Set Notepad as default browser on Win10

Question

I had searched how to do it and had read How to find the default browser via the registry on Windows 10. I see that an app must sign itself on Win10 as a browser so Win10 allows user to set that app as default browser.

My intention though is that, when I click any http/https link that would open a browser, it instead opens Notepad++ or Notepad2 or any text editor, and it opens showing the URL that would be opened. So that I can copy that URL and open it on any browser I want.

Is it possible?

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible.

This example opens a command prompt and prints the URL.

To use notepad, you can write %url% into a temporary file (using the .bat file), and invoke notepad with the temp file path after notepad.exe.

C:\choose_browser.bat:

@ECHO OFF

SET url=%1

ECHO URL = %url%

REM You can launch specific applications, passing the URL as an argument. For example:
REM start "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" %2 --single-argument %url%

run_this_once.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BrowserChooserHTM]
@="Browser Chooser HTML Document"
"AppUserModelId"="BrowserChooser"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BrowserChooserHTM\Application]
"AppUserModelId"="BrowserChooser"
"ApplicationIcon"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft\\Edge\\Application\\msedge.exe,0"
"ApplicationName"="Browser Chooser"
"ApplicationCompany"="YAR"
"ApplicationDescription"="Browse the web"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BrowserChooserHTM\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft\\Edge\\Application\\msedge.exe,0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BrowserChooserHTM\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BrowserChooserHTM\shell\open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BrowserChooserHTM\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\choose_browser.bat\" %1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BrowserChooserHTM\shell\runas]
"ProgrammaticAccessOnly"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\BrowserChooserHTM\shell\runas\command]
@="\"C:\\choose_browser.bat\" --do-not-de-elevate %1"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice]
"ProgId"="BrowserChooserHTM"
"Hash"="8Rh/DSWNshc="

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\https]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\https\UserChoice]
"ProgId"="BrowserChooserHTM"
"Hash"="8Rh/DSWNshc="

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\RegisteredApplications]
"BrowserChooser"="Software\\Clients\\StartMenuInternet\\BrowserChooser\\Capabilities"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\BrowserChooser]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\BrowserChooser\Capabilities]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\BrowserChooser\Capabilities\URLAssociations]
"http"="BrowserChooserHTM"
"https"="BrowserChooserHTM"

Make sure you understand the contents of a .reg file before running it!

After running the regedit file, your default browser will be changed to 'Browser Chooser':