Personalization Disable "Show more options" context menu in Windows 11

Brink · Dec 26, 2021

larrydonline said:
Very strange because I have the same build of Win 11, yet when I run that on the Powershell I get
HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\ : The module 'HKCU' could not be loaded. For more information, run 'Import-Module HKCU'.
At line:1 char:1
+ HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\In ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CouldNotAutoLoadModule

Hello Larry,

A mistake may have been made entering the command. Does using option 1 work for you?

larrydonline · Dec 27, 2021

Yes, Brink, I just got through doing it that way and it's great to see the old right click menu restored.

If I could get rid of the lack of focus for the keyboard when switching between programs using Alt.-Tab. I'd like Windows 11 much more. I haven't seen anyone else complain about it but it's real on my Dell 8940. The switching very often brings up a program that doesn't recognize the keyboard until I use the mouse to click on the visible page.

I was typing on the page, switched to another program for data I intend to put on the first page, but when I go back to the first page I can't start typing until I click somewhere on that page. With Windows 10 I would return to the first page and find the cursor still in the position I left it in so I can immediately type in the data I found. I do a lot of data entry that way, by switching back and forth. It's a lot slower now. Sometimes I'll have focus when I go back to the first page, but most of the time I don't.

larrydonline · Dec 27, 2021

Talking about failures in design changes, I am mystified why they don't give as a default on right click to "Move To Folder" and "Copy To Folder". I find those so convenient that I use them several times a week. Say you search for a particular file because you want to put files like that one in a different folder. You can tell the search app to 'show in folder', then when you go to the item in whatever folder that it was found, you can just right click on the item and click "move to folder", which will move that file into another folder or even to another hard drive.

It's so much easier and faster having that on your right click menu than having to drag the found file to it's new location. You don't even need to open the folder that you're moving items to, just right click and chose "move to folder". I've added this to my registry since 2016.

Brink · Dec 27, 2021

larrydonline said:
Talking about failures in design changes, I am mystified why they don't give as a default on right click to "Move To Folder" and "Copy To Folder". I find those so convenient that I use them several times a week. Say you search for a particular file because you want to put files like that one in a different folder. You can tell the search app to 'show in folder', then when you go to the item in whatever folder that it was found, you can just right click on the item and click "move to folder", which will move that file into another folder or even to another hard drive.

It's so much easier and faster having that on your right click menu than having to drag the found file to it's new location. You don't even need to open the folder that you're moving items to, just right click and chose "move to folder". I've added this to my registry since 2016.

Add or Remove "Copy To folder" and "Move To folder" Context Menu in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove "Copy To folder" and "Move to folder" to the context menu for all users in Windows 11. When you press and hold or right click on selected file(s) and folder(s), click/tap on Show more options, and click/tap on Copy To folder, it will copy them to...

www.elevenforum.com

larrydonline · Dec 28, 2021

Yes, that's the fix, but it is a hack, not part of Windows 11. I probably got the reg key that implements it from you. Maybe on TenForum's site.
Related question.
What does "Copy as path" mean?

Lucas North · Dec 28, 2021

larrydonline said:
What does "Copy as path" mean?

The “Copy as path” option, upon selected, will copy the full path of the selected file or folder as text to the clipboard.
After copying the path of an item, you can paste the path to any text area (as in any area that supports entering text).

For example, try to select the “Copy as path” option from the context menu after right-clicking a file, and then paste the path into a new text file using Notepad or WordPad.

Copy as path

larrydonline · Dec 28, 2021

Thank you, Lucas. Your explanation was clear.

I fail to understand why or when someone would want to do that. Maybe it's there to help developers?

I noticed another seeming quark in Windows 11. You can still point and click and hold the mouse button down in order to drag open windows around. The difference is that in Windows 10 that action would turn the pointer into a hand, but there no change to the pointer in Win 11.

Wisewiz · Dec 28, 2021

larrydonline said:
I fail to understand why or when someone would want to do that.

In order to help people, I often have to use looong file paths to get them where they need to be. Copy As Path is exactly the button I need, to get them where they need to be, to fix the problem they have.

Suppose someone doesn't know where the 11 Start and All Apps menus are stored. I know where they are and can find them easily. A click on Copy as path does the trick to get the not-quite-computing-sophisticated user to the required destination:

"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"
"C:\Users\DAW\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"

Edwin · Dec 28, 2021

Another example:
Suppose I want to create a right click context menu entry for a certain app execution...,
... I Copy As Path from the .exe...

... paste the path into the appropriate dialog...

Voilà! The associated icon, which was sought out via the path, appears in the left margin...

Edwin · Dec 28, 2021

larrydonline said:
...that action would turn the pointer into a hand...

I've only ever seen the hand in MS Office.
Usually it's crosshairs, and only if you use the right click Move dialog...
(It may depend on your cursor theme, though!)

larrydonline · Dec 28, 2021

Thanks for the explanation and examples, Edwin. I think the hand was part of Windows 10. It came up just when moving open folders around on the screen, independent of any program.

Edwin · Dec 28, 2021

larrydonline said:
...It came up just when moving open folders around on the screen...

Ah! Yes..., folders, not windows.

wpcoe · Dec 30, 2021

larrydonline said:
Thank you, Lucas. Your explanation was clear.

I fail to understand why or when someone would want to do that. Maybe it's there to help developers?

I use it when uploading images or other files.

I don't always keep things in the default folders (i.e. where Microsoft thinks I should save them). e.g. I keep my images in project-related folders rather than in Pictures or Downloads. When I want to upload a file, a web site will (usually) ask for the location of the file. Rather than navigate to the path in the dialog box asking for the location, I right-click on the file, copy the path to the Clipboard, and then paste the path into the dialog box that's asking for the location of the file. (Kind of awkward to explain, would be easy to do.)

Sammy888 · Feb 10, 2022

Just an FYI. The download file to enable/disable doesn't work in W11.

Brink · Feb 10, 2022

Sammy888 said:
Just an FYI. The download file to enable/disable doesn't work in W11.

Hello Sammy,

They still work for me.

You may need to either restart the explorer process, sign out and sign in, or restart the computer to apply.

Sammy888 · Feb 10, 2022

Brink said:
Hello Sammy, :)

They still work for me.

You may need to either restart the explorer process, sign out and sign in, or restart the computer to apply.

Hi Brink.

Doh! You're right. I had to reboot. Thank you for the tweak!

Brink · Feb 10, 2022

Sammy888 said:
Hi Brink.

Doh! You're right. I had to reboot. Thank you for the tweak!

SpacemanSam · Mar 4, 2022

This fix can also be applied globally (i.e. for all users), but the registry key is protected so you have to take ownership before you can change it.
This is an excerpt from the batch file I use to configure Windows:

Batch:

REM Define the SID for "Administrator"
SET "SIDadmin=S-1-5-32-544" & REM Administrators

REM Restore full context menus for all users
CALL :DeleteProtKey "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}"

EXIT /B 0

REM Deleted protected registry key
:DeleteProtKey
@ECHO Deleting "%~1"
REG QUERY "%~1" >NUL: 2>&1 && (
  SetACL -on "%~1" -ot reg -rec yes -actn setowner -ownr "n:%SIDadmin%" -silent
  SetACL -on "%~1" -ot reg -actn setprot -rec yes -actn ace -ace "n:%SIDadmin%;p:full" -silent
  REG DELETE "%~1" /F ||  PAUSE
)
EXIT /B 0

SetACL is a program by Helge Klein that makes it easy to take ownership of protected things (registry keys, files, etc.). You can download it from Here.

Shawn, please add this to the tutorial.

cereberus · Apr 23, 2022

This no longer seems to work for Beta/Dev versions, and yes I have rebooted.

This is such a bad plan if they have disabled this regedit

Another victory for the Dev Team "Whack-a-Mole" department :ffs:

Brink · Apr 23, 2022

cereberus said:
This no longer seems to work for Beta/Dev versions, and yes I have rebooted.

This is such a bad plan if they have disabled this regedit

Another victory for the Dev Team "Whack-a-Mole" department

Hello mate,

It's still working for me in the Dev build 22598.

I only had to restart the explorer process to apply.