Windows 10: Start Menu Recent Items "Clear" option missing from right-click menu

I used to be able to right-click on the "Recent" icon on the start menu and see an option to clear the recent files list. Now it's gone. The "Recent" icon is still there and still functions properly and lists recently opened files, but the "Clear" option is now missing from the Recent right-click menu.

I went to %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows and saw that the folder icon for the Recent folder was now set to the generic folder icon instead of the unique recent folder icon it used to show. Opening the folder though, the correct original icon shows in the task bar, address bar, and title bar.

I saw some instructions somewhere to delete and recreate the Recent folder (delete the folder from explorer, then type shell:recent in the start menu search bar) but it was a procedure for Windows 7 and it didn't work here in Windows 10.

This is a new laptop with Win 10 Home preinstalled, not an upgrade from anything else.

I know how to clear the recent items using other methods, but would like to have this option restored to the right-click menu, the way it was before.

:)

 

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Windows 10 start menu

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I'd actually solved this quite a while ago but just realized I never posted the solution.1. With notepad, create a txt file containing:
[.ShellClassInfo]LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21797InfoTip=@shell32,dll,-12692IconResource=%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll,-117CLSID={0C39A5CF-1A7A-40C8-BA74-8900E6DF5FCD}
2. Save it in the Recent folder itself, naming it "desktop" and with the extension .ini (i.e. desktop.ini)
3. Right-click on the new .ini file and set it to "Hidden".
4. Close the folder window and restart explorer from taskmanager if necessary.

That worked for me. Every now and again this issue will reappear so I keep a spare desktop.ini file that I just copy to the Recent folder whenever this happens.