Mouse right click not working

There are many instances reported regarding the incorrect behavior of the right click of the mouse. There are issues reported where there is a huge delay in displaying the context menu after doing a right click  or if you do a right click on a folder or a file then nothing happens. The below post tries to explain the issue and the possible solution to resolve the mouse right click not working issue.

As we are aware, the right click of a mouse will invoke a pop up menu or a context menu. This context menu is generally used by various applications to insert a application specific menu option in the existing context menu. These programs use handlers to add these commands. Any program that adds commands in this menu and the handler is poorly coded, will result in such problems. Since there are so many options available in the context menu and there are various options depending on whether a file is selected or a folder it is very difficult to pin point a particular handler that is causing this issue. To remove these erroneous or problematic entries, there is a need to dig deeper into the registry and check all the entries.

Step 1 : Identify the problem

Since we do not know exactly which handler is causing this issue, there is a need to pay attention to when the issue occurs . Is it when you right click a specific folder?  or a file ? or desktop ? or a directory ?. Based on these findings then that specific entry needs to be checked in the registry e.g. if the right click issue is happening with all directories  then we need to check that class of the folder in the registry. In the registry, the mouse right click options are held in the ‘ContextMenuhandlers’.

Step 2 : Open the registry

  • Before you do any changes to the registry please make sure you have taken a backup of the existing structure and appropriate backup is created. This is extremely important.
  • Go to the search box near windows start menu and type ‘regedit‘. In the search results you will see a regedit windows application. This will open the registry editor.
Start menu - regedit option

Start Menu – regedit option

Start Menu – regedit option 
  • Select the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. From the list then select the particular entry for which the issue is occurring in our example the directory so HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\directory\shellex\ContextmenuHandlers.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT option

 

Context Menu option in registry

Context Menu option in registry

Step 3 : Inspect the entries

Now inspect the entries and delete the ContextMenuHandler entries one by one and check if the issue is resolved. If not then you will have to restore that entry again. Its a lengthy process and takes a lot of time and efforts and patience.

Some locations of the context menu entries are mentioned below which might be useful and give you an idea of how to find the locations.

For directories it can be :

[HKCR\Folder\Shell\]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Shell\]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ AllFilesystemObjects \ shellex \ ContextMenuHandlers\]be any one of the below paths

For files it can be

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\<ProgID>\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\]

There are some tools or utilities that gives you a list of these handlers and then you can inspect an delete them one by one. However there is no alternative to deleting each entry and then checking if the problem still exists. By carefully observing when the issue is occuring and then carefully checking the registry entries you can fix the mouse right click issue.

Generally, the guideline is to check the company information and check the third party handlers. These are more likely to resolve the issue.