Forum Discussion
Accessing wordpad ole objects in windows 11 2H24
Upgrading to a Windows 11 PC resulted in losing the ability to access embedded Wordpad objects (OLE) in documents I have- And I have quite a few.
I understand the Microsoft removed Wordpad starting with the 2H24 Windows 11 release, so It cannot just be "activated" as an optional component.
I have reviewed means of restoring Wordpad in Windows 11, and have copied the necessary files (Wordpad.exe, WordpadFilter.dll and wordpad.exe.mui) to my Windows 11 PC. I can now run Wordpad on my new PC, but cannot access the Wordpad objects embedded in my documents. I get an error "cannot start the source application for this object"
I seem to recall that OLE requires an application to register for OLE support, but I have found nothing detailing how to do that for Wordpad. I thought there might be a command line option, but Wordpad /? and Wordpad /help did not return anything.
Does anyone know how to do this?
As I received no replies to my post, I thought I'd try to do this on my own. After researching how OLE is registered in Windows registry, and comparing relevant entries in a Windows 10 PC with working Wordpad OLE,with Windows 11, I was able to get it working. I have listed below the Registry branches that need to be exported from Windows 10 and then Imported into Windows 11. If you want to do this on your PC..
- Copy Wordpad files mentioned in the earlier post and then place them in the \Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories directory. The Registration updates refer to this Directory.
- Create the export .reg files on Windows 10, merge them into a WordpadOLE.reg file and place it in the same directory.
- I recommend you also backup any of the branches that exist in Windows 11 Registry before hand and store them there in a Restore.reg file just in case.
- Again, being cautious, I recommend creating a Restore point.
- Finally run (merge) the WordpadOLE.reg file into Windows 11 Registry.
- Test.
The branches needed to support OLE. I did not experiment to see whether in fact they are all needed.
- Defines the AppID for Wordpad
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{fd6c8b29-e936-4a61-8da6-b0c12ad3ba00}] - Defines the location of Wordpad.exe (Open command), In Hex, not text
Some of this is in my Windows 11 so save a backup
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\wordpad.exe] - Defines the "Wordpad Document" classes and It's OLE properties/methods
Some of this is in my Windows 11 so save a backup
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{73FDDC80-AEA9-101A-98A7-00AA00374959}] - As above but for 64 bit Windows (on Windows)
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\AppID\{fd6c8b29-e936-4a61-8da6-b0c12ad3ba00}] - I believe this is also for 64 bit support as above. Seems redundant
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\{fd6c8b29-e936-4a61-8da6-b0c12ad3ba00}] - Not sure what this is used for..
Some of this is in my Windows 11 so save a backup - [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\wordpad.exe]
Not sure what this is used for.. - Some of this is in my Windows 11 so save a backup
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{73FDDC80-AEA9-101A-98A7-00AA00374959}] - Not sure what this is used for..
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wordpad.Document.1] - Not sure what this is used for..
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\AppID\{fd6c8b29-e936-4a61-8da6-b0c12ad3ba00}] - Not sure what this is used for..
Some of this is in my Windows 11 so save a backup
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{73FDDC80-AEA9-101A-98A7-00AA00374959}]
1 Reply
As I received no replies to my post, I thought I'd try to do this on my own. After researching how OLE is registered in Windows registry, and comparing relevant entries in a Windows 10 PC with working Wordpad OLE,with Windows 11, I was able to get it working. I have listed below the Registry branches that need to be exported from Windows 10 and then Imported into Windows 11. If you want to do this on your PC..
- Copy Wordpad files mentioned in the earlier post and then place them in the \Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories directory. The Registration updates refer to this Directory.
- Create the export .reg files on Windows 10, merge them into a WordpadOLE.reg file and place it in the same directory.
- I recommend you also backup any of the branches that exist in Windows 11 Registry before hand and store them there in a Restore.reg file just in case.
- Again, being cautious, I recommend creating a Restore point.
- Finally run (merge) the WordpadOLE.reg file into Windows 11 Registry.
- Test.
The branches needed to support OLE. I did not experiment to see whether in fact they are all needed.
- Defines the AppID for Wordpad
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{fd6c8b29-e936-4a61-8da6-b0c12ad3ba00}] - Defines the location of Wordpad.exe (Open command), In Hex, not text
Some of this is in my Windows 11 so save a backup
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\wordpad.exe] - Defines the "Wordpad Document" classes and It's OLE properties/methods
Some of this is in my Windows 11 so save a backup
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{73FDDC80-AEA9-101A-98A7-00AA00374959}] - As above but for 64 bit Windows (on Windows)
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\AppID\{fd6c8b29-e936-4a61-8da6-b0c12ad3ba00}] - I believe this is also for 64 bit support as above. Seems redundant
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\{fd6c8b29-e936-4a61-8da6-b0c12ad3ba00}] - Not sure what this is used for..
Some of this is in my Windows 11 so save a backup - [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\wordpad.exe]
Not sure what this is used for.. - Some of this is in my Windows 11 so save a backup
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{73FDDC80-AEA9-101A-98A7-00AA00374959}] - Not sure what this is used for..
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wordpad.Document.1] - Not sure what this is used for..
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\AppID\{fd6c8b29-e936-4a61-8da6-b0c12ad3ba00}] - Not sure what this is used for..
Some of this is in my Windows 11 so save a backup
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{73FDDC80-AEA9-101A-98A7-00AA00374959}]