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On my Windows 7 computer, I was able to right click on icons on my taskbar to unpin them.

enter image description here

I just upgraded to Windows 10, and I could have sworn the right click menu was working when I first installed it, but now when I right click on taskbar icons (or click and drag upward, which used to work on windows 7) no menu appears.

Everything remains perfectly responsive, I can open and close applications lightning fast, and I can right click on the taskbar itself to change the properties for example, but just not on the icons themselves.

Did I break something? How can I get it back?

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  • 1
    It's working for me in Windows 10. That's strange behavior...have you tried restarting?
    – MC10
    Jul 30, 2015 at 19:01
  • 1
    I've restarted multiple times today and it wasn't working... but I just restarted after your comment and now it is...
    – Entity
    Jul 30, 2015 at 19:09
  • 1
    Even weirder...although that also seems to be the case when I help my parents with their tech issues :P
    – MC10
    Jul 30, 2015 at 19:20
  • I had this problem as well. It's intermittent. Restarting fixed it for me.
    – HansA
    Jul 31, 2015 at 2:30
  • I've found restarting the "Tile Data model server" service restores the functionality, but it fails again fairly quickly for me. I have the XMouse equivalent setting (which was faithfully kept in the Windows 10 upgrade) and there are some issues with it on the Taskbar and its various features.
    – Mark Hurd
    Aug 1, 2015 at 8:43

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
43

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc then locate Windows Explorer in the windows processes. Right click it then select restart.

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7
  • 3
    I just did exactly this and it solved the problem.
    – Charles Roper
    Aug 2, 2015 at 22:29
  • 10
    I just did that and have the same problem. :-/
    – CreatedByBrett
    Mar 14, 2016 at 1:42
  • 5
    That is not a solution, at best a workaround AFTER one hasn't found a solution.
    – j riv
    Feb 13, 2017 at 10:43
  • 4
    This did not work for me.
    – Xavierjazz
    Aug 15, 2017 at 19:39
  • 4
    This did not work for me
    – Sasha Bond
    Jul 4, 2018 at 20:54
9

(Upped my comment to an answer because the current alternate answer kills Explorer windows in the default configuration.)

I've found restarting the "Tile Data model server" service restores the functionality, but it fails again somewhat quickly for me. It seems like it is best to try right clicking on another taskbar button first, before attempting to get the menu you wanted.

Choosing this service was based upon a Microsoft forum post, but I can't find it again at the moment.

(I have the XMouse equivalent setting, which was faithfully kept in the Windows 10 upgrade except for the Desktop registry entry "ActiveWndTrkTimeout", which caused some issues with moving from the Taskbar itself to its various "menus" other than the start menu.)

And since a Windows Update, although it's still happening, you can simply click on the Start menu and all seemingly blocked right-click menus, and the Action Centre notifications, appear with the Start menu behind.

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  • 2
    This is a much better solution than restarting Windows Explorer in my opinion - and I've tried it. It is a shame that this is still an issue after the 1511 update though :/
    – misterjaytee
    Dec 29, 2015 at 18:20
  • 1
    I know this is a very old post, but the same problem exists in Windows 10. Restarting the Tile Data Model Service" did not work for me, unfortunately. In fact, neither does restarting Windows Explorer.:-/
    – lurker
    Jun 12, 2016 at 2:46
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    @lurker As I mentioned, the problem does seem to come back rather quickly sometimes, and, with the latest updates, I've found even clicking on the Start menu either doesn't work at all or takes a couple of attempts to display the "waiting" right-click menus or notifications.
    – Mark Hurd
    Jun 12, 2016 at 2:58
  • @MarkHurd yep, understood. I wasn't wanting to contradict your answer, but just indicate for others having the same problem that it can be quite stubborn and it's been months since you noted it here, and it still exists.
    – lurker
    Jun 12, 2016 at 3:01
  • 1
    Just found shift/ rt click. Works for me.
    – Xavierjazz
    Aug 15, 2017 at 19:48

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