Windows 10: Right-clicking File Explorer windows in Taskbar

I'm not sure what caused this problem but it seemed to appear somewhat suddenly a few weeks back or so.

Whenever I right-click a file explorer window (i.e. This PC, Downloads etc.) on the taskbar, I no longer get the option to Close window. The only things that appear when I right-click are a bunch of Pinned and Recent items. Many of the pinned items were not pinned by myself and whenever I try to remove one item from this list, a new one shows up (for example, a random document). I also always disable any option that shows recently used items, so I don't understand why those are appearing either.

I have tried to go into the folder and search options in This PC and uncheck show recently used files and show frequently used folders in the Privacy section, but that doesn't seem to have any effect.

I am wondering if this is happening for anyone else? It's somewhat of a superficial problem but I'd like to solve it if that's possible.

:)

 

Right-clicking File Explorer windows in Taskbar

I'm not sure what caused this problem but it seemed to appear somewhat suddenly a few weeks back or so.

Whenever I right-click a file explorer window (i.e. This PC, Downloads etc.) on the taskbar, I no longer get the option to
Close window. The only things that appear when I right-click are a bunch of
Pinned and Recent items. Many of the pinned items were not pinned by myself and whenever I try to remove one item from this list, a new one shows up (for example, a random document). I also always disable any option that shows
recently used items, so I don't understand why those are appearing either.

I have tried to go into the folder and search options in
This PC and uncheck show recently used files and
show frequently used folders in the Privacy section, but that doesn't seem to have any effect.

I am wondering if this is happening for anyone else? It's somewhat of a superficial problem but I'd like to solve it if that's possible.

 

Right-clicking File Explorer windows in Taskbar

Hello,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I would suggest you to follow the methods given below and check.

Method 1: Perform Clean Boot.

Placing your system in Clean Boot state helps in identifying if any third party applications or startup items are causing the issue. Check this issue in clean boot state.

1. Press Windows key + X key. And select Run.

2. Type msconfig in the Run box and hit Enter.

3. On the Services tab of the
System Configuration dialog box, tap or click to select the
Hide all Microsoft services check box, and then tap or click Disable all.

4. On the Startup tab of the
System Configuration dialog box, tap or click Open Task Manager.

5. On the Startup tab in Task Manager, for each startup item, select the item and then click
Disable.

6. Close Task Manager.

7. On the Startup tab of the
System Configuration dialog box, tap or click OK, and then restart the computer.

Note: After clean boot troubleshooting step, follow the section "How to reset the computer to start as usual after troubleshooting with clean boot" in the provided link to return your computer
to Normal startup mode.

If issue still persists try method 2

Method 2:

Try to run a System File Checker (SFC) scan to check for any file corruption.
SFC scan will scan for corrupt system files on the computer and repair them.

• Press Windows key + X, click
  Command Prompt (Admin).
• In the Command Prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
  
  sfc /scannow

If the issue still exists, try the next method.

Method 3:

You may check the same issue with the new user account.

Try these steps to create a new user account and check if it fixes the issue. Refer to the steps below to create a new User Account:

• Go to Settings.
• Choose Accounts and then select Other User Accounts towards the left.
• Select Add an Account.
• Enter a user name and hit Next.
• Click on Finish.
• Sign out from the current Account and Log into the new account.
• Check if issue persists.

Hope this information is helpful. Do let us know if you need any further assistance, we'll be glad to assist you.

 

Not sure why you have this behaviour but you can try holding down Ctrl and Shift when you right click and see if this gives you the "Close Window" option.

 

This will show the "Close Window" option but is there any way to have the option show up by default, as it used to, when I right-click a file explorer window?

 

I was able to solve this problem by browsing to the following folder location:

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

and deleting all the files in there. To get into the hidden folder, I had to copy and paste the previous folder location in Explorer.

It seems to have solved the problem completely for now. If the problem reappears for some reason, I will provide an update.