Today I experienced that my Windows 7 installation did not open .lnk files but instead the files were associated with Internet Explorer. I found a fix for this. Paste the code below into a .reg file, save it, and right-click on the .reg file and choose “merge”. Now the .lnk file should be correct associated again. Please note that you need to be administrator in order to this trick.
DISCLAIMER. I do not take responsibility for any damage to your installation due to this merge.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.LNK]
@="lnkfile"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.LNK\ShellEx\{000214EE-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.LNK\ShellEx\{000214F9-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.LNK\ShellEx\{00021500-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.LNK\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.LNK\ShellNew]
"Handler"="{ceefea1b-3e29-4ef1-b34c-fec79c4f70af}"
"IconPath"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\
00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,6c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,2d,00,\
31,00,36,00,37,00,36,00,39,00,00,00
"ItemName"="@shell32.dll,-30397"
"MenuText"="@shell32.dll,-30318"
"NullFile"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.LNK\ShellNew\Config]
"DontRename"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile]
@="Shortcut"
"EditFlags"=dword:00000001
"FriendlyTypeName"="@shell32.dll,-4153"
"IsShortcut"=""
"NeverShowExt"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\CLSID]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Compatibility]
@="{1d27f844-3a1f-4410-85ac-14651078412d}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\OpenContainingFolderMenu]
@="{37ea3a21-7493-4208-a011-7f9ea79ce9f5}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}]
@=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\DropHandler]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\IconHandler]
@="{00021401-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\ShimLayer Property Page]
@="{513D916F-2A8E-4F51-AEAB-0CBC76FB1AF8}"
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.LNK\UserChoice]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.LNK\OpenWithProgids]
"lnkfile"=hex(0):