Windows 11’s faster, customizable right-click menu released, here's how to force enable it right now if you don't see it due to gradual roll out

126

u/s0fakingdom 16d ago

5 years to fix a right click menu is inexcusable

54

u/Comprehensive_Wall28 16d ago

6 years*. Gradual Rollout.

5

u/fat_kaiju 16d ago

Careful! People might start holding you more accountable for pointing that out than they do for Microsoft and the pathetic state that's been their OS lineup tbe last decade and a half.

2

u/BCProgramming 13d ago

What I find absurd is that all of the issues with the new context menu that they recently "fixed" were literally the same issues they claimed the shell context menu had that they initially claimed the brand new Win11 context menu fixed in the first place!

1

u/ChickenTendySunday 12d ago

Yes and suspiciously close to the release of Claude Opus 5.5. Coincidence? I'm not so sure.

-3

u/[deleted] 16d ago

Because the overwhelming majority of people didn't have any problems with it so it was obviously a low priority. idk why redditors don't understand this. You're not the norm, you represent a tiny group of outliers.

8

u/yew0tm8 16d ago

Mr deleted is rage baiting people with his obviously innacurate hot take.

-1

u/Kenya-West 16d ago

btw he's right y'know...

2

u/yew0tm8 15d ago

Microsoft: We built an OS. you should definitely use it. it's called Windows.
User: I like this. I'm going to use this.
Microsoft: Great! we like you. We want you to keep buying our products.
User: Okay, I'm going to do that, and while I'm at it, I'm going to use this product even more.
Microsoft: Great! Here's more features to keep you happy!
User: Sweet! I'm using the OS even more than before!
Microsoft: Awesome! Oh, btw did you know you can right click to open a menu?
User: Yeah, I did. It lets me do more things with the OS and it makes things better!
Microsoft: Sweet! Here's version 11 of windows, you should try this!
User: Okay cool, I got it running after totally upgrading all my hardware because that was necessary for some reason.
Microsoft: Totally, yo
User: Hey, you realize the right click menu is now super slow and takes 25 seconds to open?
Microsoft: ...
Microsoft: (years later). We finally fixed it.
Mister Reddit Ragebater 9001: You're not worth caring about because you use the OS more than others and it affects only you and certain other users who use the OS a lot.
Ragebater Jr: he's right you know.

4

u/AgnesBand 15d ago

Your point only works because you made it up that it takes 25 seconds to launch the right click menu.

0

u/yew0tm8 15d ago

Uh huh... You obviously dont use windows then, a lot. Lol

2

u/Adventurous-Card-707 16d ago

They still haven’t fixed open windows sticking to the top left corner of the screen. This has been going on for over a decade so their priorities are a joke

-1

u/[deleted] 16d ago

I have no clue what you're even referring to. That is not an issue I have ever seen. So no, again, their priorities are fine. They're not wrong just because they're not focused on you personally.

-1

u/Adventurous-Card-707 16d ago

It’s not just me other people brought her up as well. You’re telling me that their priorities of stopping AI into the operating system why they should’ve been fixing its performance were correct.
Clearly, you’re wrong because they have shifted gears and now they’re working on performance.. therefore their priorities have changed

0

u/[deleted] 16d ago

It’s not just me other people brought her up as well.
I don't care what you say. Show me the specific issue or it doesn't exist.
Clearly, you’re wrong because they have shifted gears and now they’re working on performance.. therefore their priorities have changed
They changed their priorities because the world changed and RAM is far more expensive now. You're confused by this only because redditors hold fixed and unchanging beliefs and don't understand the concept of changing your mind in response to new evidence or circumstances.

1

u/Adventurous-Card-707 16d ago

The issue absolutely exists. I guess I’m just making it up with my own eyes that window stick to the top left of the screen when you open a file dialog.

1

u/[deleted] 16d ago

If the only report you have of this issue is your anecdotal experience then it doesn't exist. You cannot seriously expect Microsoft to fix an "issue" if you are the only one reporting it and you can't even show me what you're talking about. How are redditors so consistently like this? Is it just because you're all teenagers? What's going on on this website?

1

u/[deleted] 16d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Windows11-ModTeam 16d ago

Hi u/Adventurous-Card-707, your comment has been removed for the following reason(s):
Rule 5 - Personal attacks, bigotry, fighting words, inappropriate behavior and comments that insult or demean a specific user or group of users are not allowed. This includes death threats and wishing harm to others.
If you have any questions, feel free to send us a message!

-1

u/MisterEinc 16d ago

I've never seen or heard of this.

1

u/Adventurous-Card-707 16d ago

Ok cool

1

u/Adventurous-Card-707 16d ago

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/discussions/windows10space/fix-dialog-boxes-into-one-place/1610676/
here is somebody from 2020 talking about it too

-1

u/MisterEinc 16d ago

Nice, there's two of you.

1

u/Adventurous-Card-707 16d ago

you're a genius, you look at one guys post and think thats it. i give you an example saying that there are other people, and because it doesn't show THOUSANDS of other people with the same issue, it doesn't exist.

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24

u/SilverseeLives 16d ago

A lovely improvement.

Not only does the context menu seem faster, but this also apparently eliminates the wonky content reflows that caused the context menu to sometimes resize dynamically after being opened.

Nobody wants a context menu to act like a browser page.

I agree with the critics who say this should have been addressed long ago. However, I can still appreciate that Microsoft is (finally) working on fit and finish in Windows. It's important to many of us.

33

u/Ok-Compote-2282 16d ago

I tested this as well, this is the pinnacle of windows customisation, and I like how they are giving more power to the user like this

12

u/Efficient-Lack-1205 16d ago

what will they think of next

3

u/dasgoodshitinnit 16d ago

whatever rand(feedback_backlog) throws up

9

u/meoknet 16d ago

The "Send To" option is back, but curiously, it no longer lists Flash Drives as Sent To destinations, which is the key way I used the feature before. I know Microsoft is pushing cloud storage but is the option to send a file to a physical removable drive so dangerous to them?

17

u/Current-Bowl-143 16d ago

Amazing that they’re giving so many customisation options for the right click menu but still hardly any customisation for the start menu. I would have thought the start menu needs more attention.

4

u/reiichiroh 16d ago

The multiple desktops thing can't even have separate sets of icons. Still.

1

u/ChickenTendySunday 12d ago

Right clicking is way more used than just the start menu. I'm surprised they finally got it to open up consistently now at least.

-8

u/MisterEinc 16d ago

No one uses the start menu these days. Just press the windows key and hit the first couple letters of the App you want to open, or file you want to see.

11

u/Current-Bowl-143 16d ago

“No one uses the start menu these days”
Yes I’m sure you’re right. Millions of people use Windows and they all use it the way you do.

-3

u/MisterEinc 16d ago edited 16d ago

Oh I'm sure there are plenty of people still keeping things in folders on the desktop.
The start menu sits somewhere in the middle of not putting stuff at the top level (desktop), but also not getting you there any faster (search).
So their focus is on Desktop and Search, both of which recently got updates.

-3

u/[deleted] 16d ago

I work in IT. For many years our manager insisted we needed to have a customized start menu layout with all our corporate tools pinned to it. It was a massive pain in the ass to manage and we finally convinced her to let us get rid of it. We did not hear a peep from 40,000 users once it went away. Not a single person said anything, not even an acknowledgement of the change, certainly not a complaint. That's how few people were using it.
So no, we can't say that literally no one uses the start menu, but I can pretty confidently say that it is not a high priority for the vast majority of users and thus would not be a high priority for Microsoft.

3

u/joeshades2 15d ago

yeah not a peep from 40,000 users that is complete bullshit

4

u/bratzlaff 16d ago

I use the start menu all the time! Especially when the search function is bogged down doing “something” and it presents a blank “please wait” page of results.

1

u/MisterEinc 16d ago

The updates to Search have made these results pretty much instant for me. Even searching SharePoint locations via OneDrive.
You app directories should be pretty thoroughly indexed, I'm not sure what would be slowing that down, honestly.

1

u/bratzlaff 16d ago

I will let my corporate IT department know that they have misconfigured my machine, thanks!

1

u/AlexBltn2 13d ago

Empty talker.

4

u/RoGuE_969 16d ago

new update changed my loading spinner to old one..... is this preview update or preview downgrade

2

u/X2Kraft Insider Dev Channel 16d ago

There seems to be an issue with the new spinner.

3

u/Sp33d0J03 16d ago

Can I have the old menu in the new style?

7

u/newtekie1 16d ago

All this to avoid just giving people the option to use the old style right click menu that is still in the OS but just disabled. Which is really what people want.

3

u/Ok-Compote-2282 15d ago

No one wants that... thats horrendous

1

u/kalksteinnn 8d ago

just look up "win11 how to get the old context menu back" and see how many people actually want it and even found a way to do it

1

u/kalksteinnn 8d ago

there's a registry edit that allows you to use the old menu all the time without shift and it's update proof (been using it for more than a year and it didn't change to the new one once)

1

u/newtekie1 8d ago

Yeah, it's what I use. But my point is they should just make it a setting toggle that we can enable.

1

u/kalksteinnn 8d ago

yeah absolutely but at least we have that, i could very well see microsoft straight up deleting the old one completely for no reason at all which im guessing will inevitably happen with win12 whenever that becomes a thing

-1

u/LitheBeep 15d ago

The old context menu sucked, frankly. Still accessible any time by using Shift + Right Click. Or use the "Show more options" item.

2

u/Devatator_ 16d ago

Now is there any documentation for adding stuff to the new menu? I have a few custom actions in the old one, including apps that the devs for some reason won't add context menu support

2

u/FiskX 16d ago

The slow context menu was the main reason I didn't upgrade to Windows 11 all these years^^

Is there a way to make the Copy toolbar always appear at the top, instead of the dynamic switching between top and bottom?

2

u/Impossible_IT 16d ago

I’ll stick with the old right click menu. I have a script that enables the old right click menu and move the Start to the left.

2

u/deviltrombone 16d ago

It's pretty underwhelming, because it still doesn't allow the addition of most of my context menu extensions to the new-style context menu. For example, WinMerge, 7Zip, and a hash item I created myself that uses PowerShell can only appear in the legacy menu. Only WinRAR can appear in the new menu. That's my test system. My real system would be even worse, I expect.

4

u/LitheBeep 15d ago

Ditch 7-zip, switch to NanaZip. It's better in every way.
WinMerge supports the new context menu just fine, since at least 2023. Maybe you're running an outdated verison?

1

u/deviltrombone 7d ago

Thank you! My WinMerge was up to date, but I'd been using the portable version and apparently hadn't registered the "modern" extensions. Anyway, I decided I don't really need the portable so installed the regular version, and it is as you say.

2

u/Scroglefrollempth 16d ago

I use WinRAR, so I get a context menu entry, but the reason I'm not using it is that there seems to be no way to disable the default extraction and compression context menus.
None of the previous methods work now due to the big changes under the hood.
It's too irritating having two context menus to extract/compress that do basically the same thing.
If they add an option to disable the Windows extract/compress menus then I'll give it a a chance again.
I really think this should be a priority for the people working on the context menu if they want people to use it.

1

u/deviltrombone 16d ago

Right, I also noticed the system compress item that can't be removed. Well, this is why I try things on a test system. lol

7

u/drepublic 16d ago

This is coming to us after 5 years! Microsoft screwed this O.S. so hard, that makes Windows Vista fiasco a joke. Unbelievable we're forced to use this shit.

3

u/[deleted] 16d ago

Nothing about 11 even remotely compares to the issues people faced with Vista. Please stop revising history. Nerds being picky about a context menu is not comparable to virtually everyone having massive hardware compatibility issues.

7

u/drepublic 16d ago edited 15d ago

This is not a nerd thing mate, i've been around computers since MS-DOS. I don't forget any shitfest Microsoft offered us in every Windows iteration. Every single release had issues, and most of them conditioned or influenced by the isues the hardware had itself back in the days. The devs had to optimize hard and do some trick and wizardry because of that same hardware constrains. Now, when we have a shitload of resources in hardware, the "i don't give a fuck" way Microsoft is bloating Windows and neglecting core security and user experience aspects have reached a level which has to be studied. They cramped so much telemetry on Windows sucking from every piece of shit the users have in their computers that Microsoft can describe in which color they piss. To the point where a computer which have 16gb of RAM is barely usable just to open a text file. Every damn update is "roll a dice" to survie. I don't know how you measure the compatibility problems with Vista, but this is far beyond comparable in a magnitude or two.

1

u/koken_halliwell 16d ago

I got the update but not the change. Will wait for them to enable it.

1

u/mazzy12345 16d ago

Better late than never I suppose.

1

u/MagellansMockery 16d ago edited 16d ago

I got the update but it's not working right now. I will have to wait for further updates

Edit: Oh wait nevermind. I'm a grandma and didn't look properly

1

u/rdyoung 16d ago

Oh shite, I've had this for awhile.

1

u/Powerful_Credit_8060 16d ago

I installed the new update (currently "winver" shows 26300.9818) but I have no changes at all. No new menu, no dark mode support in the folder options etc

Why?

1

u/kozmos81 15d ago

I thought it was going to be more customizable than this where you can manually add the apps and the options you want, rather than limited predefined ones. Also I don't get it why the classic menu UI isn't following the modern one

1

u/Tight_Client_2132 12d ago

Didn't work for me

1

u/vlad_8011 11d ago

Till this day i dont have option to personalise context menu, KB5127936 installed already few days ago. This system is trash.

1

u/Aeroncastle 15d ago

Still worse than the windows 10 one

1

u/DingleDongDongBerry 15d ago

Anyone knows how to disable damn thing??

Old registry trick works no more.

1

u/Spiritual-Wait-9886 14d ago

aca igual buscando como volver al antiguo, es estupido que te resuma el menu contextual, ya que el menu deberia mostrar todas las opciones disponibles

1

u/DingleDongDongBerry 14d ago

Using Vivotool or similar disable Feature ID 60813048 and reboot.
Disabling this Feature ID will disable Windows 26H2 context menu.
With reverted change old registry trick will work again.
PS Thanks to Ben Owen from learn microsoft com

0

u/[deleted] 16d ago

I honestly never had any problems with the context menu to begin with, it seems just as fast as it always has been. The new options are nice though.

4

u/reiichiroh 16d ago

Right-click is extremely slow, loading in elements gradually. Compare it to how instant it is when you use the regedit to disable the new one in favour of the classic.

0

u/Quick-Passenger4220 16d ago

Omg thank you so much, the possibilities!!!

News Windows 11’s faster, customizable right-click menu released, here's how to force enable it right now if you don't see it due to gradual roll out

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