Windows 11 brought a number of graphical and performance-related changes. However, not all the changes have been met with excitement. There are a lot of visual refreshments, with a centered Start Menu and taskbar, rounded corners, and more. As part of the UI overhaul, Microsoft also shipped a modernized right-click context menu that's more condensed than Windows 10's.
Many people like the new minimalistic approach, because they still have the option to open the old-school expanded menu by clicking on the Show more options button at the bottom or using the Shift+F10 keyboard shortcut. Others, however, find this design super annoying, as they have to perform one additional mouse click every time they need access to additional options. Keep in mind that Microsoft doesn't offer an official method to disable the modern right-click context menu, but there is a method that gives you full context menus in Windows 11 without using any third-party software.
How to disable "Show more options" and get the full right-click context menu in Windows 11
You can create a manual override through Windows Registry to force File Explorer to fall back to the classic full menu. There is no need to modify any system file, which means this method will continue working even after installing Windows 11 updates.
The command-line method
The fastest way to bring back the full right-click menu is by running a command. We can do this in PowerShell, and it only requires running one line. Once complete, you will have the full right-click menu back in File Explorer. Additionally, don't forget to restart the computer after running the line to make the change take effect.
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Open Windows PowerShell from the Start Menu. You don't need to start it as administrator, since the override will be set per-user basis.
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Copy and paste the following command into Windows Terminal, then press Enter:
If everything goes right, it should say "The operation completed successfully."reg add "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32" /f /ve
- Close Windows Terminal.
- Restart the explorer process, or sign out and sign in, or restart the PC to make the override key take effect.
The visual method
People who are not comfortable with using a command-line tool can use this visual method, which let you click through all of the changes rather than running a line of code. The downside is that it will take a little while longer, and it has several extra steps. However, the end result is the same and you will get the full right-click menu back.
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Start Registry Editor. You can execute the
regedit
command in the Run prompt to open the application. -
Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\CLSID\
and create a new registry key called{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}
. -
Create another key called
InprocServer32
under{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}
. -
Locate the (Default) key in
InprocServer32
, set its value to blank, then click OK. - Close Registry Editor.
- Restart the explorer process, or sign out and sign in, or restart the PC to make the override key take effect.
Re-enable Windows 11's default right-click context menu
You can always revert to the original Windows 11 design by deleting the {86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}
key (which includes the InprocServer32
subkey) from Registry Editor. You can also execute the following one-liner on Windows Terminal to achieve the same result:
reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}" /f
Be sure to reboot or simply log out and log back in after deleting the override key.
The classic right-click menu on Windows
The right-click menu is a convenient way to access advanced functions on both Windows and Mac devices, and these menus have changed very little over the last couple of decades. However, Microsoft's decision to trim down the right-click menu in Windows 11 is still leading to a lot of confusion. Many people will undoubtedly appreciate the new condensed menu. Fortunately, those having a hard time adjusting can always go back to the classic menu options.