Bug 158387 - Cannot open LO-associated filetypes such as odt, ods, odp, etc. by double-clicking on them (nightly, Alpha, or Beta builds)
Summary: Cannot open LO-associated filetypes such as odt, ods, odp, etc. by double-cli...
Status: RESOLVED NOTABUG
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: LibreOffice (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
24.2.0.0 alpha1+
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Windows (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2023-11-27 04:09 UTC by NarayanAras
Modified: 2024-07-12 00:45 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

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Crash report or crash signature:


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Description NarayanAras 2023-11-27 04:09:09 UTC
Description:
LibeOfficeDev (alpha) fails to register itself with its own associated filetypes such as odt, ods, odp, etc. As a result, if I double-click on any associated file type such as odt, odp, ods, etc, they fail to open.

I tried to identify the program in the "open with..." dialog, LO cannot open the file. The dialog keeps popping up again and again.

I can open a file only from LO GUI with a File > Open menu or CTRL+O shortcut.

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Locate any LO_associated file in file manager (odt, odp, ods, etc.)

2. Double-click on it.
   Windows pops up a "Select an app to open this file" dialog.
   The corresponding LO program is already shown (Writer, Calc, Impress, etc.)
   But this dialog has only the "Just once" button (the "always" button is missing.)

3. Click on the "Just once" button.
4. The dialog disappears, but reappears immediately.
   In other words, Windows has not found the selected program.
   (It is still looking for it.)

Steps 3 and 4 repeat indefinitely.

Actual Results:
As described above

Expected Results:
Windows should open the file without the "open with..." dialog.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
Win 11 Home

Notes:
1. I do not have any other version of LO installed on this laptop. I uninstalled the stable version and restarted the laptop before installing the alpha.
 
2. I cannot use LO in safe mode, because I am launching LO from outside by double-clicking on an associated file type. So even if I have LO launched separately in safe mode, Windows will still launch a new instance of LO in Normal mode!
Comment 1 NarayanAras 2023-11-27 04:28:32 UTC
Note:

My laptop has Intel i3 CPU and Intel 620 UHD graphics. 

But this bug-tracker has only one 64-bit option in the "Hardware" drop-down, and that has "(AMD64)" added to it. I am not sure if that option applies to my hardware. But still I had to choose it because there is no other Intel-specific 64-bit option.

Was the 64-bit architecture invented by AMD, which Intel adopted?
If not, why does this option mention "AMD" but not "Intel"?
(Ideally, it should be "Intel/AMD" for the sake of clarity)
Comment 2 V Stuart Foote 2023-11-27 12:34:16 UTC
Expected beharior. Nightly dev builds builds are done without --enable-release switch so the MSI package does not write the file associations for the "LibreOfficeDev"

Can be forced though, use:

  msiexec /i LibreOfficeDev_24.2.0.0.alpha1_Win_x86-64.msi WRITE_REGISTRY=1


Better practice is awareness of the "reduced" os/DE integration and instead perform a Microsoft Installer "Administrative" install to provide "parallel use" [1]:

  msiexec /a LibreOfficeDev_24.2.0.0.alpha1_Win_x86-64.msi TARGETDIR="C:\lodev242_20231123"

Then edit the "bootstrap.ini" file in the "C:\lodev242_20231123\program" folder and adjust the 'UserInstallation=' stanza to point to the install:

  UserInstallation=$ORIGIN/../Data/settings

The Dev/Alpha build is then completely separate from the release builds. The --enable-release flag is not set until the first release candidate. So the nightly and the Alpha/Beta builds will not register to Windows registry.

=-ref-=
[1] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Installing_in_parallel/Windows
Comment 3 NarayanAras 2023-11-27 13:24:41 UTC
I do not know how to use command line in Windows.

I pasted the following line in command prompt:

msiexec /i LibreOfficeDev_24.2.0.0.alpha1_Win_x86-64.msi WRITE_REGISTRY=1

But it does not do anything.

Should I change my directory first?
My default directory is C:\users\<My_username>

I ran the command from there.

Windows responds with this error message:

This installation package could not be opened. Verify that the package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer package.

At present, the full path of the msi file is:
D:\Downloads\LibreOfficeDev_24.2.0.0.alpha1_Win_x86-64.msi

I have installed LO in the path-
C:\Program Files\Util\LibreOfficeDev 24

Kindly guide!

Thanks in advance!
Comment 4 NarayanAras 2023-11-27 13:25:58 UTC
Alternatively, if you could tell me the registry path, parameter and value, I can edit the registry.
Comment 5 V Stuart Foote 2023-11-27 20:51:53 UTC
(In reply to NarayanAras from comment #3)
> I do not know how to use command line in Windows.
> 
> I pasted the following line in command prompt:
> 
> msiexec /i LibreOfficeDev_24.2.0.0.alpha1_Win_x86-64.msi WRITE_REGISTRY=1
> 
> But it does not do anything.
> 
> Should I change my directory first?
> My default directory is C:\users\<My_username>
> 
> I ran the command from there.
> 
> Windows responds with this error message:
> 
> This installation package could not be opened. Verify that the package
> exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to
> verify that this is a valid Windows Installer package.
> 
> At present, the full path of the msi file is:
> D:\Downloads\LibreOfficeDev_24.2.0.0.alpha1_Win_x86-64.msi

Your Windows CLI command window needs to be focused into that folder.

From the user prompt CLI issue:

D:
cd D:\Downloads

and then issue the MS Install command

msiexec /i LibreOfficeDev_24.2.0.0.alpha1_Win_x86-64.msi WRITE_REGISTRY=1

launching from the correct location will resolve the "could not be opened." error.

Note that the program will be LibreOfficeDev not LibreOffice and your user configuration will show up in %APPDATA%\LibreOfficeDev  (i.e. C:\Users\<yourusername>\AppData\Roaming\LibreOfficeDev) but any configuration (Windows registry and per user AppData) from the full install will also be present and can conflict.

Uninstalling the release build, then clearing from Windows registry and deleting the %APPDATA%\LibreOffice is needed if you are trying to fully enable a nightly or a pre-release (Alpha/Beta) build for use in the os/DE.

Unless you have some specific QA work in mind requiring full os/DE integration, I would not. And instead I install in parallel as detailed in the link provided above.

> 
> I have installed LO in the path-
> C:\Program Files\Util\LibreOfficeDev 24
>

Generally it is not a good idea to include a <space> in the path to an installed program. Use an underscore, or just drop the space.
Comment 6 NarayanAras 2023-11-28 04:54:15 UTC
I followed all steps scrupulously. 

Before installing LO, I uninstalled the previous version and restarted the laptop.
Then used the Command Prompt to install LO. 
I removed the space in the installation path 
(although the stable version of LO works fine in the same path).

Then I restarted the laptop once again.

Now I can open odp files by double-clicking, but not odt. In my File Manager, the odt files do not show the full-color icons.

In fact, when I double-clicked on an odp file, LO popped up this error message:

--------
**Default file formats not registered**

The following file formats are not registered to be opened by default in LibreOfficeDev: .odt 

Select 0K if you want to change default file format registrations.
-------
I selected "OK", and Windows popped up the Default Apps dialog. But it already shows Writer as the default app for .odt files.

 (There is nothing more to be done!)

So the file association still does not work for all associated types.
Comment 7 V Stuart Foote 2023-11-28 12:58:17 UTC
Simply start over cleanly:

1. perform package uninstall both LibreOffice and LibreOfficeDev (from command line with msiexec.exe or run AppWiz.cpl).

2. Delete your LO user profile(s) [%APPDATA%\LibreOffice, and %APPDATA%\LibreOfficeDev found at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming]

3. for anything the uninstall missed, search and clean the registry with a regedit32.exe session for any residuals. [Use the Find function for "TheDocumentFoundation", "LibreOffice", "soffice" in HKRM, HKCU, HKKLM. Selectively delete either the full "Key" on the left panel or the LO specific "string" on the right panel.  <F3> to repeat each find.  A bit tedious as there can be hundreds.]

4. with all traces completely gone. Please only install the current release build of 7.6.3, if you want to test the 24.2.0 Alpha build or nightlys do so with an msiexec.exe /a  "Administrative" install and configure the profile to be independent of the release build.

Finally, this BZ is not the venue for user assistance. If you need more help, check the ask.libreoffice.org site.