Member Avatar for kik786

DEARS,

I have searched lot for whereabouts of mouse right click menu in windows and registery as well but not found any where.please help me to find it.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by veena1555

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— and are correct: there is no single “right‑click menu” registry key. Explorer builds context menus from per-object entries (simple shell commands and COM-based shellex handlers) registered against file types, folders, drives and namespace objects. This is why what you see depends on what you click. (learn.microsoft.com)

Common places to look (Explorer / Windows 2000 / XP era) include keys under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT such as:

  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers (all files)
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers (folders)
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell (background/right‑click in a folder)
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell and per‑ProgID keys like HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\<ProgID>\shell (filetype‑specific)
    Simple shell entries normally contain a command subkey with a runnable command; shellex entries register a handler by CLSID (COM DLL). Use HKCU (per‑user) when you can; HKCR is a merged view of HKLM/HKCU. (howtogeek.com)

To : Internet Explorer supports a simple, documented hook at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MenuExt. Create a key named with the menu text and set its default value to a local .htm (or URL); add a Contexts DWORD to control where it appears (text selection = 0x10). That .htm can read window.external.menuArguments to get the selection and (on older IE/XP) use ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") or call a helper executable to save text. If you do not want to edit the registry manually, add the MenuExt key from a small installer or script (VBScript, NSIS, C#, or a .reg file the user double‑clicks). Test on a VM and beware of ActiveX/security restrictions. (blogs.microsoft.com)

Practical cautions: always export the registry branch before changes, prefer per‑user (HKCU) edits to avoid needing admin rights, and remember that later Windows/IE versions changed behaviors (and modern browsers do not use this mechanism). Use a signed helper or installer for production installs. (howtogeek.com)

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Member Avatar for Catweazle

What are you trying to do? There is no 'place' where the right-click menu 'hides', really. Right-click is a core function in the way Windows operates, and the contents of the right-click menu changes according to what is being clicked on.

Describe what you are trying to do and we might be able to help you do it.

Member Avatar for DMR

The right-click menu is called the "context menu", and it has no single central location in the registry.

I don't know if you've noticed, but as Catweazle said, the options in the context menu change depending on whether you're right-clicking on a folder, a drive, a known filetype, an unknown filetype, etc. This is accomplished by "shell" and "shellex" entries in various locations in the registry which are associated with the particular type of item on which you're right-clicking. These entries can be modified, but there is no "global" place in which to do that.

The links returned by the following Google search will give you a lot of info on how to alter the context menu (and even disable it) in the various versions of Windows:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=windows+registry+%22context+menu%22+modify&btnG=Search


Hope that answers you question.

Member Avatar for veena1555

Hi I’m Veena I need help that I’m trying to place one executable file in mouse right click in Internet explorer. Actually this executable file will copy the selected text or URL to one text file asking user to provide name. Actually I don't want to place that .exe file manually by open a registry or anything...So I need a programming language which suits to place An option in mouse right clicks…Kindly tell me please…

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