# Windows 11 where is the search box that was in the lower left corner? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2025, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-11-where-is-the-search-box-that-was-in-the-lower-left-corner/1022426 "2025-08-24T01:23:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2025, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-11-where-is-the-search-box-that-was-in-the-lower-left-corner/1022426/21 "2025-09-06T03:18:58Z")
Seems like a good place to share this. If you hate the right click menu, open cmd and paste `reg.exe add "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32" /f /ve` to restore the old style. Restart/close Explorer. If you want to revert `reg.exe delete "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}" /f` ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-11-where-is-the-search-box-that-was-in-the-lower-left-corner/1022426/22 "2025-09-06T13:11:06Z")
The right-click menu of _what?_ There are hundreds of right-click menus in various MS products. And various parts of the Win11 UI. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-11-where-is-the-search-box-that-was-in-the-lower-left-corner/1022426/23 "2025-09-06T13:20:32Z")
If I’m recognizing the registry key correctly, that restores the Windows 10 context menu in the file Explorer (right mouse button menu on a file in the file list). The Win 11 version of that menu is abbreviated and hides a lot of common and useful features under a second “more options…” click. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-11-where-is-the-search-box-that-was-in-the-lower-left-corner/1022426/24 "2025-09-06T15:58:02Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > If I’m recognizing the registry key correctly, that restores the Windows 10 context menu in the file Explorer (right mouse button menu on a file in the file list). Yes, that’s right, MS dumbed down the Windows Explorer context menu. Using that registry hack was one of the first things I did after upgrading to Win 11. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2025, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-11-where-is-the-search-box-that-was-in-the-lower-left-corner/1022426/25 "2025-09-06T18:32:42Z")
Explorer ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-11-where-is-the-search-box-that-was-in-the-lower-left-corner/1022426/26 "2025-09-09T15:24:32Z")
You can also use Shift+Right Click to go directly to the full pop up menu if you don’t like messing with the registry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-11-where-is-the-search-box-that-was-in-the-lower-left-corner/1022426.md?page=1)