FIX: Open with menu option is missing in Windows 10

• Users report that the Open with option is missing from the context menu without any warning or obvious reason.
• We will explore in this article what steps you can do in order to solve this issue, so keep reading.
• Bookmark our Windows 10 Hub for more helpful guides and news.
• Check out our dedicated Fix section for more related information.

If you want to open a certain file with a different program, usually you’ll right-click that file and choose the Open with from the menu.

Many users use the Open with menu on their PC, but sometimes this menu can become missing.

Users reported the following problems:

• Windows 10 Open with not working – This is a strange problem, but you should be able to fix it by keeping your Windows up to date.
• Open with disabled windows 10 –If you’re having this problem, you might have to tweak your registry in order to fix it.
• Windows 10 Open with greyed out – This can be a big problem, but you should be able to fix that by creating a new user account.
• Open with missing from the context menu, right-click – If you’re having this problem, be sure to try some of our solutions.

How can I fix the Open with menu missing in Windows 10?

1. Check your antivirus

An antivirus is a crucial component of every PC because it provides you with protection from online threats.

However, sometimes your antivirus can interfere with Windows and that can cause the Open with menu to become missing.

If you’re having this problem, we advise you to temporarily disable your antivirus and check if that solves the issue.

Now, if that doesn’t help, you might have to uninstall your antivirus. If removing your antivirus solves the problem, you’ll need to switch to a different antivirus solution.

There are many great antivirus tools available on the market, but currently, the best antivirus applications is Bitdefender.

There are many great selling points to why you should use it, and some of them are its excellent protection against viruses and the use of minimal PC resources, although constantly running in the background.

Bitdefender has made a name for itself due to it’s enhanced security and deep scan options that stop any threats even before becoming an issue.

How to Open Registry Editor

Detailed instructions on opening Registry Editor in Windows

All manual changes to the Windows Registry occur in Registry Editor, a tool included in all versions of Windows.

Registry Editor lets you view, create, and modify the registry keys and registry values that make up the entire Windows Registry.

There’s not an obvious shortcut for the tool in most versions of Windows, so the best way to open it is by executing it from a command line.

Open Registry Editor this way in any version of Windows that uses the registry, including Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

How to Open Registry Editor

Access Registry Editor by following this procedure:

In Windows 10 or Windows 8.1, right-click or tap-and-hold the Start button and then choose Run. Prior to Windows 8.1, the Run dialog box is most easily available from the Apps screen.

In Windows 7 or Windows Vista, select Start.

In Windows XP, select Start and then Run.

One quick way you can open the Run dialog box in any of these Windows versions is to use the keyboard shortcut Win+R.

In the search box or Run window, type the following, followed by Enter:

Depending on your version of Windows, and how it’s configured, you may see a User Account Control dialog box where you’ll need to confirm that you want to open Registry Editor.

Registry Editor will open.

If you’ve used Registry Editor before, it’ll open up to the same location you were working in last time. If that happens, and you don’t want to work with the keys or values at that location, just continue to minimize the registry keys until you’ve reached the top level, listing the various registry hives.

You can minimize or expand registry keys by selecting the small > icon next to the key. In Windows XP, the + icon is used instead.

You can now make whatever changes you need to make to the registry, which probably shouldn’t be done unless you’re versed in how to safely add, change, or delete registry keys and values. Make sure, whatever you do, that you only affect the narrow registry areas that you intend to.

Considering the significance of the registry on your Windows-based computer, we strongly recommend that you back up the registry, either the whole thing or even just the areas you’re working in, before you do anything.

More Help With Registry Editor

It’s important to know how to restore the Window’s Registry before using Registry Editor. This lets you add a REG file backup into the registry should something go wrong during editing.

Even though Registry Editor is open and ready to be used, it’s not always wise to make changes yourself, manually, especially if a program or automated service can do it for you. For example, if you’re using Registry Editor to clear up residual or junk registry entries, you shouldn’t do it yourself unless you’re very sure that you know what you’re doing. Instead, use a free registry cleaner if you want to clear out common registry junk automatically.

The same regedit command can be executed from Command Prompt. After opening Command Prompt, just type out the command and press Enter.

Although the circumstance would have to be rare, yet another way to launch this tool is from Task Manager. To do that, open Task Manager though Ctrl+Shift+Esc, go to File > Run new task, and type regedit, followed by OK.

You might open it that way if you can’t access the standard Run dialog box as described in Step 1 above, or if Explorer or Command Prompt won’t open for some reason.

If you find yourself opening this tool often, you can make a Registry Editor shortcut on your desktop. Right-click the desktop, go to New > Shortcut, type regedit, and press Next and then Finish. In some versions of Windows, you can drag the shortcut onto your taskbar for even quicker access.

Opening a remote Windows Registry is a bit different of a process than the one described above for a local registry. After opening a regular Registry Editor window, there’s an additional step to find the remote registry.

Windows registry — register an application to open a file type

I’m making an installer for an application which has a custom URI scheme and its own file type to open with it. The application executed with a launcher.bat , In the registry I’ve set the launcher.bat to do so. It works as it should be, unless I want to register the application wit its name to be shown as opening application both in exporer and browsers instead of launcher.bat .

The registry file that applied by the installer script is the following (it is gets generated dynamically, so don’t mind the application path as well):

What else should I add to the registry to do so?

2 Answers 2

First name your type:

And then set the program to open:

Replace all names in angle-brackets with your names:

After a few days of digging, I have found the solution:

The registry above assigns extension to the launcher (or any executable) to open it with, but the OS only shows the executable name as the associated program — which is fine, because It wasn’t registred. This could be shown on the properties window of the file which are associated to, in exprorer, when you right click on the file and choose open with, and even in browesers when a URI scheme is registed.

To do so, the application has to be registred as well in the registry. After digging the internet, finally found on MSDN the extra registry changes that does so.

Registry Functions

The following are the registry functions.

Function	Description
GetSystemRegistryQuota	Retrieves the current size of the registry and the maximum size that the registry is allowed to attain on the system.
RegCloseKey	Closes a handle to the specified registry key.
RegConnectRegistry	Establishes a connection to a predefined registry handle on another computer.
RegCopyTree	Copies the specified registry key, along with its values and subkeys, to the specified destination key.
RegCreateKeyEx	Creates the specified registry key.
RegCreateKeyTransacted	Creates the specified registry key and associates it with a transaction.
RegDeleteKey	Deletes a subkey and its values.
RegDeleteKeyEx	Deletes a subkey and its values from the specified platform-specific view of the registry.
RegDeleteKeyTransacted	Deletes a subkey and its values from the specified platform-specific view of the registry as a transacted operation.
RegDeleteKeyValue	Removes the specified value from the specified registry key and subkey.
RegDeleteTree	Deletes the subkeys and values of the specified key recursively.
RegDeleteValue	Removes a named value from the specified registry key.
RegDisablePredefinedCache	Disables handle caching for the predefined registry handle for HKEY_CURRENT_USER for the current process.
RegDisablePredefinedCacheEx	Disables handle caching for all predefined registry handles for the current process.
RegDisableReflectionKey	Disables registry reflection for the specified key.
RegEnableReflectionKey	Enables registry reflection for the specified disabled key.
RegEnumKeyEx	Enumerates the subkeys of the specified open registry key.
RegEnumValue	Enumerates the values for the specified open registry key.
RegFlushKey	Writes all attributes of the specified open registry key into the registry.
RegGetKeySecurity	Retrieves a copy of the security descriptor protecting the specified open registry key.
RegGetValue	Retrieves the type and data for the specified registry value.
RegLoadKey	Creates a subkey under HKEY_USERS or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and stores registration information from a specified file into that subkey.
RegLoadMUIString	Loads the specified string from the specified key and subkey.
RegNotifyChangeKeyValue	Notifies the caller about changes to the attributes or contents of a specified registry key.
RegOpenCurrentUser	Retrieves a handle to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER key for the user the current thread is impersonating.
RegOpenKeyEx	Opens the specified registry key.
RegOpenKeyTransacted	Opens the specified registry key and associates it with a transaction.
RegOpenUserClassesRoot	Retrieves a handle to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT key for the specified user.
RegOverridePredefKey	Maps a predefined registry key to a specified registry key.
RegQueryInfoKey	Retrieves information about the specified registry key.
RegQueryMultipleValues	Retrieves the type and data for a list of value names associated with an open registry key.
RegQueryReflectionKey	Determines whether reflection has been disabled or enabled for the specified key.
RegQueryValueEx	Retrieves the type and data for a specified value name associated with an open registry key.
RegReplaceKey	Replaces the file backing a registry key and all its subkeys with another file.
RegRestoreKey	Reads the registry information in a specified file and copies it over the specified key.
RegSaveKey	Saves the specified key and all of its subkeys and values to a new file.
RegSaveKeyEx	Saves the specified key and all of its subkeys and values to a new file. You can specify the format for the saved key or hive.
RegSetKeyValue	Sets the data for the specified value in the specified registry key and subkey.
RegSetKeySecurity	Sets the security of an open registry key.
RegSetValueEx	Sets the data and type of a specified value under a registry key.
RegUnLoadKey	Unloads the specified registry key and its subkeys from the registry.

The following shell functions can be used with the registry:

The following are the initialization-file functions. They retrieve information from and copy information to a system- or application-defined initialization file. These functions are provided only for compatibility with 16-bit versions of Windows. New applications should use the registry.

Function	Description
GetPrivateProfileInt	Retrieves an integer associated with a key in the specified section of an initialization file.
GetPrivateProfileSection	Retrieves all the keys and values for the specified section of an initialization file.
GetPrivateProfileSectionNames	Retrieves the names of all sections in an initialization file.
GetPrivateProfileString	Retrieves a string from the specified section in an initialization file.
GetPrivateProfileStruct	Retrieves the data associated with a key in the specified section of an initialization file.
GetProfileInt	Retrieves an integer from a key in the specified section of the Win.ini file.
GetProfileSection	Retrieves all the keys and values for the specified section of the Win.ini file.
GetProfileString	Retrieves the string associated with a key in the specified section of the Win.ini file.
WritePrivateProfileSection	Replaces the keys and values for the specified section in an initialization file.
WritePrivateProfileString	Copies a string into the specified section of an initialization file.
WritePrivateProfileStruct	Copies data into a key in the specified section of an initialization file.
WriteProfileSection	Replaces the contents of the specified section in the Win.ini file with specified keys and values.
WriteProfileString	Copies a string into the specified section of the Win.ini file.

Obsolete Functions

These functions are provided only for compatibility with 16-bit versions of Windows: