Windows 10: Taskbar > File Explorer > Right Click > Pinned > Not Opening with any

After months of trying, this was THE SOLUTION for me. I downloaded ShellEx View, then:
1. Sort by Company
2. Disabled all non-Microsoft entries
3. Via task manager under Processes, disabled Windows Explorer
4. File|Run in task manager Explorer.exe
5. Tried the task bar folder list.....SUCCSESS!
6. Since I have 41 non-Microsoft entries, I enabled half of them, ended Windows Explorer (all instances), run Explorer,exe, tried task bar folder list again,It still worked. So I then took the remaining half, and repeated the enable, Kill explorer, run explorer, until I narrowed it down to JRiver Media Center x64, which is an media player with advanced features, that I no longer use.

Thanks so much for THE SOLUTION!

 

Most welcome .. glad it was useful.

 

I recently did a fresh install of Windows 10 and hit the problem with right click not working on pinned entries on taskbar.

I tried the ShellExView solution but had no luck.
Disabled all non Microsoft entries etc but to no avail.

Re-booted, checked that all non Microsoft entries were still disabled, tried right click on a pinned item on taskbar -- no success.

Back to head scratching.

PS: Have just discovered that the Start button is also unresponsive.


I suspect that my problem may have arisen as a result of using Laplink PCmover to restore my settings and apps after a fresh install.
Have restored system to its state prior to that exercise and everything is now OK.

 

I am glad you mentioned that! Same issue here with Cubby. Exit or deinstall cubby then the quick links work fine again. Restart or reinstall cubby and they stop working!!

 

This worked for me! I have been having the same problem where my pinned explorer shortcuts on the taskbar suddenly would not open, only the "File Explorer" quick access one would open. I'd tried logging out and back in, restarting the explorer.exe process, restarting my computer - all to no avail so I started searching and came across this forum thread.

The problem for me turned out to be a shell extension created by Movavi, a video editing software I recently installed. I followed the link given by nevadl and downloaded ShellExView. Because I knew my problem just started within the past two weeks, I sorted the extensions by the "CLSID Modified Time" column and focused on the most recent non-Microsoft extensions (which are highlighted in red). Only one showed as being modified within the past two weeks (the Movavi one), so I started my trial and error testing by disabling that extension first. Then I went to Task Manager and restarted the "explorer.exe" process. With the Movavi extension disabled, my explorer shortcuts work again!

Thank you, nevadl for signing up to post your solution!! I use the pinned explorer shortcuts almost daily and it's been quite frustrating over the past week or two having them not work.

 

Thank you Nevadl

I was having the same issues with file explorer and not being able to right click on pinned items.
I found the software causing me grief was NCH Zip Express (Which I don't use anyhow). I've informed NCH of the issue during the uninstall process.
This has also helped another issue I was having with my DVD/CD burner. I wasn't able to finalise burning to CDs using Win10 file explorer. Now I can. Awesome!
Also note that I just used "ShellExView" to locate non MS software and then temporarily disable them, whilst using the Task manager's "Restart Feature" to Restart "Windows File Explorer".

Cheers

Carl