Shell integration (default file manager) is hijacked by NordVPN

[hal]

Hi,

This was a f****** pain and made me reinstall Win11. Then it reappeared. Solved it now.

I enabled shell integration for XYplorer and make it the default program to open folders... After a short while, XYplorer is no longer opening the folders, but NordVPN file sharing actually opens instead. It appears Nordvpn is hijacking the privilege to open folders after I've enabled XYplorer to have that privilege.

THIS IS THE SOLUTION.

1) Find registry entries with name of nordvpn etc.

Code: Select all

foreach ($root in $roots) {
   if (Test-Path $root) {
     Get-ChildItem -Path $root -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
       Where-Object {
         $_.Name -match 'Nord|NordVPN|Meshnet|file-share'
       } |
       Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
   }
}

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\NordVPN-file-share
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\NordVPN-file-share\command
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\NordVPN-file-share
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\NordVPN-file-share\command

2) Take shell directory rights from nordvpn and re-enable it for XYplorer, and restart explorer

Code: Select all

Remove-Item "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\NordVPN-file-share" -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\NordVPN-file-share" -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
reg add "HKCR\Directory\shell" /ve /d "XYplorer" /f
Stop-Process -Name explorer -Force
Start-Process explorer.exe

If NordVPN hijacks it again you use this info to create some rule to block NordVPN from being able to do that, chatgpt etc.
This stuff was a major PITA...



My system info:
XYplorer 28.20.0100
Windows 11 25H2
Screen scaling 150%

[admin]

Thanks for the tip, but of course this has nothing to do with XYplorer.