diff --git a/docs/changes.txt b/docs/changes.txt
index 1797e310ff..4de5cd0cc1 100644
--- a/docs/changes.txt
+++ b/docs/changes.txt
@@ -634,6 +634,7 @@ wxMSW:
 - Fix RegisterHotKey() with negative IDs (troelsk).
 - Fix event object type for wxEVT_SPINCTRL events.
 - Fix bug if wxToolBar tool was deleted from its own handler (Artur Wieczorek).
+- Fix creating or modifying file associations under recent Windows versions.
 
 wxOSX:
 
diff --git a/src/msw/mimetype.cpp b/src/msw/mimetype.cpp
index 5aa065e19b..356102d866 100644
--- a/src/msw/mimetype.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/mimetype.cpp
@@ -66,6 +66,17 @@ class WXDLLIMPEXP_FWD_CORE wxIcon;
 //      to open/print the file (the positional parameters are introduced by %1,
 //      %2, ... in these strings, we change them to %s ourselves)
 
+// Notice that HKCR can be used only when reading from the registry, when
+// writing to it, we need to write to HKCU\Software\Classes instead as HKCR is
+// a merged view of that location and HKLM\Software\Classes that we generally
+// wouldn't have the write permissions to but writing to HKCR will try writing
+// to the latter unless the key being written to already exists under the
+// former, resulting in a "Permission denied" error without administrative
+// permissions. So the right thing to do is to use HKCR when reading, to
+// respect both per-user and machine-global associations, but only write under
+// HKCU.
+static const wxChar *CLASSES_ROOT_KEY = wxS("Software\\Classes\\");
+
 // although I don't know of any official documentation which mentions this
 // location, uses it, so it isn't likely to change
 static const wxChar *MIME_DATABASE_KEY = wxT("MIME\\Database\\Content Type\\");
@@ -190,7 +201,7 @@ size_t wxFileTypeImpl::GetAllCommands(wxArrayString *verbs,
 
 bool wxFileTypeImpl::EnsureExtKeyExists()
 {
-    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCR, m_ext);
+    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + m_ext);
     if ( !rkey.Exists() )
     {
         if ( !rkey.Create() || !rkey.SetValue(wxEmptyString, m_strFileType) )
@@ -577,11 +588,11 @@ wxFileType *wxMimeTypesManagerImpl::Associate(const wxFileTypeInfo& ftInfo)
         extWithDot = wxT('.');
     extWithDot += ext;
 
-    // start by setting the HKCR\\.ext entries
+    // start by setting the entries under ".ext"
     // default is filetype; content type is mimetype
     const wxString& filetypeOrig = ftInfo.GetShortDesc();
 
-    wxRegKey key(wxRegKey::HKCR, extWithDot);
+    wxRegKey key(wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + extWithDot);
     if ( !key.Exists() )
     {
         // create the mapping from the extension to the filetype
@@ -629,7 +640,7 @@ wxFileType *wxMimeTypesManagerImpl::Associate(const wxFileTypeInfo& ftInfo)
             // create the MIME key
             wxString strKey = MIME_DATABASE_KEY;
             strKey << mimetype;
-            wxRegKey keyMIME(wxRegKey::HKCR, strKey);
+            wxRegKey keyMIME(wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + strKey);
             ok = keyMIME.Create();
 
             if ( ok )
@@ -650,7 +661,7 @@ wxFileType *wxMimeTypesManagerImpl::Associate(const wxFileTypeInfo& ftInfo)
            extWithDot = wxT('.');
         extWithDot += ext;
 
-        wxRegKey key2(wxRegKey::HKCR, extWithDot);
+        wxRegKey key2(wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + extWithDot);
         if ( !key2.Exists() )
             key2.Create();
         key2.SetValue(wxEmptyString, filetype);
@@ -667,7 +678,7 @@ wxFileType *wxMimeTypesManagerImpl::Associate(const wxFileTypeInfo& ftInfo)
                 // create the MIME key
                 wxString strKey = MIME_DATABASE_KEY;
                 strKey << mimetype2;
-                wxRegKey keyMIME(wxRegKey::HKCR, strKey);
+                wxRegKey keyMIME(wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + strKey);
                 ok = keyMIME.Create();
 
                 if ( ok )
@@ -678,11 +689,11 @@ wxFileType *wxMimeTypesManagerImpl::Associate(const wxFileTypeInfo& ftInfo)
             }
         }
 
-    } // end of for loop; all extensions now point to HKCR\.ext\Default
+    } // end of for loop; all extensions now point to .ext\Default
 
     // create the filetype key itself (it will be empty for now, but
     // SetCommand(), SetDefaultIcon() &c will use it later)
-    wxRegKey keyFT(wxRegKey::HKCR, filetype);
+    wxRegKey keyFT(wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + filetype);
     keyFT.Create();
 
     wxFileType *ft = CreateFileType(filetype, extWithDot);
@@ -710,7 +721,7 @@ bool wxFileTypeImpl::SetCommand(const wxString& cmd,
     if ( !EnsureExtKeyExists() )
         return false;
 
-    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCR, GetVerbPath(verb));
+    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + GetVerbPath(verb));
 
     // TODO:
     // 1. translate '%s' to '%1' instead of always adding it
@@ -728,7 +739,8 @@ bool wxFileTypeImpl::SetDefaultIcon(const wxString& cmd, int index)
     if ( !EnsureExtKeyExists() )
         return false;
 
-    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCR, m_strFileType + wxT("\\DefaultIcon"));
+    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCU,
+                  CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + m_strFileType + wxT("\\DefaultIcon"));
 
     return rkey.Create() &&
            rkey.SetValue(wxEmptyString,
@@ -743,7 +755,7 @@ bool wxFileTypeImpl::SetDescription (const wxString& desc)
     if ( !EnsureExtKeyExists() )
         return false;
 
-    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCR, m_strFileType );
+    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + m_strFileType );
 
     return rkey.Create() &&
            rkey.SetValue(wxEmptyString, desc);
@@ -778,7 +790,7 @@ bool wxFileTypeImpl::RemoveCommand(const wxString& verb)
     wxCHECK_MSG( !m_ext.empty() && !verb.empty(), false,
                  wxT("RemoveCommand() needs an extension and a verb") );
 
-    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCR, GetVerbPath(verb));
+    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + GetVerbPath(verb));
 
     // if the key already doesn't exist, it's a success
     return !rkey.Exists() || rkey.DeleteSelf();
@@ -788,7 +800,7 @@ bool wxFileTypeImpl::RemoveMimeType()
 {
     wxCHECK_MSG( !m_ext.empty(), false, wxT("RemoveMimeType() needs extension") );
 
-    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCR, m_ext);
+    wxRegKey rkey(wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + m_ext);
     return !rkey.Exists() || rkey.DeleteSelf();
 }
 
@@ -797,7 +809,8 @@ bool wxFileTypeImpl::RemoveDefaultIcon()
     wxCHECK_MSG( !m_ext.empty(), false,
                  wxT("RemoveDefaultIcon() needs extension") );
 
-    wxRegKey rkey (wxRegKey::HKCR, m_strFileType  + wxT("\\DefaultIcon"));
+    wxRegKey rkey (wxRegKey::HKCU,
+                   CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + m_strFileType  + wxT("\\DefaultIcon"));
     return !rkey.Exists() || rkey.DeleteSelf();
 }
 
@@ -806,7 +819,7 @@ bool wxFileTypeImpl::RemoveDescription()
     wxCHECK_MSG( !m_ext.empty(), false,
                  wxT("RemoveDescription() needs extension") );
 
-    wxRegKey rkey (wxRegKey::HKCR, m_strFileType );
+    wxRegKey rkey (wxRegKey::HKCU, CLASSES_ROOT_KEY + m_strFileType );
     return !rkey.Exists() || rkey.DeleteSelf();
 }