I know that a simple Google search reveals similar sites, but I thought that I’d bring it to the attention of everyone here in case they might have missed it.
Notepad++ is a free replacement to the standard Notepad that comes with Windows XP and Vista. It is small and lightweight. This is an awesome program for anyone. You don’t need to be a programmer/developer to benefit from this application.
Features:
- Syntax Highlighting and Syntax Folding
- WYSIWYG Editor
- User-Defined Syntax Highlighting
- Auto-completion
- Multi-Document View (Tabs!)
- Search/Replace Feature
- Full Drag ‘N’ Drop Support
- File Status Auto Detection
- Brace and indent guideline highlighting
With a few easy steps, you can easily replace your default Notepad in Vista or XP with this one.
First and foremost, you need to download and install the application.
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
First, follow these instructions if you have Windows XP. This will make Notepad++ your default Notepad.
- Backup your original Notepad.exe
- Copy notepad.exe which comes with the package into 4 directories (in the following order) :
- C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386
- C:\Windows\System32\dllcache
- C:\Windows\System32
- C:\Windows
- When you replace notepad.exe in C:\Windows\System32 and C:\Windows, you will get a message that pops up saying “Windows File Protection”. Just click Cancel. Then another message box appears, click OK.
- Modify you registry (if you use installer to install your Notepad++, you don’t need to do this step): Create key \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Notepad++, then add your Notepad++ full path as the default value of this key. In my case, it’s C:\Program Files\Notepad++.
If you have Windows Vista you’ll want to do the following to make Notepad++ your default Notepad.
- Again, backup your Notepad.exe just in case.
- Copy notepad.exe that comes with the package.
- Find C:\Windows\notepad.exe and C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe and set the owner to ‘Administrators’, and grant Administrators full control. This can be tricky as trying to obtain permissions for a certain file in Vista can be frustrating and not work the first few times.
- Just copy the new notepad.exe (Notepad++’s notepad.exe) into C:\Windows and C:\Windows\System32
The latest version of Notepad++ seems to work great with Vista. The older versions crashed and locked up. If you tried it in the past with Vista with no success, download the latest version and it should work just fine.
Good luck and post if you have any questions.
Great info. Just what I was looking for.
I’m assuming that it shouldn’t matter what version of Vista you are running…
Should work with every version. Same basic idea really regardless of the OS version. I’m sure this (or something close to it) can be done on any Windows version.
Thanx for the Vista Specific Tip.
(BTW - I’ve tried this on Vista x64 and can confirm that the method works - but setting up permissions is really confusing - just keep messing around with all the available options (they’re nested pretty deep))
Thanx Again!
Channi wrote:
Thanks for that. Glad to know it works in Vista x64.
I came across your article about a replacement for Notepad by googling it. I did this because I can’t use my current version for some reason (see below). Maybe you have some insight.
I recently posted this on another forum:
I recently read about adding website names in the hosts file to prevent access on them on my home computer. I went to: start>my computer> local disk c:> Windows> system32> drivers> etc > hosts. A dialogue box asks which program I want to use to open the hosts file with. I chose Notepad (which I read somewhere was the correct program). I get an error essage which says: “Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.” Now since I have a stand-alone desktop computer, why would I not have permission to access my hosts file? I get the same error message when I just try to open Notepad from start>all programs>accessories>notepad. I have Windows XP Pro version 2002 with SP2, AMD Athlon XP 2400+, 1.99GHz, 1.5 gigs RAM.
The answer I got was: Right click on the hosts file, click properties, and select the security tab. Make sure in the Administrators item, “Full Control” is selected.
I then responded: I right-clicked on “properties” in the hosts file. There was only a “general” and “summary” tab. Nothing about security. Additionally, I tried to go directly into Notepad again and I got this additional error message: Windows cannot open thos program because it has been prevented by a software restricion policy. For more information contact your system administrator.
I don’t have an administrator. What do I do?
The answer was: Disable Simple File Sharing, that should give you the security tab.
It did and I but I was not able to check or uncheck anything brecause the choices were grayed out (although I saw “Full Control” checked, but it was grayed out). I still couldn’t get into my hosts file to read it. Any ideas?
Boot your computer into Safe Mode.
If you have a pre-built PC (like an HP, Dell, etc) a lot of the times you don’t have admin access.
When you go into Safe Mode, you should be able to choose Administrator, and then login. If not, login as your normal account and try to change the permissions there.
I’ve dealt with many PCs where the file was locked and trying to take control of it in Safe Mode fixed it.
Let me know.
Hi,
I am under Windows XP; but I bought my computer after the realease of SP2. Therefore there is no C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386 directory on my computer.
So, of course, I could not copy notepad.exe in this directory. And, in the 3 other directories (C:\Windows\System32\dllcache, C:\Windows\System32, C:\Windows), when I copy notepad.exe, after a few seconds, the file is replaced by the orginal notepad from microsoft.
Have you an idea how to solve this problem ?
Thank you very much in advance.
Patrick
Patrick wrote:
When you replace the file, you should get a dialog that pops up saying that it detected that the original has been replaced. You should hit Cancel to that. It won’t replace it then.
Are you getting that?
Hi,
Thank you for your so prompt reply.
No, I did not get any dialog box.
(sorry if my english is not perfect, as I am from France)
Patrick
When I tried this, both from the notepad++ website, and looking at the steps here, I ran into a problem. I have no “C:\Windows\System32\dllcache” folder. Should I be worried?
Andrew wrote:
That folder might be hidden. You can try to access it directly from the Start->Run prompt, or changing your display options to show hidden files.
If it still isn’t there, then I think you’ll be alright. Not 100% sure what that directory contains or its purpose.
I have pre-installed windows xp sp2 on my HP machine , I can’t replace any the files within the windows directory nor system32. I guess there is some kind of file safe recovery system to prevent viruses from destroying the windows. but the question is how to really disable this feature so I can use my favorite editor . Ah and one more thing , my notepad++ installation (which is 4.5) does not include “notpad.exe” directly , it has a normal “notepad++.exe” executable shall I rename the file to “notepad.exe” then copy it
please help gays …
put the notepad bock in my laptop for me so I can write to save them in my notepad
can I write letter now and save it on my notepad now
I like it and the background and colors make it easy to read.
you could at least supplied the command for changing the file’s user in vista… now i have to keep on googling … grmpf
Thanks allot for this great show! Nice job - worked like a charm.
Hi,
I have notepad++ in my XP machine and it works great. I just got a new
laptop with Vista Business SP1 and I just can’t seem to make it work.
I downloaded and installed notepad++ from the sourceforge. I can run
it with no problem, but if I copy notepad++.exe anywhere else and run
it, it gives me series of errors complaining about failing to load some
xml files (langs.xml, config.xml, stylers.xml) and also finding dlls
and failing scintilla.init. which are located by the way in:
C:\Program Files\Notepad++
and some of them (but not all) in AppData. So I can run it as is but
can’t replace Windows original notepad.exe like I used to. This means
if I double click a .txt file after following the instructions in
this thread, I get all described errors. I tried not using %AppData%
option during install with no result. I also copied some
of those xml files from installed location (Program Files) to AppData
which got rid of some of the errors but all. Any ideas?
Thanks!