How to Add or Remove "Gadgets" from Desktop Context Menu in Windows 7
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.
EXAMPLE: "Gadgets" in Desktop Context Menu
NOTE: This is when you right click on a empty area of the desktop.
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. That's it,
Shawn