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When I right click inside a folder in Windows Explorer, there is an option called "AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition":

(This option only appears when I right click on an empty space inside the folder I'm already viewing, not when I right click on another folder.)

I never use this option, so I would like to remove it.

I searched Google for how to remove it and I found a few suggestions, but none of them worked for me. I found this which suggests adding {FDADFEE3-02D1-4E7C-A511-380F4C98D73B} to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked, and I found this which suggests removing the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\ACE (which does exist in my case). I tried both of those suggestions and restarted my computer after trying each of them, but none of them helped.

I also tried searching for how to remove the "Open in Terminal" option (not because I want to remove it, but because the same method might be able to be used to remove the AMD Software one), and I found this which suggests adding {9F156763-7844-4DC4-B2B1-901F640F5155} to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked, and when I did that I succeeded in removing "Open in Terminal". So it seems like the issue is that the GUID I found online for AMD Software isn't the correct one. I tried finding the correct GUID by searching in the registry and I found several candidates:

  • {4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
  • {73E37D3D-1A2F-11EE-AF0E-806E6F6E6963}
  • {4242B984-6C36-4FC8-8626-DE5E8B11886D}
  • {A2A630D5-036F-4539-BD99-7923AD830433}
  • {FDADFEE3-02D1-4E7C-A511-380F4C98D73B} (I found this one online here, but it's not present anywhere in my registry)

I tried adding each of these to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked, but none of them worked. I also tried finding the GUID in PowerShell as explained here, but I didn't find anything using that method. So I guess one thing that could help me solve my issue would be if I could find the correct GUID somewhere, but I don't know where else to look.

How can I remove this option from the Windows Explorer context menu? Finding the correct GUID to put in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked would probably be helpful in achieving this, but I'm open to other solutions as well.

Donald Duck
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  • You can probably just remove the existing key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers or the other paths listed here (different from what you tried): https://superuser.com/questions/5011/how-to-remove-items-from-the-right-click-context-menu-in-windows. There should be a key whose name exactly matches the AMD context menu entry. You only need to restart the Windows Explorer process (in task manager) after trying something, not the whole computer. – Cpt.Whale Sep 25 '23 at 16:36
  • @Cpt.Whale I looked in all of the registry keys mentioned in that question and it wasn't in any of them. The only one that was present was HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\ACE as I mentioned in my question, but I deleted that one and it didn't solve the issue. – Donald Duck Sep 25 '23 at 19:51
  • Try the freeware tools like ShellMenuView or ShellExView? You may have to remove the AMD ACE tool from running at startup if it sets that key every time (should show up under startup tab in task manager). Otherwise, you can manually hunt for the guid to block using process monitor like in the comments here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/comments/10japim/how_to_remove_amd_context_menu_once_and_for_all/j7b2svh/ – Cpt.Whale Sep 25 '23 at 20:19
  • @Cpt.Whale I tried both ShellMenuView and ShellExView and it wasn't present in either of them. I also tried running the process monitor as explained in the Reddit post you linked (running it while I right click and filtering it to only show explorer.exe processes that use the registry) and simply blocking all the GUIDs that appear anywhere in the results, but even after blocking all the results it didn't go away (although "Open in Terminal" did go away). – Donald Duck Sep 26 '23 at 12:57
  • Try running this command: reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked" /v "{FDADFEE3-02D1-4E7C-A511-380F4C98D73B}" /t REG_SZ /d "" and reboot (link). – harrymc Mar 07 '24 at 17:51
  • @harrymc No, that didn't work. – Donald Duck Mar 07 '24 at 18:14
  • Another advice is to uninstall all AMD software completely that is added with the other Lenovo software (link), then download and install AMD drivers and Adrenalin software from AMD website. Finally, reboot. – harrymc Mar 08 '24 at 10:00
  • I wonder if something loaded from WPBT is forcing this to be installed and enabled every boot, especially if it's a Lenovo laptop. See https://github.com/Jamesits/dropWPBT. – LawrenceC Mar 11 '24 at 16:05

4 Answers4

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The new Windows 11 style context menu entries stem from .dll files, which you should be able to find in the installation path of your application, as explained in this related answer.

So, look for a .dll file which has something like ContextMenu or Explorer in its name and rename the file to .old (Make a restore point, and don't delete the .dll until you're sure it doesn't break something). The effect is immediate, so in case you find severel files it's easy to try oit until you find the right one.

1NN
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  • This is promising, although I can't locate a DLL that would obviously relate to this issue in the AMD folders. – doppelgreener Mar 10 '24 at 21:34
  • The context menu code is so small that it normally isn't separated into a dedicated DLL. It's usually created in the initialization code of a product. It's likely that removing this DLL will disable Adrenalin, so it might just as well be uninstalled. – harrymc Mar 12 '24 at 09:26
  • @doppelgreener look for IExplorerCommand in the name of the DLL. If there's none, then maybe this won't work or needs a lot of trial/error. I don't have the AMD software – 1NN Mar 13 '24 at 17:37
  • @1NN I have no DLL with that in the name on my system or in any AMD folder. I think we may need an answer from someone who has this software and has actually successfully removed the context menu option in order to confirm what to do. – doppelgreener Mar 13 '24 at 19:15
  • The problem with this is that the AMD Software folder is owned by SYSTEM, so I can't delete or rename individual files in it, not even with administrator rights. – Donald Duck Mar 14 '24 at 18:30
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For me this worked:

  • Copy the GUID from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\ACE, for me this was {5E2121EE-0300-11D4-8D3B-444553540000}
  • Delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\ACE
  • Add the GUID you copied to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked
mat
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  • For me HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\ACE doesn't exist. – Donald Duck Feb 24 '24 at 11:05
  • This didn't work for me. I did have \ACE. I created the \Blocked folder and added it as a key there. However this made no difference. – doppelgreener Mar 07 '24 at 13:31
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To remove this manually, open regedit, go to the folder \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked (you may have to create the Blocked key) then add a string value on the right with the name {6767B3BC-8FF7-11EC-B909-0242AC120002} and the value AMDSoftwareAdrenalinEdition Then restart Explorer.

Add this folder to favorites if you're likely to want to come back and re-enable the menu item when they add the option to only show it on holding shift.

Toto
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Alex Lim
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  • No, please read carefully, the GUID never mentioned before in the post. Its updated. – Alex Lim Mar 12 '24 at 10:56
  • I am afraid this also does not work, with {6767B3BC-8FF7-11EC-B909-0242AC120002}, REG_SZ, value AMDSoftwareAdrenalinEdition. Did you verify this in Windows 11? I have no other entries anywhere in my registry with this GUID nor AMDSoftwareAdrenalinEdition for a key or value—where is that derived from? – doppelgreener Mar 12 '24 at 12:53
-1

Give this a try https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html ,find the AMD thing in the list and disable it if it can be done since this program supports windows up to version 10 (might work on 11)

other thing you can try is install https://lockhunter.com/ then right click on the suspected *.dll and choose (what is locking this file) witch you think is adding this item to context menu and look in the list that pops up for Explorer.exe,make sure that is indeed the *.dll then unlock it (explorer will likely crash,just restart it and delete that *.dll) and before you do any of that make a backup just in case.

Edit: Some users report success with this program https://www.sordum.org/7615/easy-context-menu-v1-6/

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/edit-remove-from-the-desktop-context-menu-amd-adrenalin.7923/post-262326

and if you are feeling adventurous...try this

Try the following approach:

Launch the Registy Editor: regedit
Navigate to the following path, create the ‘Blocked’ key if absent \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked
Right-click and select: New > String Value
Name it as: {6767B3BC-8FF7-11EC-B909-0242AC120002}
Set its value to: AMDSoftwareAdrenalinEdition
Restart Windows Explorer.

https://windowsloop.com/how-to-remove-amd-radeon-software-from-context-menu/

dtoxic
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    As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Community Mar 13 '24 at 10:23
  • The “adventurous” approach was already reported by another answer and does not work in Windows 11. The DLL providing the context menu item is likely part of the application itself and not something I can delete. This is in fact a Windows 11 issue. – doppelgreener Mar 13 '24 at 11:08