Fix: “Edit with GIMP” context menu in Windows 7 x64

I can’t remember when it happened but at some point, I lost the “Edit with GIMP” context menu for image files after I started using Windows 7 about a year ago. I just installed the GIMP 2.6.10 x64 version and I noticed that the issue wasn’t fixed. (I had a further problem because the Open With shell magic was broken because the 2.6.10 installer uses a different directory than the 2.6.9 x64 installer did.)

With my context menus thoroughly busted for images, I had a look in the registry. For every sort of image file, there were shell verbs configured. For example, here’s jpeg:

jpegfile\shell\Edit with GIMP]
@="Edit with GIMP"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell\Edit with GIMP\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\GIMP 2\\bin\\gimp-2.6.exe\" \"%1\""

This all looks fine. It’s a custom shell verb called “Edit with GIMP” with the menu label “Edit with GIMP” that invokes the gimp-2.6.1.exe executable, passing the argument of the file name.

Except it doesn’t do anything in Windows 7.

I channeled Mark Russinovich and fired up Sysinternals ProcMon and had a look at what the explorer.exe process is accessing in the registry when I right-click on a jpeg.

procmon

It turns out that Explorer isn’t looking at jpegfile or pngfile or giffile et al. It is looking at “image files" as a class via HKCR\SystemFileAssociations\image. Therefore, the solution is to add a custom shell verb there:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\image\shell\Edit with GIMP]
@="Edit with GIMP"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\image\shell\Edit with GIMP\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\GIMP 2\\bin\\gimp-2.6.exe\" \"%1\""

And success.

image-context-menu

13 Responses to Fix: “Edit with GIMP” context menu in Windows 7 x64

  1. biroati says:

    Thank you very much.

    It has worked.

  2. leslie says:

    Hello,

    This is probably a really dumb question because I’m not really that familiar with registry keys and editing them but where exactly do you put the custom shell verb? I’d really like to get the “Edit with Gimp” back in my context menu and it’s proving much more difficult that I thought.

    Thank you so much.

    • Inqy says:

      after 2,5 hours of research using google and youtube I found out that you only have to copy the the text and save it anywhere as “.reg”
      then all u have to do is to run this file and click “yes” and “ok”
      There u go…
      btw. picasa is causing this problem (know this because i got the problem after installing picasa and i found a post of a user who said that aswell… google company sucks!)
      greets

  3. Pingback: m.i.n.i.b.l.o.g » Comment récupérer le lien « Edit with Gimp »

  4. Ron says:

    Sry, but I don’t have this key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations

    My OS is Win 7 Home Premium 64bit.

  5. Kevalin says:

    Did as suggested above, copying the text to Notepad and saving as .reg. Unfortunately, when I tried to install it, I got a “dinger” telling me that it “is not a registry script,” and “you can only import binary registry files from within the registry editor.”

    What now?

    • Ned says:

      Same here please help….

      • Aspen says:

        I had the same problem and took a look at other registry files to figure out what was wrong. I added the registry version at the top and it worked. This text saved as .reg worked:

        Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

        [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\image\shell\Edit with GIMP]
        @=”Edit with GIMP”

        [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\image\shell\Edit with GIMP\command]
        @=”\”C:\\Program Files\\GIMP 2\\bin\\gimp-2.6.exe\” \”%1\”"

  6. Faruffa says:

    Tks very much … it is not really simple to do, but it works!

  7. Tony says:

    Thank you so much. I spent ages trying to fix this.

  8. Kent says:

    This is a much better solution, and doesn’t require modifying any registry stuff.

    http://www.gimptalk.com/index.php?/topic/44029-edit-with-gimp-in-context-menu/page__view__findpost__p__370308

  9. Pingback: Edit with GIMP Context Menu « A Mind Lost

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