Windows 11 brought with it a lot of big changes in an attempt to modernize Windows. One of them was a new context menu that uses a more modern look and drops support for a lot of older options and integrations.

While this does look a bit cleaner and more modern, the new context menu isn't for everyone. It's missing some options, and it's frustrating to have to use the Show more options button to get where you want to. Thankfully, there's a way to go straight to the classic context menu. In fact, there are a couple of options.

Use the classic context menu as needed

If you only occasionally need the classic context menu and want to get to it faster without changing it permanently, there's an easy solution. All you need to do is hold Shift on your keyboard while right-clicking on your mouse. This will take you straight to the classic context menu just for that time.

Permanently enable the classic context menu

Using the Registry Editor

If you want the classic-style context menu to be the default going forward, you can do this by modifying the Windows registry. You can use the Registry Editor to do this, as long as you have administrator permissions on your PC.

Changing the wrong registry settings can cause major issues with Windows and make it unusable. Follow these steps carefully.

1. Open the Start menu and search for regedit then press Enter to open Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to the folder name below (you can copy the text and enter it in the address bar at the top).

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\

3. Right-click the CLSID folder on the left-side pane and choose New > Key.
4. Name the key {86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2} when prompted.
5. Right-click this new folder and choose New > Key again. Name this InprocServer32 here.
6. Open this new folder and double-click the (Default) value. Click OK to save it with the Value data field left blank.

   While you're not making any changes to the value, you still need to open it and save it as is, otherwise the process won't work.

7. Close Registry Editor.
8. Restart the Windows Explorer process from the Task Manager, or simply reboot your PC to see the changes.

Using Windows Terminal/Command Prompt

If you prefer using the command line, Windows Terminal can also be used to modify the registry, and it can be a bit faster. You still need administrator permissions to do it, though, so that won't change.

1. Press Windows + X (or right-click the Start menu icon) and choose Terminal (Admin).
2. Copy and paste the command below into Windows Terminal, then press Enter.

   reg add "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32" /f /ve

3. If everything goes right, you'll see a confirmation message.
4. Close Windows Terminal.
5. Restart the Windows Explorer process from the Task Manager, or simply reboot your PC to see the changes.

How to go back to Windows 11's new context menu

You can always revert to the original Windows 11 design by deleting the key you created, which you can also do with either the Registry Editor or Windows Terminal. If you use the Registry Editor, simply follow the steps in that section and delete the {86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2} key you created.

To delete the key using Windows Terminal, you can use this command:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}" /f

Just like the steps above, you'll need to restart the computer (or via Windows Explorer) to see these changes.

Get your classic right-click menu back

While the modern context menu in Windows 11 has improved significantly and it arguably looks much nicer, it's still convenient to have faster access to the classic context menu with all the options it includes. Since many options still aren't available in the new menu (particularly for apps that haven't been updated recently), you can use this trick to go back to the old way of doing things.