Windows 10 context menus show up blank

windows-10 context-menu

17,837

Solution 1

This kind of thing can happen when there's a compatibility issue between the OS and a third-party plugin that creates context menu items. It isn't necessarily the third-party developer's fault - sometimes the operating system corrupts the installation of a plugin that normally works fine.

If you happen to know which programs have created context menu items, you can try reinstalling those programs to see if it will help. This StackOverflow Question also has some registry keys that would list things that have been added to the context menu.

Ultimately, it could also be that the operating system is corrupted itself. In that case, you don't have much choice but reinstalling it.

Solution 2

Some system files may be corrupt due to third party software, as you say. You can run a system file check scan.

For that open a Console as an administrator and run this:

sfc /scannow

After the scan you should receive a message telling you that some files have been repaired and the system needs to be restarted.

17,837

Mihail

JavaScript full-stack developer. Traveller. Look for a job in Germany or USA.

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Mihail almost 2 years

Something weird is going on with my context menus in my Windows 10 installation. They are showing up blank.

In the first day after installing it has happened 2 or 3 times. But today, it's happening almost all the time.

The first time this happened was right after an update from Windows 8.1, so I don't see any reason to think this is caused by third-party software.

This is how it looks like for a folder or a file:

Context menu in all other programs works fine, for example in SublimeText3, Skype, etc.

Does anyone have a solution to this issue?
- gbhall almost 9 years
  
  Seems to be an issue with low resources, normally after copying a large amount of files (what I was doing too when the issue started). Looks like a fix is coming soon: answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-start/…
- Dale over 8 years
  
  Windows 10 has some warts to deal with yet. I've seen many issues with Windows 10 in many parts of the operating system. I would reinstall the product or simply downgrade to Windows 8.1. While I love the interface much more than Windows 8.1 there are many instances where drivers were not compatible, bugs not fixed yet and software not integrating right with Windows 10 yet.
- Insane over 8 years
  
  @Dale I don't know why but this is happening but every time I reinstall Windows 10 on this certain old laptop I see this issue.
- Dale over 8 years
  
  Try booting up your laptop in safe mode. @gbhall may have a point. If your laptop has low memory it may not be giving you enough resources for those menus to be generated. Safe mode might give you a bit more resources. Here's how to boot in safe mode for Windows 10. tomshardware.com/faq/id-2569556/safe-mode-windows.html
- harrymc over 8 years
  
  Sometimes the W10 upgrade has issues. Repeating it with a downloaded full installation media may solve the issue. See this answer.
- Mihail over 8 years
  
  I have this issue on i7-4770 and 8Gb RAM laptop, so, this is not about amount of resources, in my case. Had to downgrade to 8.1.
- Dale over 8 years
  
  Some other people are having the same issue on another forum. I didn't want to copy all of the suggestions down since its a long thread so I thought I would just simply pass on the URL for you to look through. answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-start/…
- Arjan over 8 years
  
  Maybe related: displayed but unresponsive menu items in Windows 10 power user menu Win+X and context menu issues, caused by specific third party software.
- harrymc over 8 years
  
  Poster and the bounty-giver : Get a move on, guys! Start answering comments.
- Farhan Anam over 8 years
  
  I have an answer but cannot post it because of low reputation. I have 101 rep but 100 is for user assoc bonus. I have 650+ rep in SO. I really have an answer.
- harrymc over 8 years
  
  @FarhanAnam: Any registered user can answer - see Privileges.
- Farhan Anam over 8 years
  
  @harrymc This question is protected by Community ♦. So i must have > 10 rep to answer this. I have 101 but 100 of that is user assoc bonus which doesn't count.
- harrymc over 8 years
  
  @FarhanAnam: Maybe you could post a summary as a comment, then flag it to the attention of a moderator. He might have the ability to convert it to an answer by you, or he surely could undo the protection if convinced by your comment. Otherwise, just start answering other posts.
- harrymc over 8 years
  
  @FarhanAnam: In any case, bounty or not, if you know the answer then you should let the poster know.
- DavidPostill over 8 years
  
  "The first time this happened was right after an update from Windows 8.1" - have you done a clean install of Windows 10?
- Ryan Pavlik almost 8 years
  
  As a counterpoint to the "upgrade" and "weak machine" arguments: I have this on a clean install of Win 10, on a machine with 24GB of RAM, tested across 3 video cards, on TH2 (1511/Nov Update). Tends to happen after a few days of uptime, especially with a lot of explorer windows open, but closing them doesn't bring back the menu items.
Mihail over 8 years

For the first time it happened on clean OS.
Psycogeek over 8 years

Using autoruns you could disable the context menu items and reboot to see which one is causing it. Through all the systems ms made 3rd party context items have caused problems at one time or another, autoruns (once learned) make it simple to discover which item might be a problem.
tvt173 about 6 years

You can use CCleaner to quickly see and disable content menu items. Tools -> Startup -> Context Menu