When you right-click on the taskbar, a context menu opens in front of you with various options. In today’s article, we’ll look at how to disable the taskbar context menu in Windows 10.
Disable taskbar context menu in group policies
This method works in Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise or Education, if you have a dozen home versions – go to the second method. If you want to disable the context menu for other users of this computer, first follow the instructions “How to configure group policies for specific users”.
1. Open Group Policies: in the search bar or in the Run menu (run by pressing Win + R) enter gpedit.msc and press the Enter key.
2. Open “User Configuration” => “Administrative Templates” => “Start Menu and Taskbar” => on the right side open “Deny access to context menu for the taskbar”.
3. Put a full stop in the “Enabled” field and click “OK”.
If you want to re-enable the context menu of the taskbar, follow the first two steps from the instructions above and put a full stop in front of “Not configured” or “Disabled”.
Disable taskbar context menu in Registry Editor
It is recommended that you create a system restore point before editing the registry.
1. Open the registry editor: in the search bar or in the run menu (run by pressing the Win + R keys) enter the command regedit and press the Enter key.
2. To disable the context menu of the taskbar for all users of this computer – follow the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Policies Explorer => right-click on the Explorer section and select “New” => DWORD Parameter (32 bit) => name the new parameter NoTrayContextMenu
Open the created parameter, in the “Value” field enter 1 and click “OK”.
To disable the context menu of the taskbar for the user you are logged in with – follow the path HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Policies Explorer => right-click on the Explorer section and select “New” => DWORD Parameter (32 bit) => name the new parameter NoTrayContextMenu => open the created parameter, in the “Value” field enter 1 and click “OK”.
To disable the context menu of the taskbar for a specific user – open the section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows NT CurrentVersion ProfileList. When you open the section ProfileList (by clicking on the arrow next to it), in it each section will mean a user, click on any section and in the right column in the parameter ProfileImagePath you will see the path to the profile.
In chapter ProfileList select each section in turn, look in the parameter ProfileImagePath the user who needs to disable the context menu. When you find it, remember or rewrite the title of the section somewhere S -1 – …;
In the left sidebar open HKEY_USERS, select the section memorized above (S-1-….)
Open in it Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Policies Explorer => right-click on the Explorer section and select “New” => DWORD parameter (32 bits) => name the new parameter NoTrayContextMenu => open the created parameter, enter 1 in the “Value” field and click “OK”.
3. Restart your computer or restart File Explorer for the changes to take effect.
In the future, if you want to return access to the context menu, you need to delete the created parameter NoTrayContextMenu.
That’s all for today, if you know other methods or you have additions – write in the comments! Happiness to you ?
