Fix: Right Click Not Working on Windows 10

In Windows 10, you may encounter an issue whereby the right click does not work (or rather, the context menu doesn’t appear). In some cases right-clicking on the mouse works erratically; sometimes responding and others just remain still.

Mouse

However, if you take a look at the WinX folder all the shortcuts in there will work seamlessly when directly clicked. You can even see the event viewer.

But before moving on with the solutions, make sure the mouse is properly working, to do so, plug the mouse into another system (laptop/ desktop) and check if the right-click is working. For a wireless mouse, replace its batteries and then try the undermentioned solutions. Moreover, disable any network drives/cards during the troubleshooting process. It will be a good idea to unplug all the USB devices except the Mouse. Make sure there is no disk in the CD/DVD ROM. To be sure if the problem is hardware or software related, boot the system in Safe Mode and check if right-click is working. If you are using the PC in a corporate environment, then check with your IT administrator if any group policy is restricting the right-click.

Repair Corrupt System Files

Download and run Restoro to scan and restore corrupt and missing files from here, once done proceed with the solutions below. It is important to ensure that all system files are intact and not corrupt before proceeding with the solutions below.

1. Turn off the Tablet Mode

The failure of the right-click function can be directly attributed to TABLET mode being activated on your computer. You cannot do most of the right-click operations while in this mode. There are many ways to turn off the tablet mode on your Windows 10 PC.

Method 1: Turn off Tablet Mode in Action Center

1. For this option, press the combination keys WINDOWS + A, or click on the system icon for Action Center which is usually located in the taskbar notification zone.
2. Navigate to the bottom of the Action Center and then click or tap on Tablet Mode. It is a two – way toggle between ON and OFF, so do it according to your preference. Once done, test to see if the right-click now works.

Turn Off Tablet Mode in Action Center

Method 2: Turn off Tablet mode Through Settings

1. Go to Settings and click on System.
2. On the left-hand side, you will see the line Tablet Mode. Click on it.
3. Now on the right side identify the phrase “Make Windows more touch-friendly when using your device as a tablet”. Turn it off.

Turn Off Tablet Mode in Settings

In case you need to enable Tablet mode, just do the same thing as above but this time turn the button ON.

Take note of the options just under this instruction; they may come in handy for future interactions. There are options for the mode that initiates immediately after you sign in. You can let the system automatically switch to tablet mode on signing in, go to the desktop, or just use the last signing in mode. There are also some more options for how the system notifies you when tablet mode is on automatic mode.

Method 3: Use System Registry Editor to Turn Off Tablet Mode (Advanced Users Only)

1. Go to “Run”. In Run, key in the word Regedit.exe or just Regedit. The registry editor appears. Opening the Registry Editor
2. Navigate to the path
3. When you click on the folder ImmersiveShell, on the right-hand side locate the DWORD/entry TabletMode. To turn off tablet mode, change its value to 0.

2. Use Shell Extension Manager Application for Windows

The right-click problem is sometimes also caused by third party extensions on context menus. There is a utility that can help you get rid of these extensions effectively without much struggle.

1. DownloadShell Extension Manager.
2. After completion of the download, launch the application using your keyboard (Shift+F10) and then select “run as administrator”. No installation is required here.
3. On the menu that appears select Options. Click Filter by Extension Type and then opt for Context Menu.
4. A list will be shown. Take note of the items having a pink background. They are the entries installed by 3 rd party software.
5. Press and hold the CTRL key and then click on all the entries having a pink background. On the left corner, click the red button to disable them all.
6. Again under Options, Restart Explorer.
7. Right-click on your desktop now and see if the problem has been resolved. If so, start enabling the 3 rd party extensions one by one.
8. If once again the right click problem occurs, it is most certainly the last 3 rd party extension you enabled. Disable it, or just completely uninstall its parent software or program if necessary.

3. Executing DISM Commands

The Disk health may be damaged due to which the right-click is not working on the computer. Therefore, in this step, we will be checking and repairing the Disk Health. For that:

1. Press “Windows” + “R” keys simultaneously and type in cmd. Type “cmd” into the Run dialog
2. Press the “Shift” + “Ctrl” + “enter” keys simultaneously to open an elevated command prompt.
3. Type in the following commands one by one and press “enter” after each
4. After the process finishes, check to see if the issue persists.

4. Run the SFC Scan

It is possible that a certain driver or “.dll” file is missing or has been corrupted. Therefore, in this step, we will be initiating an SFC scan to check and repair this issue. For that:

1. Press “Windows” + “R” keys simultaneously and type in cmd. Type “cmd” into the Run dialog
2. Press the “Shift” + “Ctrl” + “enter” keys simultaneously to open an elevated command prompt.
3. Type in the following command and press “Enter” to execute it Running SFC scan
4. Wait while the system is being scanned and check to see if the issue persists after the scan is completed.

5. Remove Registry Items

Sometimes, the error is fixed simply by deleting certain registry entries. If the registry configurations have been corrupted or are wrongly configured they can prevent certain elements of the operating system from functioning correctly. To fix that:

1. Press “Windows” + “R” to open the run prompt. Opening Run Prompt
2. Type in “Regedit” and press “Enter”.Running the Registry Editor
3. Navigate to the following path Navigate to the indicated path
4. Delete all the Folders in EXCEPT the following
5. Right-click on any folder except for the ones indicated above and select “Delete” from the list to remove them. Delete Entries like these

WARNING: During the above steps, you may lose your desktop after disabling stuff and you will be left with nothing to work on for the rest of the processes. If this occurs, just press Ctrl-Alt-Del. In the task manager, select the file tab, run a new task and then key in explorer.exe. Your desktop will come up immediately.

6: Uninstall/Disable Conflicting Applications

There are known applications that cause the mouse error under discussion. These third-party applications usually take control of your HID and then sometimes, they go in an error state which causes the loss of functionality. In that case, uninstalling/disabling these applications may solve the problem. Following is a list of such applications:

• HP Display Control (PdiShellExt.dll )
• Symantec System Recovery
• 7zip
• WinZip

If you have installed any of these applications then either disable them or uninstall/reinstall them. This list might not be complete so keep a lookout for these type of applications. You can also consider starting your computer in safe mode to diagnose the problem.

7: Update Drivers

Drivers are the main components connecting your system hardware and operating system. If any of the drivers are corrupted or outdated, then updating to the latest version may solve the problem. Drivers get corrupt usually because of a bad Windows update and get outdated if they are not updated alongside a Windows update.

1. Press Windows key and type Device Manager. Then in the results, click on Device Manager. Device Manager in Windows Search Box
2. Now in the device Manager, expand your Display Adapters and right-click your Graphics Driver and then click on Update Driver. Update Graphics Driver
3. Then select “Search Automatically For Updated Driver Software” Searching automatically for newer driver software
4. You can also use your graphics card manufacturer website to update the driver. This is a known issue for Laptops with Dual GPU and Optimus technology. If you are using such a laptop, then download the official Intel driver to fix the issue.
5. Also, Nvidia applications and drivers are known to create this issue. Uninstall all Nvidia applications/drivers and use Microsoft’s driver for your Graphics card to check if the problem is solved.
6. Repeat the same process to update the driver of your mouse located under Mice and Other Pointing Devices.
7. A good idea would be to update Windows, so that, all drivers are updated.

If nothing has helped you so far, then either perform a system restore or reset Windows. But before doing any, make sure the mouse is not faulty.

Right Click on WIndows 10 Desktop Not Working

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Can you do the following:

Start > type view all then click on «View all problem reports Control panel»

Can you right-click on a few of the «Windows Explorer» «Stopped working» errors > View technical details

What are the details of the errors?

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Hi,
My name is Ernesto. I am an Independent Advisor. Thanks for contacting our support. Please check all these steps.
Basic Solutions
• Switch off Tablet Mode
The right-click button doesn’t always work in Tablet Mode, so switching it off if it happens to be enabled might do the trick.
press the Win key + A
Open the Action Center
Click to switch Tablet Mode off.
• Restart Windows File Explorer
If the right click can’t work on files, restarting Explorer with the Task Manager might do the trick.
Open Task Manager
Click the Processes tab in Task Manager
Select Windows Explorer and press its Restart button
• Update the Driver
Press Windows key and X, then choose Device Manager
Locate and expand the option Mice and other pointing devices. Then right click your computer/laptop/touchpad drive.
Then go to Driver tab, choose Update Driver… option
Wait for the process to end and try to right click again

• Check the Mouse:
— The best way to do so is to plug the mouse into another laptop or desktop to see if its right-click works. If you have a wireless mouse, replace its batteries with fresh ones. You can also check the hardware with the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter in Windows 10 as follows:

— Click the Cortana button on Windows taskbar and input ‘hardware and devices’ in the search box.
— Select Find and fix problems with devices.
— Press the Next button to scan. The troubleshooter will report any detected hardware and device issues back to you with a list from which you can select devices to fix.
— Select your mouse if it’s listed, and press the Next button.

Advance solutions:
• Check Group Policy’s Remove Windows Explorer’s default context menu setting:
— On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time, then copy & paste gpedit.msc into the box and press Enter.
— Locate and double-click on User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components.
— Double-click on File Explorer. Then in the right panel, scroll all the way to the bottom and double-click on Remove Windows Explorer’s default context menu.
— Click the Disabled option > Apply > OK.
— Restart your computer and hoepfully the mouse right click not working problem has been fixed.

• Run DISM
DISM (Deployment Image & Servicing Management) is a tool in Windows that helps us fix Windows-corruption-caused errors. Sometimes this right-click-on-mouse-not-working problem happens because of corruption and misconfigurations on our computer.
If that’s the case, we’ll have to run DISM to check and fix the error:
— On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and type cmd. Then right click on Command Prompt and click Run as administrator.
— Type the following command and press Enter:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Wait a while for the whole process to finish.
— Type sfc /scannow and press Enter.
— Restart your computer and hope your got your right click back to normal.

Disclaimer: There are links to non-Microsoft websites. The pages appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the sites that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the sites before you decide to download and install it.