Fix: Cannot Right-Click On Desktop In Windows 10

A right-click on desktop gives you quick access to personalization settings, desktop icon configuration, and display settings.

We have seen many Windows 10 users complaining that they are unable to perform a right-click on the desktop or nothing happens when right-clicked on the desktop.

When you are unable to right-click on the desktop, you can open the Control Panel or Settings app to access display settings and personalization settings, but access to desktop icons configuration is possible only with a right-click on the desktop.

Following are the two working solutions that you could use to enable right-click on Windows 10 desktop again. Note that if the context menu opening very slowly, please refer to our fix to slow desktop context menu in Windows 10 article.

Solution 1 of 2

Turn off the tablet mode

Windows 10 is designed to run on both computers and tablets. To help tablet users, there is a feature called tablet mode. Tablet mode, when turned on, shows the full Start menu and doesn’t show the desktop that we are all familiar with.

By default settings, Windows 10 automatically turns on the tablet mode only if it finds that you are running Windows 10 on a tablet device. But sometimes it might turn on the tablet mode even when you are on a regular laptop or desktop.

Here is how to turn off the tablet mode:

Step 1: Navigate to Settings app > System > Tablet mode.

Step 2: In When I sign in drop-down box, select Use desktop mode.

Sign out and sign in again to turn off the tablet mode. You can also restart to turn off the tablet mode. You should now be able to right-click on the desktop.

Solution 2 of 2

Check if right-click is disabled in Registry

One can disable right-click or context menu by making necessary changes to the Registry. But when the context menu is disabled, you won’t be able to right-click not just on the desktop but also in File Explorer or Windows Explorer.

Enabling the right-click menu or context menu is easy. Here is how to do just that.

Step 1: Open the Registry Editor by typing Regedit.exe in the Start/taskbar search and then pressing Enter key.

Step 2: In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Step 3: On the right-side, look for a value called NoViewContextMenu.

Step 4: Double-click on NoViewContextMenu value and change its value data to 0 (zero) to enable the right-click.

If NoViewContextMenu doesn’t exist, no need to do anything. The absence of NoViewContextMenu indicates that the right-click has not been disabled in Registry.

Close the Registry Editor. Either restart Windows Explorer or sign out and then sign in again to be able to right-click on the desktop. Rebooting your PC will do the same job.