OK Mea culpa. And yes I've just demonstrated the extent of my ignorance with Java. I had installed the Java SDK presuming the "runtime" would come with it like most other dev kits I've used over the last couple decades. Problem it is DID NOT. So just downloaded the win version of Java from https://www.java.com/en/ and then manually associated jnlp with the Javaws.exe program found in the x86 Java program files. and VOILA... all is well.
