How to Fix: Right Click Desktop Not Working (Spinning Circle)

Infopackets Reader Jared P. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

The right click on my desktop is not working. When I right click on the desktop, all I get is a spinning blue circle. What normally appears is a dialogue menu that shows Display Settings, Personalize (the desktop), View, Sort by, and New (to create a folder, shortcut, text document, etc) - but instead, the cursor circle keeps spinning forever. I've left it alone for an hour but the right click keeps loading forever and never produces a menu like it should. Update: Since I've emailed you, I've found a few so-called guides online to fix my problem (the menu now appears instead of the blue circle); however, the 'New' submenu which is normally part of the right click menu is now absent. Now I can't create folders on my desktop or create a new text document on the desktop. Is there a proper way to fix this? "

My response:

I asked Jared if he would like me to connect to his machine using my remote desktop support service in order to have a closer look, and he agreed.

Below I will discuss my findings.

How to Fix: Right Click Desktop Not Working (Spinning Circle)

After researching this issue, it appears that the 'right click desktop menu broken with a spinning blue circle forever' issue has to do with a corrupt registry value.

The guides I've come across on the Internet state that the best way to deal with this is to manually edit the registry using regedit in order to wipe out all the corrupted registry subkeys, but this is a very obfuscated approach to fixing the problem. It also introduces yet another 'side effect' issue which Jared has accurately described - the 'New' submenu is now missing.

I've written a small script to fix the right click desktop menu issue, plus it will preserve the 'New' submenu. Unlike most 'how to' tutorials online regarding this issue, you won't need to navigate through the registry editor (regedit) to make it work. This script will also reset the Explorer.exe task which will also stop the spinning circle. All you need to do is copy and paste my script onto a command line to fix the problem properly.

To do so:

1. Highlight the text below with your mouse:
   
   reg delete HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers /f
   reg add HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\New /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D {D969A300-E7FF-11d0-A93B-00A0C90F2719}
   taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
   ping localhost -n 5 >nul
   start explorer.exe
   echo this is a dummy line
    
2. Right click over the text above and select "Copy" from the dialogue menu.
    
3. Next: click Start, then type in "CMD" (no quotes); wait for "CMD.EXE" or "Command Prompt" to appear in the list, then right click it and select "Run as Administrator". A black window should appear with the title "Administrator: CMD" or such. This is known as an administrative command prompt.
    
4. Right click in the middle of the administrative command prompt with your mouse and select "Paste" from the dialogue menu. The text you highlighted in Step #1 should now be output to the command line. You may receive an error such as: "ERROR: Delete request is partially completed" - you can safely ignore this error message.
    
5. Now, test your right click menu on the desktop. It should now be working, and should also include the 'New' submenu.

I hope that helps.

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About the author: Dennis Faas

Dennis Faas is the owner and operator of Infopackets.com. With over 30 years of computing experience, Dennis' areas of expertise are a broad range and include PC hardware, Microsoft Windows, Linux, network administration, and virtualization. Dennis holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science (1999) and has authored 6 books on the topics of MS Windows and PC Security. If you like the advice you received on this page, please up-vote / Like this page and share it with friends. For technical support inquiries, Dennis can be reached via Live chat online this site using the Zopim Chat service (currently located at the bottom left of the screen); optionally, you can contact Dennis through the website contact form.