I cannot set Word as the Default program for .docx files

Thanks for the reply. I tried your solution but a message pops up saying windows cant find winword.

The Office 2010 copy that I am using is provided by my college. Would that be the reason it doesnt show up in the search.

Thanks for the reply. I tried your solution but a message pops up saying windows cant find winword.

The Office 2010 copy that I am using is provided by my college. Would that be the reason it doesnt show up in the search.

No, the program must be somewhere on your computer or else it wouldn't run at all. To find the folder that contains it:

• Open the File Explorer. In the tree list on the left, expand the This PC icon, expand the System Drive (C:) icon, and click on the Program Files (x86) icon. [If you don't have a Program Files (x86) folder, then click on the Program Files icon.]
• Click in the search box at the upper right, and type in winword.
• The search should return a handful of results, and one of them should be winword.exe, probably in the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14. Make a note of the full path of that file.
• In the Run box described in the ReRegisterWord page, enter the full path and filename enclosed in double quotes, followed by the /r, like this:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14\winword.exe" /r

Hello, I did what you asked but I received the error message below.

I'm not sure I understand what you've found so far, so please answer a few questions:

• Did you use File Explorer, and did you see the winword.exe file in the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14? (If you just copied the path from my post and pasted it into the Run box, that error message is what's expected if the path doesn't actually exist on your computer.)
• If the answer to the first question is no, try again without the "(x86)" part in the path, as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14. Also, when you're just looking for the file, don't use the /r at the end.
• If you still haven't found the winword.exe file, there are two more questions: (1) Are you sure you have Office installed on your computer -- that is, can you run Word from a tile on the Start screen or from a shortcut on the desktop? (2) If you can run it, are you sure it's from Office 2010 and not from Office 2013 / Office 365? That would affect the path where you should be looking.

What I found was WinWord application. It did not say .exe but said its Type was application and gave the file path C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14.

When i click on this Winword search result the Word program opens up with no problems.

The Office 2010 I have is not a Tile App but a desktop version that I downloaded from the link provided by my college.

I deleted (x86) and entered C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14 into the Run search box and it returned the screenshot below. There is no Word .exe file or Word application in the list. Im sorry the screenshot is hard to see in this post but I cant magnify it,

On a 64 bit PC Winword.EXE is in the folder C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14, not C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14.

If you don't have Windows Explorer configured to display the extensions of known file types, it will display as WinWord. The EXE extension is hidden.

Because we now know which folder contains the winword file, the expression you should paste into the Run box must be

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14\winword.exe" /r

Copy that line from this post and paste it into the Run box -- don't type it, because it won't work if you put in or leave out spaces in the wrong place.

I copied and pasted as you said but I got the same error message as in the screenshot in the previous post.

It says the program is unavailable.

Hmm. In yesterday's post you said you found the file in the folder C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14, with no space between 'Files' and '(x86)'. I've never seen a Windows installation where that's the case, but it's worth a try. Copy and paste this line into the Run box:

"C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office 2010\Office14\winword.exe" /r