Windows 7: Gadgets - Add or Remove from Desktop Context Menu

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove Gadgets from the desktop context menu for all users without turning off or disabling Gadgets in Windows 7.

You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

OPTION ONE

To Remove "Gadgets" from Desktop Context Menu

1. Press the Windows+R keys to open the Run dialog, type regedit and click/tap on OK.

   Note

If you have already previously done steps 1-4, then you can just skip them and only have to do step 5 below instead.

2. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

3. In regedit, go to the registry key location below, take ownership of set permissions to Allow your user account Full control of the Gadgets registry key. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Gadgets

4. In regedit, go to the registry key location below, take ownership of set permissions to Allow your user account Full control of the command registry key. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\Gadgets\command

5. Click on the Download button below to download the .reg file below.
NOTE: This will delete the Gadgets and command registry keys above for you automatically instead of you having to manually doing it.

Remove_Gadgets_from_Desktop_Context_Menu.reg

A) Save the .reg file to the desktop.

B) Double click on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

C) If prompted, click on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK.

D) When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

OPTION TWO

To Add/Restore "Gadgets" to Desktop Context Menu

1. If you have not already, double check to make sure that Gadgets is turned on and enabled first, or the .reg file below will not work.

2. Click on the Download button below to download the .reg file below.
NOTE: This will restore the default Gadgets and command registry keys and their entries that were deleted from above.

Add_Gadgets_to_Desktop_Context_Menu.reg

3. Save the .reg file to the desktop.

4. Double click on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

5. If prompted, click on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK.

6. When finished, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.