Windows 11 File Explorer Right-click Menu was changed to include icons

i want to kick the **** out of the **** who changed word to those stupid icons ! but there is so much more **** the sucks about windows 11 and pro dont even waste your money buying pro because you cant change anything with pro as matter of fact i dont think there is a diffence between pro and just plan windows 11 both are complete **** !

I'm with you...That was the first thing I hated from Windows 11...These new generation of software developers are under the idea that "change" (even absurd changes like this one) means innovation and the more innovation they do the better they are as developers...Some 2 Windows generations before W11 another of those gurus renamed the "Printers" option from the control panel to "Devices and Printers"...At the time I wondered why, but I guess my way of thinking is why I don't work at Microsoft. It is idiotic changes like these that jeopardize my productivity what motivates me to make the switch once and for all to MAC, and I will soon.

AMEN! My brain instantly knows what those words mean. Now I have to pause and think about what this tiny picture is supposed to represent but then I realize I can mouse over them to get the words to pop up so I am not guessing on these hieroglyphics. I am sure by the time we get used to reading like a kindergartener, Microsoft will change the pictures because they can't seem to leave anything the hll alone!

Stuff like this just equals loss of productivity. Loss of productivity means customers have another reason to not upgrade until they are forced to.

And one more thing, stop taking away tools and settings or making them difficult to find, such as the quick launch bar. I hate pinned icons. I open a lot of windows at once and never am sure if it is an open window or a pinned icon. If I click it to find out, well then it is open. Tiny icons in the quick launch bar solve this. Plus, I shouldn't have to give a reason why I like it. Quit giving and then taking away!

So they came up with a solution that works and one that I'm very excited about which is what we see. We have a small bar of icons at the top for these file level operations which will ALWAYS be in the same position at the top but only takes up a single line of space!

I've only had Windows 11 for a few weeks, I'm not thrilled about the icons vs the old menu, but I know things change and I'm trying to adapt, generally it'll work for me as I retrain myself. However, my primary issue is - the icons are NOT always in the same position and this is driving me a little bonkers. (Additionally, sometimes the icons are at the top of the right click window, sometimes at the bottom, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to that.)

In addition to Cut, Copy, or Paste, I do a lot of Renaming of files and folders. My brain has already started to learn that "Rename" is the 3rd icon - except sometimes Paste is the 3rd icon and Rename is the 4th icon, for no apparent reason. Which means that about half the time, I find myself accidentally copying files or folders when I wanted to Rename something. Right now I have two folders open, in one of them when I right click, Rename is 3rd, in the other folder Rename is 4th. I have not cut or copied anything in either folder.

I'll give it a few more weeks to see if I can get past this initial annoyance, if not I'll have to find out if our IT department is willing to edit the registry.

Not sure which part you need, but it shows Windows 11 Pro, version is 21H2.

Also says OS Build: 22000.795 and Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22000.795.0

Our IT group has just started giving out replacement laptops with Windows 11 so there are just a handful of us as guinea pigs.

I do know there's some consistency issues and also issues with various software providers not making their software available on the new menu. It's unfortunate because we didn't have much chance to work through bugs before they rolled it out. It's a complete rework of the right-click menu which is long overdue. Normally they would roll out such changes by making it optional, where it could be enabled by editing the registry. Here, they chose to do it the other way around and enable it by default and providing a way to disable it.

My guess is that although it benefits "power users" the most, the lack of 3rd party software makers supporting it for the moment limits that usefulness and pushes most of them to revert to the old menu. My guess is that they enabled it by default to prevent development from getting bogged down through lack of use. By doing it this way they can get more feedback much faster through regular telemetry, theoretically reducing the dev time to get it right while lighting a fire under the rears of other software companies to start fully supporting it.

Overall it's a sound, yet somewhat annoying way to go about it. This is something that should have been addressed in the early days of Win10 but It's likely the result would have been the same. The way we use machines now is totally different than the early days. Nearly every installation requires some level of customization. This right-click menu has long been a "third-rail" that everyone wanted fixed while no one wanted to deal with the fallout. So I have to give them credit for finally doing it even if it's a long way from perfect. They at least had enough sense to provide a simple way to disable it and revert back to the old right-click menu.
Just open a terminal window, paste the line below, hit enter, then when it confirms it completed, reboot.

To disable:
reg.exe add "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32" /f /ve

To enable:
reg.exe delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}" /f