Add applications to the Windows 10 & 11 Desktop Right-click Menu

By Sophia | Last Updated January 03, 2024

When you right-click the mouse on the Windows 10 & 11 desktop, the default menu will be displayed. If you want to add applications to the Windows 10 & 11 desktop right-click menu, this article will provide you with a quick and easy solution.

By editing the Windows registry, you can add any applications to the desktop right click menu in windows 10 and 11. This will be very useful if you use apps regularly. Let's see how to do this.

Steps on how to add apps to the Windows 10 & 11 desktop right-click menu:

Step 1: Use Windows+R to open the Run dialog box, type regedit, click OK to open the Registry Editor. If a User Account Control dialog (UAC) box pops up, click Yes.

Step 2: Type the following location in the address bar of the Registry Editor. Then create a new key under the shell key, the name of this key is exactly what is going to be displayed on the desktop right-click menu. You just need to right-click on the shell key and select New > Key from the menu.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell

Step 3: Name the new key something you want to display on the desktop right-click menu. In this case, I used mspaint.

Step 4: If you want to assign an Alt key to this menu item for faster access, you can double-click to turn on the default value, and put an & character in front of the key you want to use. For example, if you want to be able to use the N key to launch paint directly after the desktop context menu pops up, you can type &mspaint .

Step 5: Next you need to create a command key that will actually hold the commands used to launch the application. Right-click on the new mspaint key and select New > Key from the menu.

Step 6: Set the name of this newly created key to command.

Step 7: To complete this step, you need to know the full path of the launched application. You can use Shift + Right-click to get the Copy as Path menu item to find it faster. Then click Command on the left and double-click the Default key on the right to edit the string value. Paste the full path to the executable file you got in the "Copy as path" step above in Value data box. Finally click OK to complete the setup.

Step 8: After completing the setup, it looks like this. Close the Registry Editor and restart your PC for the settings to take effect.

Step 9: Right-click on the desktop will now generate a new menu item under which the application you added will appear. You can simply click on it to launch this paint tool.

Closing Thought

Just repeat the above steps to add any other applications you need to the desktop right-click menu. This is a great way to quickly get to the programs you use most frequently in Windows 10 & 11.

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