How add context menu item to Windows Explorer for folders

Question

I have found out how to add right-click context menu items to files on Windows Explorer, by adding keys to the registry. I.e. I can right-click on a file in Explorer and run a custom app against that file.

I would like to do the same for a folder and have not found a way to do that (yet). I see articles on creating/writing custom context menu handlers, but I would rather not go there.

I have found an article here on how to add cascading context menu items to the Desktop and to the "Computer" in Explorer, but this does not work for any folder.

I would like to be able to add my custom app to the context menu and have it work on both files and folders. Is there a way to do this without writing a context menu handler?

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I found the solution in the below article, which describes how to do this via the registry for files, as well as for folders:

• How to Add Any Application Shortcut to Windows Explorer’s Context Menu

The following two articles provided additional info and options:

• Ultimate Tutorial to Customize Desktop Context Menu in Windows Vista, 7 and 8
• Add Cascading Menus for Your Favorite Programs in Windows 7 Desktop and My Computer Context Menus

Answer 1

In the registration editor (regedit.exe) find:

• Context menu for right click on folders in left panel of Windows Explorer or on background of a directory in right panel:

  1. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell if you are administrator
  2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\directory\Background\shell if you are a normal user

• Context menu for right click on folders in right panel of Windows Explorer:

  1. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell if you are administrator
  2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\directory\shell if you are a normal user

• Context menu for any file:

  1. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell if you are administrator
  2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\*\shell if you are a normal user

In all cases:

1. add a new key under shell, naming it as you want to name the context menu item
2. add a new key inside this key, named command (mandatory name)
3. edit the default property in command to myprogrampath\path\path\executable.exe %1 to pass the file path and name of the selected file to your custom program

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More customization:

• Add icon: add a string value named icon for key created at step 1 with value matching an icon resource path. You can also provide an integer arguments to specify which icon to use. Example: %SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll,3
• Display only on shift-click: adds an empty string value named Extended for key created at step 1
• Customize menu entry label: change the value of default value for key created at step 1
• Change menu entry location: add a string value named Position with one of: Top, Bottom