[19961] in bugtraq
Re: Invisible file extensions on Windows
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael Wojcik)
Sat Mar 31 18:53:37 2001
Message-ID: <27B17B8B25A3D411B45800805FA7F01CA0F5A2@mtvmail.merant.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 07:58:50 -0800
Reply-To: Michael Wojcik <Michael.Wojcik@MERANT.COM>
From: Michael Wojcik <Michael.Wojcik@MERANT.COM>
To: BUGTRAQ@SECURITYFOCUS.COM
> From: Floydman [mailto:floydian_99@YAHOO.COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 5:31 PM
> This was possible because the .SHS
> extension is hidden by Windows, even if it is configured to display all
> files, all extensions (even for known file types).
This behavior is activated by a registry value named "NeverShowExt" (string
type, no data), in HKCR\[extension], HKCR\[name], HKCR\CLSID\[class ID], or
their HKLM equivalents. (I think the HKLM\Software\Classes tree just
shadows the HKCR one, but I'm too lazy to look it up.)
Delete or (probably better) rename "NeverShowExt" for the given extension /
name / class to suppress this behavior and have the extension appear in
Explorer.
> But
> the registry gives little if no information at all about what is the
> purpose of a certain file extension in the system, neither about what
> visual behavior they present to the user
The first is debatable (the registry doesn't *mandate* the purpose of an
extension, but it often contains useful hints about the extension's typical
use). The second is flat-out wrong. "NeverShowExt" is what you're looking
for, assuming you've already turned off that idiotic "hide extensions for
known file types" switch in Explorer.
Just run regedit and do a find for "NeverShowExt" (Value). At each hit,
rename it to eg. "~NeverShowExt" (so you have a record of what's changed).
Reboot.
Of course, this makes "shortcuts" appear with .lnk after their names, but
that's a small price to pay for actually being able to see what's going on.
Michael Wojcik michael.wojcik@merant.com
MERANT
Department of English, Miami University
