar and also pinned to the Start Menu. I also added the Notepad shortcut to the SendTo list as I am used to using that from time to time.

I guess I am not adding anything new other than a slightly different way to get there – FWIW.

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I manually created a desktop shortcut using “C:\Windows\notepad.exe” as the Target and “C:\temp” as the Start in.  I then pinned that shortcut to Start.

Regarding my use of C:\temp, I configure my programs and browsers to us it for temp and downloads instead of the system locations for ease of access.  I frequently use Notepad for making notes or recording website text while troubleshooting or trying to figure out something.  They’re rarely saved long term, hence C:\temp as the default destination.

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castiel

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