FileLocator Lite 2016 context menu not active for other users

Question

Hi!

I installed FileLocator Lite 2016 build 865 on a couple of machines with MS Windows 7 Pro. 64-bit, Windows 10 Pro. 64-bit and Windows Server 2012 R2 and noticed the following issue:

The FileLocator context menu in Windows Explorer is available only for the user who installed the application. When other users log into Windows, the context menu doesn't exist in Windows Explorer.

That issue was not present in FileLocator Lite 2010.

A short investigation revealed that the installer creates the context menu entries for the current user only, i.e. under the following Registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Instead, the installer should create the context menu entries for all users, i.e. in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE part of the Registry.

I was able to fix the issue by running the following commands in the elevated Command Prompt ("run as administrator"):

rem - Remove context menu settings for current user (an administrator)
reg delete "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FileLocatorLite" /f
reg delete "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FileLocatorLite" /f
reg delete "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FileLocatorLite" /f
reg delete "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FileLocatorLite" /f

rem - Add context menu settings for all users
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FileLocatorLite" /ve /d "{2AE9D6D8-E348-4853-B266-C78844D31B97}" /f
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FileLocatorLite" /ve /d "{2AE9D6D8-E348-4853-B266-C78844D31B97}" /f
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FileLocatorLite" /ve /d "{2AE9D6D8-E348-4853-B266-C78844D31B97}" /f
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FileLocatorLite" /ve /d "{2AE9D6D8-E348-4853-B266-C78844D31B97}" /f

Please fix this issue in the next FileLocator build.

Answer 1

That behaviour is by design and allows users to separately control the context menu operation whilst also avoiding the need for elevated privileges when changing the context menu settings.

Comments

If this behaviour is by design, how are other users supposed to activate the FileLocator context menu?

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In the Configuration->Shell Integration Settings: http://help.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/en/shell_integration_settings.htm