Personalization Add or Remove Pin to Quick access Context Menu in Windows 11

abactuon · Nov 15, 2021

Brink said:
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\pintohome] [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\pintohome] [-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Network\shell\pintohome]

I don't understand. These keys are not in the registry, but

Brink · Nov 15, 2021

abactuon said:
I don't understand. These keys are not in the registry, but

Hello,

Search your registry for any instances of a pintohome shell key within the HKCR key group to see if you may have some stray.

abactuon · Nov 15, 2021

There's nothing there either. I didn't delete anything myself.
There are these entries:
Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}\shell\pintohome
Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\pintohome
Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}\shell\pintohome
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}\shell\pintohome
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shell\pintohome
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{679f85cb-0220-4080-b29b-5540cc05aab6}\shell\pintohome

abactuon · Nov 15, 2021

If you remove 'Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\pintohome', everything works.

ThrashZone · Nov 16, 2021

Hi,

Works on win-10 to :thumbsup:

Brink · Nov 16, 2021

abactuon said:
If you remove 'Computer\HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\pintohome', everything works.

Interesting. I don't have that key on my system with a clean install of Windows 11.

Was this an upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10? If so, it appears to be a left over remnant.

Wisewiz · Nov 17, 2021

Brink said:
Interesting. I don't have that key on my system with a clean install of Windows 11.

Was this an upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10? If so, it appears to be a left over remnant.

@Brink

I have that key, and this was a clean install of 11 to a brand new SSD. Something's weird here.

Dan

Wisewiz · Nov 17, 2021

@Brink

The remove .reg doesn't work on this clean install that has the key mentioned above, even after restart. Should I try it again after removing that key?

Brink · Nov 17, 2021

Wisewiz said:
@Brink

I have that key, and this was a clean install of 11 to a brand new SSD. Something's weird here.

Dan

Thank you Dan. I've added the "Folder" option to the REG files to update them.

ThrashZone · Nov 17, 2021

Hi,
Think this is why it worked for me

Code:

rem Disable frequent/recent items in Explorer Quick Access
reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer /v ShowFrequent /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer /v ShowRecent /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Wisewiz · Nov 17, 2021

Brink said:
Thank you Dan. I've added the "Folder" option to the REG files to update them. :)

Okay. The new version works on the clean install that natively has the above-mentioned key.

Thanks, Shawn.

Wisewiz · Nov 17, 2021

I'm not sure I understand why your (@Brink) install is missing a key that two or three installations (above) have. Any idea?

Brink · Nov 17, 2021

Wisewiz said:
I'm not sure I understand why your (@Brink) install is missing a key that two or three installations (above) have. Any idea?

After more research...

The Windows Insider Dev desktop installation doesn't have it, but does have these:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\pintohome]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\pintohome]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Network\shell\pintohome]

A public release Windows 11 on a VM does, but not the other keys above.

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\pintohome]

Wisewiz · Nov 17, 2021

So it's only in the PRs of 11? (I'm sure I installed a PubRel when I got this new machine.)

Brink · Nov 17, 2021

Wisewiz said:
So it's only in the PRs of 11? (I'm sure I installed a PubRel when I got this new machine.)

More testing needed.

Wisewiz · Nov 17, 2021

Understood.

streetwolf · Feb 13, 2022

I did a clean install of Widows 11 Pro a few days back to fix a few bugs I acquired over the past year or so. One issue I might have is with the 'Pin to Quick Access' situation. Note that I am not using the Reg hack to revert back to Windows 10 context menu.

As far as I can tell the W11 right click context menu is not your grandfather's menu anymore. I believe it is something akin to a Universal App. All the context menu Registry hacks out there don't seem to work on this menu. However they work if you select 'Show More Options' on the bottom of the menu. That menu seems to be of the old variety of menu Ala Windows 10.

When I right click on a folder for instance I do not see an option to 'Pin to Quick Access' on the main context menu. My clean install is not vanilla anymore as I reinstalled my software, drivers, etc. so I don't know if it was ever present. I can do an 'Unpin from Quick Access' which does appear on the main context menu. As of now I can 'pin to QA' either by dragging something to the QA list or use the option on the File Manager toolbar where 'Pin to QA' does appear on the context menu. I have a bunch of Pintohome Reg entries but not the ones in your Reg file. If I merge your Add Reg file I get the option to 'pin to QA' on the 'Show More Options' Menu.

Basically I'm asking if I go into File Manager for example and right click on a selected folder should I see the 'Pin to QA' option on the main context menu?

Brink · Feb 13, 2022

streetwolf said:
I did a clean install of Widows 11 Pro a few days back to fix a few bugs I acquired over the past year or so. One issue I might have is with the 'Pin to Quick Access' situation. Note that I am not using the Reg hack to revert back to Windows 10 context menu.

As far as I can tell the W11 right click context menu is not your grandfather's menu anymore. I believe it is something akin to a Universal App. All the context menu Registry hacks out there don't seem to work on this menu. However they work if you select 'Show More Options' on the bottom of the menu. That menu seems to be of the old variety of menu Ala Windows 10.

When I right click on a folder for instance I do not see an option to 'Pin to Quick Access' on the main context menu. My clean install is not vanilla anymore as I reinstalled my software, drivers, etc. so I don't know if it was ever present. I can do an 'Unpin from Quick Access' which does appear on the main context menu. As of now I can 'pin to QA' either by dragging something to the QA list or use the option on the File Manager toolbar where 'Pin to QA' does appear on the context menu. I have a bunch of Pintohome Reg entries but not the ones in your Reg file. If I merge your Add Reg file I get the option to 'pin to QA' on the 'Show More Options' Menu.

Basically I'm asking if I go into File Manager for example and right click on a selected folder should I see the 'Pin to QA' option on the main context menu?

Hello mate, :)

You should see the "Pin to Quick access" item when you right click on a folder or drive on both the "Show more options" context menu and when you click on "Show more options" context menu by default.

You can try the add REG file to see if it may restore it for you.

streetwolf · Feb 13, 2022

I tried another reg update I found here: Show or hide Pin to Quick access in context menu in Windows 11 This placed the P2QA on the main menu. The Add reg file from you did not. Perhaps you want to compare yours with the one at the link I included to see if there is a difference. If they are the same then I can't explain why yours didn't work when I used it.