One of the minor irritations of Python is that double clicking a

.py

files in Windows Explorer runs the

.py

script in Python for Windows rather than opening it for editing in Idle, the build in Python editor.

There are lots of solutions around the web which involve changing the file association for

.py

files to Idle using the

idle.bat

file which is in

c:\Program Files\Python 3.11\Libs\idlelib\

. Whilst this works, it's not the best solution for me, mainly because a shell window flashes up before Idle opens (I know, I know. It's not that important).

The more elegant solution is to make a simple change in the registry.


Click 'Start' and type

registry editor

and press ENTER


Navigate to

Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Python.File

. Hopefully, if you expand the sub-keys, you should see the following.


The three main sub-keys define the icon for the file, context menu and double click behaviour and integration with shell extensions.