I noticed yesterday that there was a new Notepad2 release. If you’re not aware, notepad2 is a fantastic replacement for the regular notepad that comes with your windows installation. Check out notepad2 here.

In the past it’s been a bit of a pain in the ass to replace notepad with notepad2 on your windows xp box. This weekend I decided to replace it on my system with the new release, which now supports .ini files.

I’ve created a package that includes:

  • Notepad.exe
  • Notepad2.ini
  • Msvcr70.dll
  • install.bat

Download the installer packet here: Download NOTEPAD 2.0.15 INSTALLER

So, what you need to do, is download my installer package. Modify the notepad2.ini file so it points to where the INI file is located (on my system, I chose to put it in c:\windows). The code in the ini file looks something like this:

[Notepad2]
Notepad2.ini=%WINDIR%\Notepad2.ini
;Notepad2.ini=%APPDATA%\Notepad2.ini

As root, you’ll need to follow these next steps:

Now, you will also need to set some permissions after this, but first, run the install.bat to install notepad2 over your regular files. Make sure to create a backup of notepad.exe if you want to migrate back to using it (not sure why you’d want to, but just to be safe).

You might have to run install.bat a few times until it actually over-writes your file. I find clicking on it about 3 times does the trick. This is because of windows built in security features and not letting “system” files get overwritten. So, click 3-4 times on install.bat, and now you will have notepad2 installed.

Verify that notepad2 has replaced notepad.exe by going to start -> programs -> accessories -> notepad and opening it up. If you go to the Info tab, it should say “notepad2” instead of “notepad by microsoft” or whatever.

Now, notepad2 will work fine for your administrator, but what if you run as a user? Well, this is where we need to set the permissions. Log off your user account, and login as root again.

As administrator, go to your c:\windows folder, and change the permissions on notepad2.ini and msvcr70.dll to allow “everyone” read and write access. Now logoff of administrator and back into your user, and notepad2 should be replaced and working fine within your user.

Let me know if you experience any issues in the comments and I’ll do my best to help. Enjoy using notepad2 instead of the standard notepad.exe, I know I do!