July 9th, 2009

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You may receive an error “There is no script engine for file extension” while attempting to run .vbs files in Windows. This error can occur if no default scripting engine is set, the VBScript module is not correctly registered, or the .vbs file class settings are broken.

I’ll address each of the potential problems in order so you should attempt to run your .vbs file in between each step.

Step 1: Set a default script host

Open a Command Prompt window. In Windows XP, click Start, Run…, and type cmd.exe. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, click Start and type cmd. Then select cmd in the Instant Search results.

Type the following command and press Enter.

cscript.exe //H:WScript

Step 2: Registering the vbscript.dll module

Open a Command Prompt window. In Windows XP, click Start, Run…, and type cmd.exe. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, run an elevated Command Prompt.

Type the following command in the command prompt window and press Enter.

regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\vbscript.dll

You should see the following confirmation message.

DllRegisterServer in vbscript.dll succeeded.

Step 3: Restore the .vbs file associations

If the previous two solutions didn’t work, you should restore the file associations for the .vbs (VBScript) file type by downloading and running one of the registry files below.

FixVBSFileAssociationsXP.reg

FixVBSFileAssociationsVista.reg

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Related Posts:

• Forcing a Specific Scripting Engine
• Force Files to Download Instead of Opening
• Copy Text From Error Message Dialog Box
• Masking Passwords in Windows Scripts
• Controlling When VBScript Events Are Handled

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Windows 7, Windows Administration, Windows Scripting, Windows Security, Windows Vista, Windows XP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.