Are you unfamiliar with Windows 11 and find the File Explorer context menu disappointing? Don’t worry, you can easily revert to the classic menu using this guide.
Why would you want to do this? File Explorer can be sluggish when opening files, and the redesigned right-click menu might make things even more complicated. Not all options are displayed right away; you typically have to click on “Show More Options” to access the old context menu. This can be especially irritating when you’re managing multiple files and want quick access to several choices.
One workaround is to hold down the Shift key while right-clicking, but this can be awkward to remember compared to simply switching back to the traditional menu.
For example, in this screenshot, I tried to open an archive with 7-zip but had to go through two menus. Let’s fix that issue.
How to Bring Back the Classic Context Menu in Windows 11 File Explorer
1. Open the Windows Registry Editor by pressing Win + R, typing “regedit” (without quotes), and hitting Enter. You can also find Registry Editor by searching for it in the Start Menu.
2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path by copying and pasting it into the address bar:
3. Once there, right-click in the right pane and select “New > Key.”
4. Name the new key as follows:
{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}
Note: Ensure you include the curly braces.
5. Click on the new key you created, then right-click in the right pane again and choose “New > Key.” Rename this new key to “InprocServer32” (without quotes). At first, it may display “value not set.” Simply opening and closing it will reset the value to blank (as shown in the screenshot below).
6. Now, restart your computer or open Task Manager, right-click on Windows Explorer, and select Restart. Once you’ve done this, open File Explorer, right-click anywhere, and the classic context menu should now show up.
If you want to go back to the new menu, just delete the key you created in Step 5.
A Simplified Method for Beginners
If you feel overwhelmed and think, “I’m not very tech-savvy, this looks too hard,” don’t worry! Here’s a simpler method to disable the new context menu.
I’ve created registry files for you to download, so you won’t have to make them yourself. Download this ZIP file and extract it: Windows 11 Classic Context Menu Registry.
1. Open Notepad and insert the following code:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClassesCLSID{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}InprocServer32]
@=””
2. Save this file with a .reg extension, for instance: Restore the old context menu.reg.
3. Open the file, and when User Account Control (UAC) prompts you, click Allow to let the Registry Editor modify the system.
4. In the following dialog, click Yes. This will automatically create the necessary registry key for you.
After this, restart your computer or exit and restart Windows Explorer via Task Manager to see the changes.
To revert to the new menu, save this code as a .reg file, for example: Enable the new context menu.reg:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
Image Source: NicoElNino / Shutterstock
