Solving the problem of "This file does not have an application associated with it to perform this operation..." when clicking the taskbar icon on Windows 11

Original link: https://www.itylq.com/win11-taskbar-isshutcut-reg.html

Release date: 2024-02-27 Migration time: 2026-03-21

1 Problem description

A newly installed Windows 11 system has been optimized for routine operations, making the system smooth and smooth to use. However, after restarting, if you click on the shortcuts on the bottom taskbar, including the system's own resource manager and the newly installed third-party browser, a prompt will pop up: "This file does not have an application associated with it to perform this operation. Please install the application. If the application is already installed, please create an association on the Default Application Settings page."

2 Cause of the problem

When optimizing the Windows 11 system, the previous batch command to remove desktop shortcut keys on win7, win10 and other systems was executed, and the IsShutcut registry file was deleted, causing this exception to occur. #Windows 11 taskbar shortcuts rely on the IsShutcut registry file to work.

3 Solutions

Restore the IsShutcut registry key. The detailed commands are as follows:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons" /v 29 /d "C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll,154" /t reg_sz /f
reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons" /v 29 /d "C:\Windows\system32\imageres.dll,154" /t reg_sz /f
reg add "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile" /v IsShortcut /t reg_sz /f
reg add "HEKY_CLASSES_ROOT\piffile" /v IsShortcut /t reg_sz /f

Copy the above code to a txt document, save it as a bat/cmd file (Fix: Clicking the taskbar shortcut key prompts "This file does not have an application associated with it to perform this operation" (run as administrator).bat), and then run it as an administrator.

4 extension

Since the method used to remove the desktop shortcut arrow on win7 and win10 systems does not apply to Windows 11, how to remove the arrow on the Windows 11 shortcut?

Refer to the following command:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons" /v 29 /d "%systemroot%\system32\imageres.dll,197" /t reg_sz /f
attrib -s -r -h "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\iconcache.db"
del "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\iconcache.db" /f /q

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