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How to Completely Replace Notepad With Notepad++ in Windows

How to Completely Replace Notepad With Notepad++ in Windows

Notepad++ is a popular free text editor for Windows that includes many features essential for viewing and editing code, creating and modifying macros, and working with multiple documents simultaneously. Many Notepad++ users prefer to use the app instead of the default Notepad that ships with Windows.
Rather than manually changing the default application for multiple file types, there’s an easier way that allows Notepad++ to completely replace standard Notepad. Here’s how it works.

Replace Notepad with Notepad++

  1. First, make sure you’re running at least Notepad++ 7.5.9. You can download the latest versions of the app from its website.
  2. With the correct version installed, open a Command Prompt window with admin privileges. You can do this by searching for cmd via the Start Menu, right-clicking on its result, and choosing Run as Administrator.
  3. windows cmd admin

  4. From the Command Prompt, enter one of the following commands depending on the version of Notepad++ you have installed:
  5. 32-bit Notepad++
    reg add "HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionImage File Execution Optionsnotepad.exe" /v "Debugger" /t REG_SZ /d ""%ProgramFiles(x86)%Notepad++notepad++.exe" -notepadStyleCmdline -z" /f
    64-bit Notepad++
    reg add "HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionImage File Execution Optionsnotepad.exe" /v "Debugger" /t REG_SZ /d ""%ProgramFiles%Notepad++notepad++.exe" -notepadStyleCmdline -z" /f
    notepad++ replace notepad windows cmd

  6. You’ll see the message The operation completed successfully if everything worked. Now test out the change by performing an action that would normally launch Notepad, such as opening a text file. Instead of standard Notepad, you should see Notepad++ launch.
  7. notepad++ replace notepad windows

  8. To undo this change and restore standard Notepad as the default text editor in Windows, open another admin Command Prompt and use the following command (which is the same for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions):

reg delete "HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionImage File Execution Optionsnotepad.exe" /v "Debugger" /f
Note that the commands above assume that you installed Notepad++ in its default location. If you used a custom installation directory, edit the command accordingly to point to the correct directory.

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6 thoughts on “How to Completely Replace Notepad With Notepad++ in Windows”

Stefan says:
This command working on windows 10. putt the code into a notepad file and save it with extension file.reg then run that with admin rights.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe]
“Debugger”=”\”C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Notepad++\\notepad++.exe\” -notepadStyleCmdline -z”

Terry says:
The UNDO command line fails too. I should be:
reg delete “HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe” /v “Debugger” /f
Krodo says:
If the file name contains spaces this method fails.
thegoid says:
Your website removed all of the slashes and thus your command does not work. Fix your post.
Lucifer Hawk says:
This works, but the format wasn’t displayed correctly.

reg add “HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\notepad.exe” /v “Debugger” /t REG_SZ /d “\”%ProgramFiles%\Notepad++\notepad++.exe\” -notepadStyleCmdline -z” /f

Note this is for x64

/lasse says:
Doesn’t work for e.g. Context Menu “edit” of a .bat file. Do mess-up that, Windows say it can not find the file.

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Jim Tanous

Dec 10, 2018

676 Articles Published

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