Solution to disable Quicktime plugin for IE (this one works)

It is a known issue that the Quicktime plugin will hijack file associations and play content within the browser, regardless of your file associations. Simply disabling the plugin in the Internet Explorer options doesn't always seem to work. When you try to open a media file on a website upon disabling the plugin, the browser will display a red X and the media will not play. Even with your Windows file associations configured to open with the media player of your choice, the Quicktime plugin will still take precedence. Uninstalling Quicktime will resolve the issue. However, if you are like me and own an Apple device, you must have Quicktime installed to use iTunes. I've searched the web for a solution, but none of the suggested methods worked.

Well, I have finally figured out how to remove the plugin without, as it seems so far, breaking iTunes. Here is what I did:

Close out of Internet Explorer. Backup and then delete the registry entry below. I have provided the reg.exe commands to make it easier than going through the registry editor. NOTE: The registry values below are for 64-bit Windows. For 32-bit Windows, I'll assume that you just need to remove the Wow6432Node from the path and target "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\" instead. If that is not it, search the registry for the Quicktime CLSID ID (long string of characters and numbers in the paths below).

reg export "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{4063BE15-3B08-470D-A0D5-B37161CFFD69}" D:\qt_plugin\qt1.reg

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{4063BE15-3B08-470D-A0D5-B37161CFFD69}" /f

If that doesn't get it, try these as well. Just delete and test one at a time.

reg export "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{CB927D12-4FF7-4A9E-A169-56E4B8A75598}" D:\qt_plugin\qt2.reg

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{CB927D12-4FF7-4A9E-A169-56E4B8A75598}" /f

reg export "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B}" D:\qt_plugin\qt3.reg

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B}" /f

reg export "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components\3F9E7EA97A1AEE54490637032025DEF9" d:\qt_plugin\qt4.reg

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components\3F9E7EA97A1AEE54490637032025DEF9" /f

Startup Internet Explorer and test (a reboot shouldn't be required). For me, IE reverted back to opening media files with my default player, Windows Media Player. I assume it will have the same results for other media players. I am not sure if this solution will work for other web browsers.

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