How to Add or Remove Pin to Start From Context Menu in Windows 10 & 11

By Timothy Tibbetts

on 06/15/2023

Pin to Start is a Context Menu option that appears when you right-click on most applications, programs, or shortcuts. It's a quick way to Pin something to the Windows 10 Start Menu. In some cases, you might want to remove the Pin to Start Context Menu.

Removing the Pin to Start Context Menu requires editing the Registry, so we suggest you make a backup.

Open the Registry Editor and navigate to:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Folder\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers

Right-click on PintoStartScreen and click Export.

Choose a name, for example, PinToStart.Reg and save it somewhere you can find it later.

Delete PintoStartScreen on the left.

To restore Pin to Start, double-click the backup registry file you created earlier (PinToStart.Reg).

We were going to create the registry files for MajorGeeks Windows Tweaks, but backing up the entire ContextMenuHandlers assumes everyone has the same settings, which they don't.

Similar:

How to Pin or Unpin Items to the Windows 10 Start Menu

How to Count How Many Items Are in Your Start Menu

How to Show More Tiles in the Windows 10 Start Menu

How to Enable or Disable Windows 10 Full Screen Start Menu

How to Customize the Windows 10 Start Menu

How to Make the Windows 10 Start Menu Look Like Windows 7