Unremovable items from New right-click menu

Question

I would like to remove the Text Document and Bitmap image items from the context menu's New menu, but I am unable to find the items in the Registry. I was able to remove other items from the New menu, but these two items don't seem to be stored in the same place as other new item shortcuts:

I looked in both HKCR\.bmp and HKCR\.txt, with neither having the ShellNew key, nor are they stored within:

HKCR\*\shell
HKCR\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKCR\AllFileSystemObjects\ShellEx
HKCR\Directory\shell
HKCR\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

I used Nirsoft's ShellMenuNew and Bitmap Image and Text Document do not appear
I have tried the suggestions listed in this question and How-To Geek article

there should be a key (folder) directly under HKCR that matches what you want to remove>>>>https://www.howtogeek.com/426985/how-to-remove-items-from-the-new-menu-in-windows-explorer/ — Moab, May 18 '21 at 21:08
Does this answer your question? How to remove items from the right click (context) menu in Windows? — Moab, May 18 '21 at 21:09
Yes, I tried the suggestions in the article and previous SuperUser question. I've clarified that in my post — RHPT, May 18 '21 at 21:35
I suggest you not try to remove these. The next major update or any repair you have to do because of operating system errors will just put the features back. — John, May 18 '21 at 21:45
@John Why would you suggest not customizing the New context menu? While removed items will be added back twice a yr from the biannual update (essentially a Repair install), it's as easy as merging a .reg file to add the customization back. The only other way they could be auto-added back is by performing a System Restore from a restore point taken prior to the change, as SFC and DISM have no way to modify Registry hives since hives aren't static, having no backups within the Component Store [%WinDir%\WinSxS]. (I heavily customize all Context Menus via Yamicsoft's Win10 Manager.) — JW0914, May 19 '21 at 12:01
I too customize the CRAP out of my menus. If I left them because Microsoft might put them back then I wouldn't enjoy me computer nearly as much as I do. Well worth the 4 minute investment of tweaking the menus. — Señor CMasMas, May 19 '21 at 13:41

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 03 '22 at 17:27

Found an answer to this at Windows ElevenForum. It has to do with the fact that Notepad and Paint are now UWP apps. To remove the context menu entries, you have to uninstall Notepad and Paint. There is another way, but it requires mucking into the apps themselves.

To remove .txt and .bmp from Create > New Context Menu without removing notepad and paint components from Windows.

For Paint Open C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.Paint_11.2110.0.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppxManifest.xml

For Notepad Open C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.WindowsNotepad_10.2103.7.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppxManifest.xml

And remove the line starting with <uap:FileType uap4:ShellNewFileName=

Note that C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\ can't be edited with user or even administrator and the change will most likely get reset each time there's a new app version released.

How are you supposed to open or edit the AppxManifest.xml files? Every time I try I get an "Access is denied" error, even if I perform the action as Admin, even if I perform the action as SYSTEM by using PsExec. If System User can't edit the file, how is it supposed to be done?? — ETL, Nov 09 '23 at 01:10

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 04 '21 at 12:07

0

Renaming HKCR\.txt\ShellNew to HKCR\.txt\xShellNew [likewise with .bmp] was sufficient to remove the entry from the context menu:

ShellNew keys I found on my computer:

PS HKCR:\>> gci -s | ? PSCHildName -eq 'ShellNew' | select -expand name
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.api\AcroExch.Plugin\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.contact\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.fdf\AcroExch.FDFDoc\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.library-ms\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.lnk\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.odg\LibreOffice.DrawDocument.1\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.odp\LibreOffice.ImpressDocument.1\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.ods\LibreOffice.CalcDocument.1\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.odt\LibreOffice.WriterDocument.1\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.pdx\PDXFileType\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.rtf\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.secstore\AcroExch.SecStore\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xdp\AcroExch.XDPDoc\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xfdf\AcroExch.XFDFDoc\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.zip\CompressedFolder\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID{a5a3563a-5755-4a6f-854e-afa3230b199f}\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\ShellNew
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\CLSID{a5a3563a-5755-4a6f-854e-afa3230b199f}\ShellNew

edited Jul 04 '21 at 12:07

JW0914

7,865

answered May 19 '21 at 03:25

Keith Miller

9,620

As I mentioned in the question, HKCR.txt\ShellNew and HKCR.bmp\ShellNew doesn't exists in my registry – RHPT May 19 '21 at 13:18
Actually, you never mention the key name: "ShellNew'! If it was mentioned in any linked content, you shold have quoted the relevant part! – Keith Miller May 19 '21 at 15:48
@JW0914 : While I appreciate typo corerections (damn near blind here), I don't think you should edit the output in a screen capture to something the command will never actually output --- call me old-fashioned that way! – Keith Miller May 19 '21 at 15:58
Here it is from the question I looked in both HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.bmp and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt. Neither has the ShellNew key – RHPT May 19 '21 at 18:19
1

I lokked for the word several times & did not see it. My retinas are dying. sorry. – Keith Miller May 19 '21 at 18:29
@KeithMiller I didn't think about it that way, great point =] – JW0914 May 20 '21 at 12:37
@JW0914: Make up your mind! :D – Keith Miller Jul 04 '21 at 16:09
@KeithMiller I thought you'd have made the edit after you pointed that out, but when I came across this earlier today and saw it hadn't been, I wanted to change it because you made a great point – JW0914 Jul 04 '21 at 16:13

JW0914 · Answer 3 · 2021-05-19T13:39:16.110

To remove:

Bitmap Image:

# PowerShell $env:UserProfile variable used | Cmd: Replace with %UserProfile%
Backup key within the Registry and delete:
Reg Copy "HKCR.bmp\ShellNew" "HKCR.bmp\CustomDisabled\ShellNew" /s /f
  Reg Delete "HKCR.bmp\ShellNew"
    # To restore:
      Reg Copy "HKCR.bmp\CustomDisabled\ShellNew" "HKCR.bmp\ShellNew" /s /f
Backup key within a file and delete:
MkDir "$env:UserProfile\Documents\RegistryBackup"
  Reg Export "HKCR.bmp\ShellNew" "$env:UserProfile\Documents\RegistryBackup\bmp-ShellNew.reg"
  Reg Delete "HKCR.bmp\ShellNew"
    # To restore:
      Reg Import "$env:UserProfile\Documents\RegistryBackup\bmp-ShellNew.reg"

Text Document:

# PowerShell $env:UserProfile variable used | Cmd: Replace with %UserProfile%
Backup key within the Registry and delete:
Reg Copy "HKCR.txt\ShellNew" "HKCR.txt\CustomDisabled\ShellNew" /s /f
  Reg Delete "HKCR.txt\ShellNew"
    # To restore:
      Reg Copy "HKCR.txt\CustomDisabled\ShellNew" "HKCR.txt\ShellNew" /s /f
Backup key within a file and delete:
MkDir "$env:UserProfile\Documents\RegistryBackup"
  Reg Export "HKCR.txt\ShellNew" "$env:UserProfile\Documents\RegistryBackup\txt-ShellNew.reg"
  Reg Delete "HKCR.txt\ShellNew"
    # To restore:
      Reg Import "$env:UserProfile\Documents\RegistryBackup\txt-ShellNew.reg"

References:

Reg: Copy | Delete | Export | Import

Default HKCR\.bmp and HKCR\.txt keys:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.bmp]
@="Paint.Picture"
"Content Type"="image/bmp"
"PerceivedType"="image"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.bmp\OpenWithList]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.bmp\OpenWithList\MSPaint.exe]
@=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.bmp\OpenWithProgids]
"AppX2jm25qtmp2qxstv333wv5mne3k5bf4bm"=hex(0):
"AppX43hnxtbyyps62jhe9sqpdzxn1790zetc"=hex(0):
"AppXcdh38jxzbcberv50vxg2tg4k84kfnewn"=hex(0):
"Paint.Picture"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.bmp\PersistentHandler]
@="{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.bmp\ShellNew]
"ItemName"=hex(2):40,00,43,00,3a,00,5c,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,6f,00,77,00,

  73,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,6d,00,73,

  00,70,00,61,00,69,00,6e,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,2c,00,2d,00,35,00,

  39,00,34,00,31,00,34,00,00,00
"NullFile"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.txt]
@="txtfile"
"Content Type"="text/plain"
"PerceivedType"="text"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.txt\OpenWithProgids]
"VSCode.txt"=""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.txt\PersistentHandler]
@="{5e941d80-bf96-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.txt\ShellNew]
"ItemName"=hex(2):40,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,

  6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,

  00,6e,00,6f,00,74,00,65,00,70,00,61,00,64,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,2c,00,

  2d,00,34,00,37,00,30,00,00,00
"NullFile"=""

@RHPT They've been manually removed then. I've added the default .reg file for both, but if importing the default keys, then removing ShellNew, does not fix your problem, perform a Repair Install, as something in the hives is likely corrupted since those are the keys for the New context menu. You can try using Yamicsoft's Win10 Manager's Context Menu Manager (under Customizations section - free full-use 20-day trial) before doing a Repair Install, which is what I use to heavily customize all context menus. — JW0914, May 19 '21 at 13:51
I apologize. I meant to say that HKCR\.txt\ShellNew and HKCR\.bmp\ShellNew doesn't exists in my Registry — RHPT, May 19 '21 at 18:23
@RHPT Something odd is going on with the HKCR hive - you can try using RegEditX's RegCrawler to search for the hex output of ShellNew to determine if there's another key that's been misnamed somewhere. Does selecting either of those New menu items open Paint and Notepad? — JW0914, May 20 '21 at 12:49
Yes, selecting those new menu items creates a new empty text message and a bitmap image file — RHPT, May 20 '21 at 13:08

Unremovable items from New right-click menu

3 Answers3

Backup key within the Registry and delete:

Backup key within a file and delete:

Backup key within the Registry and delete:

Backup key within a file and delete:

References: