How To Recover The Old Right-Click Context Menu On Windows 11

Here is a guide on how to get the old classic right-click context menu on your Windows 11. The right-click context menu in Windows 11 has been redesigned and kept with limited entries compared to the Windows 10 context menu. However, if you like the classic Windows 10 context menu, you can bring it back to your Windows 11 PC. If you are wondering how this article will answer your question. Here we are going to discuss two different methods to get the old classic right-click context menu in Windows 11. Let’s see the methods now!

Here are the main methods to recover the old right-click context menu on Windows 11:

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1. Use Show more options to get the old right-click context menu.
2. Try the registry hack to get the old right-click context menu on Windows 11.
3. Utiliser Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Now let’s discuss the above methods in detail!

1]Use Show more options to get the old right-click context menu

You can use Show more options in the new right-click context menu in Windows 11 to get the old right-click context menu. All you have to do is right-click on a file, folder or desktop and then press the button Show more options option. This will open all the old context menu options, including options related to third-party apps.

If you want to quickly open the old right-click context menu, select the item and then press the key combination Shift + F10.

There are other options to switch to the old context menu in Windows 11. You can check them out below.

Lis: Remove Show more options entry from Windows 11 context menu

2]Try the registry hack to get the old right-click context menu on Windows 11

You can also use a registry hack to get back to the old classic right-click context menu on Windows 11. There are two ways to edit the registry, manual and automatic. Now let’s see these two methods in detail.

Before trying this method, we recommend backing up your registry to be on the safe side.

Lis: How to Recover Windows 10 Explorer and Context Menu in Windows 11

A]Manual Registry Editing

You can manually edit the registry to get the old right-click context menu in Windows 11. Just navigate to the required key and change its value. Here is the step by step procedure to do it:

1. Open Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to the Software > Classes > CLSID key.
3. Find the key named 86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2. If there isn’t one, create one.
4. Create a new subkey named InprocServer32.
5. Set the default string value to empty.
6. Close Registry Editor and restart your PC or restart Windows Explorer.

First, press Windows + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run dialog box. Now type regedit in it and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.

Then, in Registry Editor, navigate to the following key or address in the address bar:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClassesCLSID

Now check here if there is a key with the 86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2 name or not.

You probably won’t find that key here. So you will have to manually 86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2.

To create a new key, right-click on the empty space in the left panel or on the CLSID button in the left panel, then select the New > Key option. A new key will be created. Right click on the newly created key, select the Rename option and name it 86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2.

After that you need to create a subkey under the above key (86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2) that you just created. To do this, simply right-click on the newly created key, and from the appeared context menu options, click on the New > Key option and name the key as InprocServer32.

Then, in the right panel, double-click the Default string of characters.

In the opened dialog box, make sure that Value data field is empty and press the Enter button.

Finally, close the Registry Editor application and then restart your PC. If you don’t want to restart your PC, you can also restart Windows Explorer to save and apply the changes. To do this, open Task Manager by clicking on the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc, select Windows Explorer under the Processes tab and press the Restart button.

You can now right-click on the desktop or File Explorer and see your old context menu once more.

B]Using the .reg file

To switch to the old right-click context menu in Windows 11 using the registry hack, you don’t need to go through different keys and change everything manually. Simply create a registry file with specific commands and run the file to automatically modify the registry. Here are the main steps to follow to achieve this:

1. Open Notepad.
2. Write the registry version.
3. Add the names of the relevant registry keys and set their respective values.
4. Click the File > Save As option.
5. Save the file with the .reg file extension.
6. Double-click the registry file to run it.

Now let’s discuss the above steps in detail!

First, open the Notepad application on your Windows 11 PC. Now you need to enter the registry version followed by the relevant registry keys and their values. You can simply copy and paste the code below for this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClassesCLSID86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2InprocServer32]
@=""

Now save the registry file and for that click on File > Save As option. Then select the save as type at All the files then enter the name of the file followed by the .reg file extension. This will create a registry file.

After that just run the create registry file by double clicking on it.

Finally, restart your computer to let the change reflect. You will now be back to your old right-click context menu.

3]Use Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Download and use our free Ultimate Windows Tweaker software. Run it as administrator and apply the Restore Windows 10 Styled Context Menu twist. You’ll find it under the Personalization > Windows 11 tab.

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If you ever decide to switch the old context menu to the newer one in Windows 11, you can do that too. Just follow the steps we mentioned in method (A). Open Registry Editor, navigate to the key address we mentioned, then delete the key named 86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2. That’s it!

To show more options in Windows 11 context menu, you can use the methods mentioned above. Moreover, you can also use the Options function in File Explorer. Here are the steps you need to follow to do this:

1. First, open File Explorer by pressing Windows + E keyboard shortcut.
2. Now, from the top menu bar, click on the three-dot menu present at the end of the menu.
3. Then select the Options function.
4. In the Options window, go to the View tab.
5. Here, under the Advanced Settings section, scroll down to the Launch folder windows in separate process option and activate it.
6. Finally, click Apply > OK button to save the changes.

File Explorer will restart and you will get more options in the context menu of files and folders.

See: How to Open Windows Tools in Windows 11

The Refresh option is now present under the Show more options entry in the Windows 11 context menu. So, right-click anywhere on the desktop and then select Show more options. You will be able to see Refresh option. However, we don’t know of any method to change or move the Refresh option. As soon as there is a method to do it, we will bring it to you.

I hope this helps you!

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