protocol handler conundrum

[NorthboundOcclusive]

this is giving me a headache and i cant seem to find suitable fix for it.

Windows10x64 Pro, 10.0.10586
Google Chrome 51.0.2704.106 m (64-bit)
uTorrent 3.4.7 build 42330 (or any other 3.xx version)

TL;DR is chrome wont open magnet links in utorrent, or do anything else with them (like it doesnt even recogonize it as a link). utorrent is the default handler for torrent files, which chrome will send to utorrent just fine. windows reports that there is no handler installed for magnet links, and wont let me select an executable to handle them (like you would for file extensions). firefox on the otherhand, has its own setup for handling protocols and filetypes, and has no issues with magnet links (chrome apparently gets its handler settings from windows, from what i can tell)



long version-
some time in the past, chrome used to be able to handle magnet:?xt=urn:btih: links, and send them to utorrent (my preferred torrent client), but no longer does. i suspect qbittorrent may have played a part in that, but it's long since been uninstalled.
utorrent's set as the default for torrent files, and checks association on client startup. utorrent also used to have a settings button to associate itself with magnet links, but that seems to no longer be an option in current or recent versions.

regedit entries in HKCR, HKCU, HKLM, for Magnet all point correctly to the utorrent executable
http://i.imgur.com/UoOrQFD.jpg

windows claims that there's nothing installed to handled magnet links. if i go thru pc settings, it'll try to search the app store (lol,no.), going through the control panel doesnt' even give that option.
https://i.imgur.com/Xibjwk4.jpg https://i.imgur.com/wbZktZZ.jpg

for its part, chrome doesnt have any user-serviceable method for dealing with protocol handlers. https://i.imgur.com/eVvZTiU.jpg

however- using a fresh chrome install on a windows7 virtual machine, the first magnet link clicked did produce a prompt asking if chrome should handle magnet links. https://i.imgur.com/JVh0yFI.png
i wasnt able to reproduce that after a clean reinstall of chrome on windows10, and ive not found any other method of getting that prompt to reappear.


attemping to google up solutions to the issue typically returns one of two results--
1) chrome just doesnt handle magnet links, with no reason given for that behavior (even though chrome does, has, and will, in other envrionments)
2) directions to edit the "Local State" file in %localappdata%\Google\Chrome\User Data, "protocol_handler":{"excluded_schemes":" setting either "magnet":false (assuming it was previously True) or removing the "magnet":false line entirely.
for my case, "magnet": was already false, nor did removing that line, or deleting the whole Local State file cause chrome to change its lack of behavior of magnet links


chrome's been fully uninstalled and reinstalled.
utorrent's been reinstalled several times, including older versions (trying to track down that "associate with magnet" option
registry entries have been checked against another chrome+win10 pc, and a chrome+win7 virtual machine

obvious workarounds are to either continue using chrome and just download .torrent files instead of magnet links, or go back to firefox and let it send magnets to utorrent, or use a totally different torrent client. that's all well and good, but doesnt really solve the issue.