Where's the Affinity Photo 2 exe file in Windows? Here it is.

Want to link Affinity Photo 2 to Adobe Lightroom in Windows but can't find the .exe executable file? HERE'S HOW TO DO IT.

This technique actually can be used for ANY program, not just affinity photo, designer and publisher version 2.

Because Serif has published Affinity 2.0 as an "Store App", the executable is hidden which is why you can't just drill down to it. If you have successfully linked to DXO photolab, Fast Stone or Capture One, please share your experiences in the comments below.

[boydmace]

This actually works. I use Faststone and after this fix I can open a file from Faststone straight into Affinity Photo 2.
I'm a very happy camper now!!

[glennreay]

I am so pleased that you posted this video as the steps that you explained have worked perfectly. I had a different workaround that was not as good as this one so I've reversed my changes and have gone with yours. Many thanks for this 👍

[SurfinPog]

Affinity is the only set of programs I know of that hides their exes like this, so you dont know their shady relationship history (haha). thank you so much!!

[markhornby]

You are a genius! Lol! I'd been trying to find the executable file so that I could open images directly from DXO Photolab, and no searches were finding it for me. Thanks so much for posting this workaround.

[njlsounds]

Thanks, I spent an hour or so trying unsuccessfully to get Affinity Photo to work in LR before spotting your video. Following the instructions worked perfectly in Windows 11.

[Zactivist]

Thank you!! This was driving me nuts! Just wanted to add my Affinity 2 apps to my Stream Deck launcher and finding the executables was proving daunting! This showed me where to look. THanks!

[jonahparker]

Thank you so much! I was looking everywhere for the .exe files. To link CA5 to Affinity Design and Publisher. It now works thank you

[reapuout]

Thank you!!! My problem I had with Affinity Photo 2 and Design 2 were Taskbar Icons being default microsft icons. For the life of me, I had tried so many ways to get both apps Icons to use their respected Affinity icons. I couldnt find the pathways but this video was so helpful. When i had both Photo and Design open i would get confused on the taskbar icons cuz they both used the same computer icon.

[keithpalmer]

I’ve tried this but I'm afraid it doesn’t work for me (Windows 10 PC).

I can get Adobe Bridge, , my photolibrary, to add the name Affinity Photo 2 to available external editor options using the video's method. But when I try to open a file in Affinity from Bridge I get the message “Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item“. I also tried to export a file from DXO Photolab 5's raw engine to AP2 by pasting this path in: the export stalled halfway through the process.

[jimdennis]

Thank you. I was totally lost trying to find this.

[karlwilson]

Thanks. I followed your instructions up to 0:59 (Ctrl+Alt+Del). Here I dragged the new ikon to my Desktop .

[imagerag]

Worked beautifully for me. Thank you. I should have thought of using task manager for discovering the file location. Good call. Now I can use all those cool live masking functions of affinity in my workflow.

[sendmarcusemail]

I am late to the party, but thank you nonetheless! I had to change some permissions to point Photo Mechanic to the folder where the exe file sits, but your video was so incredibly helpful!!

[hashtag-amazing]

Finally, thank you. worked for me to add it to xnview as a custom program

[johnford]

Thank you so much for posting this video. I have been trying to solve this problem since the version 2.0 Apps were released.

[manuelponce]

Thanks, I was using Blender 3D, and The Auto-Reload Image Addon was asking for My Image editor, and I tried finding it for at least an Hour.

[scatterbrainart]

OMG thank you. I use a Razer gamepad for hotkeys and this enables me to auto-switch profiles once again.

[BAEN]

Omg, thank you so much. exaclty what i searched for.

[martinmaurer]

Thank you so much, I thought I was going crazy trying to set Affinity Photo 2 as default image editor for Unity3d.

[Ruffian_Xion]

For anyone coming to this having dumped Photoshop for Affinity after the recent debacle, there is now an alternative download option - MSI/EXE - which will install in the normal way, with a dialogue box to choose your install location. The issues covered by this video only come about if you chose the MSIX installer.