The Right-click context menu is very fruitful. Almost all PC users use right-click context menu every day. Without right-click context menu, we can’t work fluently. It enhances the productivity of the Windows 10 operating system. Right-click on a pinned app or program lets you resize the tile, pin a program as tile, uninstall a program, unpin a tile, pin an app to the taskbar, etc.
If your Windows 10 PC, right-click on the Start menu or Start button is not working, it may happen your network administrator or a third party software has disabled it. Fortunately, if you want to gain access again in the Start menu, a couple of ways are there to fix it.
Topics Covered
Fix: Right-Click not working in Start Menu or Start Button of Windows 10
- Using Group Policy
- Via Registry Editor
- By restarting File Explorer
- Through Windows PowerShell
- By replacing the WinX folder
How to fix right-click not working or not responding in Start Menu or Start Button of Windows 10 using Group Policy?
Group Policy Edition is a built-in feature of Enterprise and Pro editions of Windows 10. However, if you are running Windows 10 Home Edition, you need first to enable the Group Policy Editor; once the Group Policy Editor is enabled on the Windows 10 Home Edition, you can proceed with the further instructions.
Step 1. Launch the Group Policy Editor (To run the Group Policy Editor on Windows, open the Run box by pressing Windows Logo + R keys and type gpedit.msc).
Step 3. Once Local Group Policy Editor is opened, navigate to the following path:-
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar
Step 4. From the right-side pane, double-click on the “Disable context menus in the Start Menu” setting.
Step 5. Select “Not Configured,” click on Apply, and then an OK button.
How to fix right-click not working or not responding in Start Menu or Start Button of Windows 10 via Registry Editor?
If, after changing the Group Policy, still right-click on the Start menu or the Start button could not be activated, then it might change were made in your registry file. To enable the right-click on the Start menu, do the following:-
Step 1. Press Windows Logo + R keys from the keyboard to open the Run dialog box.
Step 2. Type regedit in the text box.
Step 3. Click the OK button to launch the Registry Editor window.
Step 4. Once the Registry Editor is opened, navigate to the following path:-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
Step 5. From the right-side pane, double-click on value DisableContextMenusInStart, and in the Value data field, change the value from 1 to 0.
Step 6. Click the OK button and close the Registry Editor.
Click on the Start menu and right-click on any program; it should work now.
How to fix right-click not working or not responding in the Start Menu or Start Button of Windows 10 by restarting File Explorer?
Sometimes, a quick restart of File Explorer may solve the problem. To restart the File Explorer on Windows 10, perform the following steps:-
Step 1. Open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys from the keyboard.
Step 2. In the Task Manager window, navigate to the Processes tab.
Step 3. Look for Windows Explorer under the Processes tab. Right-click on it and then click on Restart.
The above steps will restart the File Explorer and other components of Windows 10 that rely on Windows Explorer services. Since the Context Menu also depends on the explorer.exe process, it will also restart, and right-click on the Start menu should start working as it should be.
How to fix right-click not working or not responding in Start Menu or Start Button of Windows 10 through Windows PowerShell?
Step 1. Open Windows PowerShell with administrative rights.
To open PowerShell with elevated rights, click on the Start menu type PowerShell.
On the available top search results, right-click on the Windows PowerShell entry and select “Run as administrator.”
Step 2. Copy and paste the following command in Windows PowerShell and hit Enter from the keyboard:-
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}
Step 3. A few packages will be installed on your computer, and you will also notice some errors that you can ignore.
After completing the above steps, check if the issue is resolved.
How to fix right-click not working or not responding in the Start Menu or Start Button of Windows 10 by replacing the WinX folder?
If none of the above methods work for you, it looks like the contents within the WinX folder are corrupted or damaged. You need to replace the older folder content with fresh content that will help you to fix the issue.
Step 1. Log in to your PC with an administrator account and create a new local user account.
Step 2. Access the following path:-
C:\Users\New-User-Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WinX
Note: In the above path, replace New-User-Name with the newly created username.
Step 3. Select all the folders, right-click on them, and choose the Copy option.
Step 4. Now, open the following folder:-
C:\Users\Old-User-Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WinX
Note: In the above path, replace Old-User-Name with the username in which the Start menu or button is not working.
Right-click and select the Paste option and replace all the previous folders.
Now, right-click should start working on the Start menu.