Windows kept resetting my default apps until I changed one policy setting for good

Published Sep 10, 2026, 1:30 PM EDT Abhinav pivoted from a career in banking to pursue his first love in writing. Even while working full-time, he continued contributing as an editor-at-large, a role he has held for more than 7 years. A lifelong tech enthusiast who has built three gaming and productivity powerhouse PCs since 2018, his passion for technology keeps him closely following the semiconductor industry, from NVIDIA and AMD to ARM. His MSc dissertation explored how artificial intelligence will reshape the future of work, reflecting his curiosity about the wider social impact of emerging technologies. Windows 11 is quite unusual, in that it has a rather funny habit of forgetting what you've already told it. I have Google Chrome set as my default browser, and yet, occasionally, I'll double-click an HTML document only to watch Windows open it on Microsoft Edge instead. It's particularly vexing because Edge is one of those Windows components I can't get rid of, despite having absolutely zero use for it. This isn't because I haven't set my default correctly. Windows has several mechanisms for managing file associations, and on PCs managed through a domain, administrators can even enforce those associations through Group Policy. It's quite interesting because I've found this one approach to be amongst the ones that sticks and doesn't need you to revisit your default apps as often as I do. Windows 11 doesn't always respect your default app Setting a default browser isn't always a one-click fix to the woes Windows 11 gives you a number of ways to designate which app you want to use for a particular file type or extension. If you set Chrome, Brave, or Firefox as your default web browser, you'd expect, like any reasonable user, for all webpages and HTML file to follow suit. As such, it's mighty disappointing when they don't. I ran into this particular issue with .htm and .html file types more often than I could recall. Chrome was evidently my default browser, and that much was clear from the constant nudges Edge gave me to set it as my default every time I'd accidentally launch it. Yet, double-clicking an HTML document could still send it straight to Edge. Windows simply isn't very good at respecting user-defined parameters, and the constant updates can sometimes make it even more convoluted. It isn't just a problem that's specific to my machine, if you were skeptical. At any given point of time, you can expect a live thread on Microsoft's Tech Community forums from someone wondering why Windows has once again decided that their chosen defaults feel like nothing more than a suggestion. As a matter of fact, the latest thread about a user complaining that Windows' monthly updates repeatedly kept resetting their preferred browser, PDF reader, and video player went live 4 days prior to the time of writing. Clearly, it's an ongoing issue. You can enforce your default apps through Group Policy With a few minutes, and a few edits to the XML file Fortunately, there's an approach that takes care of the changing default apps problem. For this, you will require an XML file that instructs Windows which applications should handle a particular file type or a protocol. Windows 11 can create most of this for you with a few steps. The first thing you would want to do is open Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt with elevated permissions (this means right-clicking and running as an administrator). Then, you want to export your current default associations with the following command. Dism /Online /Export-DefaultAppAssociations:C:\DefaultAssoc.xml Once that is done, DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) will report that as completed successfully, and you'll have obtained an XML file at C:\DefaultAssoc.xml containing your current file association. This will be useful later. Now, you want to open the XML in a Notepad. I just used the following PowerShell command. notepad C:\DefaultAssoc.xml You'll notice that it's a long, scary file. There is no reason to be concerned. Windows simply gives you association for a huge number of file types on your PC. Now, the next step is to just edit the associations you want to change. In my case, I just wanted Chrome to handle my HTML files, so I looked for the existing entries for .htm and .html and changed them to the following. Next, you'd want to save the XML file, but also make sure Notepad doesn't make it into a .txt. If you're using "Save As", it's worth making sure you select "All files" and retain the .xml extension. Tell Windows to use your new association file The Group Policy setting is where the changes are reflected When the XML is saved, you need to instruct Windows to use it. This is done via the Local Group Policy Editor for individual machines, although domain admins can apply it through Group Policy Management. To get started quickly, you need to hold Windows + R and type gpedit.msc in the dialogue box. Pressing Enter will take you to the Local Group Policy Editor. You have to head into Computer Configuration, followed by Administrative Templates, then Windows Components, and then File Explorer. Here, you're looking for a policy called Set a default file associations configuration file. Double click, set it to Enabled, and then enter the location of your XML file under Default Associations Configuration File. If you followed the steps so far exactly the same way, it'll be on the C: drive, in which case you need to set it to C:\DefaultAssoc.xml. Click Apply, and then OK. Now, all you need to do is restart your PC and sign back in. This should reflect the changes to the default apps as applied on your XML file. Bonus Approach: Use SetUserFTA Because it always helps to know there's an easier alternative If you've gone through the trouble of exporting and editing an XML and found the Group Policy method to be either a hassle or just too complicated, you're not alone. Additionally, if you're on a personal machine that isn't a part of a managed network, Windows will acknowledge the policy but still ignore it. Fret not, though, because there's a simple, free tool that can get you the same results without the pain involved in the process. SetUserFTA by Christoph Kolbicz offers this alternative. It's a free command-line utility that writes file associations directly to the registry that bypasses the UserChoiceProtection Driver. You can download the SetUserFTA tool from the official website, extract it, and open a CMD or PowerShell in the same folder, and then edit the associations like so. .\SetUserFTA.exe .html ChromeHTML .\SetUserFTA.exe .htm ChromeHTML Windows doesn't always remember your choices, but you can make it so it does It's tiresome to constantly remind Windows 11 about your preferences surrounding default apps, but until Microsoft makes these default associations less temperamental (or better, stops breaking them with every third update), Group Policy and SetUserFTA offer a convenient way to make your preferences stick.