Remove Open PowerShell window here from Right-Click Menu in Windows 10

With the Windows 10 Creators Update, the context menu option “Open command window here” is hidden by default, and is replaced by the “Open PowerShell window here” entry.

Not just that. PowerShell replaces Command Prompt in the Win+X (Power User) menu as well. In an earlier post, we saw how to get Command prompt option back in the right-click menu.

This post tells you how to remove the “Open PowerShell window here” option (using a registry edit) if you don’t plan to use it.

Remove Open PowerShell window here context menu entry

To remove “Open PowerShell window here” from the right-click menu, follow these steps:

1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and go to:

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Powershell

2. This key is protected by NTFS permissions by default. First, take ownership of this key and assign your user account full permissions for the key.
3. Under “Powershell”, create a string value REG_SZ named ProgrammaticAccessOnly. Leave its value data empty.
   
   ProgrammaticAccessOnly is a special value that hides a context menu entry, but programs can access it if required. Adding this value hides the “Open PowerShell window here” option from the folder context menu in Windows 10.
4. Additionally, perform the same steps under these two registry keys so that the context menu option is also removed from the right-click menu for Drives and Directory background.

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\Powershell
   
   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Background\shell\Powershell

To undo: To enable the PowerShell context menu entry again, just delete the ProgrammaticAccessOnly string value from the above locations.

Remove Windows PowerShell from Start button right-click (Win + X) menu

When you right-click on the Start button, Windows PowerShell and Windows PowerShell (Admin) appears by default in place of Command Prompt and Command Prompt (Admin), since the Windows 10 Creators Update. You can remove PowerShell entry and bring back Command Prompt to the Win + X menu via Taskbar settings.

Right-click on the Taskbar and click Taskbar Settings. Turn off the setting Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the start button or press Windows key+X.

This brings back “Command Prompt” and “Command Prompt (Admin)” entries in the Win + X menu.