Restoring the Old Context Menu in Windows 11

Are you annoyed with Windows 11's new, simplified right click menu in Explorer? I certainly am. Although it looks pretty, and it's designed to allow you to easily access common functions, it hides away other features in a "Show more options" section. This is incredibly annoying if you use the features in here on a regular basis. It's one extra unnecessary click that I have to do hundreds of times a day.

Unfortunately there's no option in the Windows settings app (yet) to change this. Thankfully you can make a relatively simple Registry edit to restore the old functionality.

Editing the Registry

Editing the Registry is easy. Just be careful to follow these steps exactly. The registry is where Windows keeps all its important settings. So if you mess something up your computer could start acting all sorts of crazy.

Step 1: Navigate...

First, open regedit from the Start menu (just click Start and type regedit). If this program looks like something out of the 90s, that's because it is.

Next, navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID You can just copy paste that into the address bar, or manually navigate through the folders on the left.

Step 2: New Key

Now, right click the white area and select New → Key.

Step 3: Name It

Next, copy and paste the following as the key name:

1{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}

Step 4: New Subkey

Then, right click the entry you just created in the right sidebar, and again, go to New → Key.

Step 6: Empty Key

Now, double click "Default" under InprocServer32 and just save it with a blank string. So just double click it and hit OK.

Finally, close Regedit and restart your computer. When it comes back on, you should have the original context menu back!

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