Make Vivaldi default browser keeps failing in Windows 10

barryh

I recently did a fresh recovery of my windows system. The recovery installed Windows 10 bld 1909.

Something is wrong with making Vivaldi my default browser on Windows 10 when Vivaldi is installed for all users. Do not have the problem when Vivaldi is installed as standalone application.

Installed Vivaldi 3.0 "for all users" in the fresh windows installation. Vivaldi browser opens and pops up a dialog to make Vivaldi the default browser. Select OK and the windows 10 default app selection opens. Set the browser to Vivaldi and close the default app selection. Close Vivaldi and then open again. The same make Vivaldi default browser dialog appears again. The only way to stop this is uncheck the option to check for default browser.

Uninstalled Vivaldi 3.0 and installed Vivaldi 2.11 as standalone. Went thru same procedure to start Vivaldi, select option to make Vivaldi default browser the default apps settings. Closed Vivaldi and then reopened Vivaldi. This time did not get the prompt to make Vivaldi the default browser.

Uninstalled standalone Vivaldi 2.11 and installed standalone Vivaldi 3.0. Went thru same procedure to start Vivaldi, make Vivaldi the default browser, close Vivaldi and reopen Vivaldi. With standalone Vivaldi v3.0 did not get the prompt again to set Vivaldi as default browser.

Uninstalled standalone Vivaldi v3.0 and installed Vivaldi v3.0 for all users. Went thru same procedure to make Vivaldi the default browser. Every time I open Vivaldi the prompt to make Vivaldi the default browser appears. Only way to stop it is to uncheck the check at startup option.

This only happens when Vivaldi is installed for all users. Does not happen if Vivaldi is installed as standalone app.

Also noticed that some applications that want to open a browser do not use Vivaldi even when it is set as the default app for browser.

Did a web search and could not find anything actionable to fix this problem.

Any one have suggestions on how to fix this?

Pesala

@barryh My best guess is that you might to need to right-click on the installer and run it as Administrator.

ender85

I noticed the same problem on some of my Windows installs - Vivaldi is set as the default browser, but still prompts every time it starts (and on one Windows 10 machine, it prompts, but when the Default applications opens, it doesn't list Vivaldi at all as a selectable option).

barryh

@Pesala Thanks for the suggestion. Just tried it. Uninstalled Vivaldi and then reinstalled using run as administrator. Same problem. Still fails the check for default browser every time I open Vivaldi.

Continued web search. Other possible causes for this issue:

Using a fresh install of build 1909 instead of an upgrade path from earlier build, Could be something changed in build 1909 that only appears on fresh install instead of upgrade.
Using a local account instead of microsoft account. Especially since the 1909 build removed the link to create local account during installation. Microsoft REALLY wants you to stop using local accounts, There is some mention about using Microsoft account to fix this problem. Really do not want to use microsoft account!
Something to do windows File Type Association (FTA) security hash for user setting file type associations. Could be related to enhanced FTA restrictions in build 1909.

Found this article fix - setuserFTA about setuserFTA fix. Article gives the hash values for other browsers. Could not find the hash value to use for Vivaldi. Perhaps someone from Vivaldi support could help with the right hash values to use.

Ayespy

@barryh I just did it with FTA one file type at a time, and turned off the "check" operation on Vivaldi. Windows 10 default program operation has now been broken for years, sometimes working and sometimes not. You set default programs and it ignores them or makes you set them again and again (unless, of course, they are MS programs, then those work just fine.)

So now, my de facto default is the instance of Vivaldi that I want it to be, it's what receives every command connected with browsers, and MS can go suck an egg. They do not WANT anything but MS apps to work as defaults, and they refuse to fix the defective Win10 operation that is in charge of this.

barryh

After using the tools and commands in Set Default Browser File Association, believe I found why Vivaldi keeps prompting to set as default browser when Check on Startup is set.

For Windows 10 looks like Vivaldi is checking the wrong registry key for default browser selection.

Output of the ftype command for htmlfile
ftype | find "htmlfile"
htmlfile="C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" %1

The corresponds to the Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlfile\shell\open\command
registry default = "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" %1

Manually selected the following applications as default Web Browser: Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Vivaldi

After each manual selection ran registry query for ProgId on

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts.html\UserChoice key

Also after each manual selection checked value the ftype value for "htmlfile". The htmlfile value never changed.

Results of ProgId from .html UserChoice key are

Internet Explorer: ProgId REG_SZ htmlfile

This corresponds to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\htmlfile\shell\open\command key

Microsot Edge: ProgId REG_SZ MSEdgeHTM

FireFox: ProgId REG_SZ FirefoxHTML-EDA4AEC633F4F8

Vivaldi: ProgId REG_SZ VivaldiHTM.4F62JWUGBJQ77NZEMPR4JINQTA

In Windows 10, it looks like the UserChoice key is updated to reflect the manual selection of the default Web Browser.

It appears that Vivaldi may be checking HKEY_CLASS_ROOT\htmfile\shell\open key for the default browser instead of the ProgId found under UserChoice in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE key.

Perhaps a hold over from those wonderful days with Windows 7.

So the work around is to just uncheck the Vivaldi option to check for default browser on startup.

Ayespy

@barryh I'm not sure it's anything Vivaldi is doing. In 3 of my 4 machines running Win10, it works without a hitch. In this one, however, it does not work. Further, every time I go to open a .jpeg file, it asks me whether I want to use my default .jpeg handler. .jpg works fine, but not .jpeg. Every time, I tell it to use my default image handling program, tell it to always use that program, and the next time I go to open a .jpeg, it asks me again. By file type, the correct default is set. I had a similar battle getting it to open .pdfs with my .pdf handler rather than Edge. I finally won that battle.

But again, when I set Vivaldi as the default browser in my other instances of Win10 it does it, and Vivaldi knows it. So it is not universal that it fails - only in certain instances of Win10. Win7 and Linux of course, no problem. If Vivaldi were doing it wrong, it should do it wrong in every instance of Win10.

HyperPete

I am experiencing the same issue. It appears to have started with the release of version 3 for me. Same problem on two different builds of Windows 10 Pro.
Desktop OS: Insider build 20HY2 (OS Build 19042.330)

Laptop OS: Version 1909 (OS Build: 18363.900)

Vivaldi Version (Both): 3.1.1929.45 (Stable channel) (64-bit)
Revision: 1eb3263017ed42270818939fbff241845938a81f

I set the default after Googling a procedure from Microsoft since Vivaldi stopped appearing in the list of Default browsers. I am now prompted each time I start Vivaldi. I will uncheck the "Check at startup" as suggested by @barryh .

I'll be happy to assist with troubleshooting if you wish. I am a (recently) retired Network / Security admin, so I do have a little PC experience.