Disable Right Click in Windows Vista/XP

You may not want users to have access to the right click menu. This can be useful when you don’t want people editing the start menu. There are workarounds for not having the right click button, but this will deter most users. In this guide you’ll learn how to disable right clicking in Windows.

This guide is included as part of the Windows Guides security and administration series. Please visit the main page if you would like to learn why this guide may be useful.

Please Note: This guide involves the use of the Group Policy Editor, which is not included with Vista Home Premium/Basic or Windows XP Home. If this is the first time you are using the Group Policy Editor, read this guide.

Unfortunately I do not know how to do this tweak using only the registry. If you know how, please contact me.

Disable right click for the Desktop, Files, Folders, and Windows Explorer

• Start Group Policy Editor (Start > Run > “gpedit.msc”)
• In the left panel, go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar
• In the right panel, enable Remove access to the context menus for the taskbar

Disable right click for the Taskbar and the Start Menu

• Start Group Policy Editor (Start > Run > “gpedit.msc”)
• In the left panel, go to Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer
• In the right panel, enable Remove Windows Explorer’s default context menu

Further Reading:

• Disable Shutdown in Windows Vista/XP
• Disable Run Dialogue in Windows Vista/XP
• Disable Logging off in Windows Vista/XP
• Working with the Windows Registry (Windows 7, Vista, XP)