In this post, we will show you how to enable or disable the right-click context menu in the Start menu on Windows 11/10. When we right-click on a pinned app or program in the Start menu, we are able to resize the tile, pin a program as tile, uninstall a program, unpin a tile, unpin a group of tiles, open the file location of a program, pin an app to the taskbar, etc. If you don’t want someone to access all such options, then disabling right-click options for the Start menu can be useful.
Disable Context Menu in Windows Start Menu
There are two built-in options in Windows 11/10 to enable or disable right-clicking on the Windows 11/10 Start menu. These are:
- Using Group Policy Editor
- Using Registry Editor.
1] Using GPEDIT
This built-in option is present in Enterprise and Pro editions of Windows 10. The home users can still use this option by installing Group Policy in the Home edition manually. After that, use these steps:
- Open Group Policy Editor
- Access Start menu and Taskbar folder
- Disable context menus in the Start Menu setting.
First of all, launch GPEDIT. Now, access the Start menu and Taskbar folder. The path is:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar
Double-click on the Disable context menus in the Start Menu setting. It will open a new window. There, click on the Enabled radio button, and save this setting using OK.
Now right-click on some program or app in the Start menu, it won’t work.
You can re-enable right-click options for the Start menu by following the above steps and selecting the Not Configured option.
2] Using Registry Editor
This option is present in all editions of Windows 11/10. The steps are as follows:
- Open Registry Editor window
- Go to HKLM Explorer key
- Create DisableContextMenusInStart DWORD value
- Set 1 in value data of this DWORD value.
Open REGEDIT or Registry Editor window. After that, go to the Explorer key. Here is the path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
Create a DWORD (32-bit) value with a name DisableContextMenusInStart. You can do this by opening the right-click menu on the empty area and using the DWORD (32-Bit) Value option.
Double-click that value and it will open a box. In the Value data field, add 1, and press OK. Right-click menus in the Start menu are disabled.
To turn on or enable the right-click context menus in the Start menu again, follow the steps mentioned above, and add 0 in the Value data field.
To enable the context menu again, simply reverse the changes.
Hope the steps covered in this post help enable or disable right-click options in the Start menu.
Can you remove the Recommended section in Windows 11 Start menu?
Yes, you can use a free software named ExplorerPatcher to remove the Recommended section in Windows 11 Start menu. This software contains a Start menu section where you can select Disable the “Recommended” section option. Windows 11 also comes with a Group Policy setting and Registry Editor setting for removing the Recommended section, but that setting is supported in Windows 11 SE edition only.
How do I turn off right-click context menu in Windows 11?
There is a Remove File Explorer’s default context menu setting in Group Policy Editor. You can access this setting from the following path:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer
After accessing this setting, use the Enabled option, and press the OK button. This will completely turn off or disable right-click context menu in Windows 11. When you will right-click on the desktop or a desktop item or items present in the File Explorer, right-click menu will not open.
Read next: How to disable Taskbar Context Menu in Windows 11/10.
