How to bring back classic context menu on Windows 11 – Guide

Windows 11 brings a new UI with more prominence for improvements. It gives an impeccable and new yet recognizable plan. Windows 11 was built from the ground up to be more user-friendly and touch-sensitive. The main changes are apparent in the Start menu, context menus, taskbar, settings, and File Explorer. Perhaps the most unassuming change to Windows 11 includes the new right-click or current setting menu for File Explorer and the Desktop. The new minimalist configuration menu is intended to be more straightforward, friendly to contact and prevent external applications from cluttering the menu with more options. It is still loaded with the most commonly used options like Cut, Copy, Rename, Sort, Properties and Delete. We’ve added two ways to restore the old right-click menu in Windows 11. The first is the easiest and shortest way, while the second is a manual method and requires more Windows knowledge. So it also takes longer. Based on your experience, you can choose any method from the table below.

The difference between new and old context menu

With Windows 11, Microsoft has added a new context menu that follows the updated Fluent design language. It comes in a minimalistic design, has rounded corners, a transparent interface and design elements that follow the mobile interface. What’s noteworthy is that Microsoft has gone ahead and removed some of the traditional right-click menu options. For example, if you right-click on a file or folder, you won’t see the option to adjust the advanced sharing option or the option to create a shortcut right away. The problem gets worse when you want to use an action from a third-party app. For example, the new context menu does not show any actions from applications like WinZip or 7-Zip. You need to click “Show more options” to see the old context menu and then perform any custom 7-Zip action which takes a lot of clicks and defeats the purpose. Not to mention that Microsoft also removed basic options like cut, copy, paste, etc., and moved them to the top of the context menu. So users now need to follow a design suggestion (basically, relearn) to understand what each button means and does. While most users get used to the new context menu, I think older users will find it difficult to perform actions with the new right-click menu. So, if you want to recover old and reliable Windows 10 context menu, follow our guide below. Without getting your hands dirty, you can bring back the old context menu in Windows 11 with a third-party app called Winaero Tweaker. The popular program has added a Windows 11 tweaks section and, as always, it works like a charm. I tested this software on stable (22000.194) and Dev versions of Windows 11 and didn’t face any issues. So, follow the steps below to get back to the old right-click menu: If you want a simpler tool, a one-click solution to go back to the old context menu in Windows 11, go ahead and download this app called Windows 11 Classic Context Menu (Free). It removes the “Show more options” button and restores the full size Windows 10 style classic context menu in Windows 11. If you are someone who likes to manually tweak things on your Windows computer, this method is for you. You can restore the old right-click menu in Windows 11 by adding some registry values. Here it is how to go about it.

Final note

I hope you like the guide How to bring back classic context menu on Windows 11. In case if you have any query regards this article you may ask us. Also, please share your love by sharing this article with your friends.