Rearranging the context menu (right click)  

dalchina said:

It's still valid: this from 21H1:
Attachment 338309

For some reason, my Resource Hacker can't find shell32.dll.mui

However, I can find it in File Explorer:

Not sure what's going on.

It's protected and may not be visible. The way I did it was to use Locate32 (a fast indexing search tool) and search for it (a convenience) then make a copy of it on my desktop, then open it with Resource Hacker.


Notice in the Win 7 example thread a tool is used to replace it.

dalchina said:

It's protected and may not be visible. The way I did it was to use Locate32 (a fast indexing search tool) and search for it (a convenience) then make a copy of it on my desktop, then open it with Resource Hacker.


Notice in the Win 7 example thread a tool is used to replace it.

Got it! A couple questions, although I'll do a backup before I screw up things (like I often do).

1. Would I erase the whole line or just change ENABLED to DISABLED?
2. Would this also remove the shortcut key, Ctrl+X?

Hi, I'm not going to attempt to comment as I've not tried this. I suggest you return to the original article, review the information, see what other guidance you can find as to what the format of those strings does.

Experiment cautiously- ensure you have a backup of that file.
Before you make changes, create a current disk image.

It would be useful if you could document your conclusions and post them- questions about this recur, and have been asked repeatedly over the years.

dalchina said:

It would be useful if you could document your conclusions and post them- questions about this recur, and have been asked repeatedly over the years.

I am completely redoing this post, as I've not only discovered an easier way, but also a flow. If you delete the context menu &Paste in 210 (mentioned below), it will also remove the "Properties" context menu item for files.

There is probably more than one way to do this & several utilities that say they do similar or same things. However, this is how I removed cut, copy, & create shortcut from the file & folder context menus. DO NOT remove

You will need the following utilities installed:
Resource Hacker Resource Hacker
RightClickReplaceThis from The Windows Club: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/downloads/RCRT.zip This file may or may not be necessary. You might be able to just copy your modified shell32.dll.mui to the appropriate location.

Steps:
1. Make an image of your system. I used both Macrium Reflect & then I used Acronis "Try & Decide", which allows me to reject changes that I've made, if I don't like them.

2. Search for shell32.dll.mui in both C:\Windows\System32\en-US & C:\Windows\SysWOW64\en-US
It is useful to use Search Everything or Locate32 to search for shell32.dll.mui
but I found it in only 1 place: C:\Windows\System32\en-US\shell32.dll.mui

3. Go to C:\Windows\System32\en-US\shell32.dll.mui

4. Take ownership of the file. This is important. Leave the folder open.

5. Copy the file to your desktop

6. Start Resource Hacker

7. Drag the shell32.dll.mui from your desktop onto RH

8. On the left side, double click Menu

9. Scroll to 210.1033 (Note: that's for English, your language may be different)

10. Select the lines on the right side that you want to delete from the context menu (cut, copy, create shortcut). As I mentioned above, if you delete the line that starts with "&Paste", you will lose the Properties item on a context menu when you right click a file.

11. Delete those lines

12. Press F5 or click the triangle pointing to the right to compile the script

13. Go to C:\Windows\System32\en-US\shell32.dll.mui & right click the file



14. Select Replace This (a window opens). Note: you can also just drag the file from your desktop to the original folder. Sometimes I got an error message & sometimes I didn't.

15. Drag the compiled shell32.dll.mui into the window & replace the file.

16. Move the shell32.dll.mui from your desktop into a folder, so that it doesn't get confused with SysWOW64

17. Repeat Steps 3 thru 15 for C:\Windows\SysWOW64\en-US\shell32.dll.mui (I wouldn't use the copy from System32\en-US for SysWOW64

NOTE: Although steps 18-20 were steps recommended on the internet, I found that all I had to do was restart File Explorer.

18. Open Run (WinMenu+R)

19. Type mcbuilder, then press enter

20. Let It run (mine took only seconds)

21. Reboot or restart Explorer.

The context menu items you deleted should be gone.



Note that RightClickReplaceThis creates a backup copy (shell32.dll.mui.bak) of the original file that you replaced & Resource Hacker will save a copy of the original file on your desktop.

Thanks- odd about the delay. That's typically seen if there's a conflicting 3rd party extension.

a. Do you see that delay if you disable all non-MS extensions with Shellexview (free)? - no need to log off- easy to try.
b. If you do, I wonder what would happen if you deleted the menu text between "" and set it to MFS_GRAYED

That would eliminate the entry, but leave a blank space, so isn't very useful - so just for test purposes regarding the extra delay.

Another option could be to modify the entry so it only appears with SHIFT + right click, assuming that's possible.

I actually restored to a state before I made changes, & it still happens, so I must have been wrong about how it happened. I’ll take a look tomorrow & try your suggestion.

- - - Updated - - -

dalchina said:

Thanks- odd about the delay. That's typically seen if there's a conflicting 3rd party extension.

a. Do you see that delay if you disable all non-MS extensions with Shellexview (free)? - no need to log off- easy to try.
b. If you do, I wonder what would happen if you deleted the menu text between "" and set it to MFS_GRAYED

That would eliminate the entry, but leave a blank space, so isn't very useful - so just for test purposes regarding the extra delay.

Another option could be to modify the entry so it only appears with SHIFT + right click, assuming that's possible.

Thank you. You were absolutely right! Google Backup & Sync had added a context menu item for files & folders which slowed things down. I used CCleaner > Tools > Startup tab > & disabled the context menu item. Right click now works quickly.

I'm going to edit my previous post & redo my elimination of cut, copy, & create shortcut.

Thanks again.