Top Guide: Add notepad to context menu (right-click menu)

If you want to quickly access the notepad via the context menu follow this small guide.

1. Step Open the registry editor
2. Step Uncollapse the location HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\
3. Step Create registry folders as seen below:

4. Step If you don’t know how, simply right-click on shell and then on New – Key as seen below, then enter a name e.g. 1-Notepad. Repeat the same for a sub-folder called command (this name MAY NOT be changed!!)

5. Step Select the subfolder command, double-click on (Default) in the right pane and enter the path either to notepad.exe or notepad++.exe

Path to notepad.exe: C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe
Path to notepad++.exe: C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe

6. Step Copy the path into the field “Value data” as seen below (IMPORTANT: It needs to be C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe, %windir% does not work here)

7. Step If you also want the notepad icon to appear on the context menu, select 1-Notepad (or whatever you called it) and in the right pane select a REG_EXPAND_SZ (Expandable String Value) key with the file path to a valid .ico file OR the path to the notepad.exe that includes the notepad icon

Here’s what it would look like:

8. Step Enter the path to C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe if you want to use the default notepad icon

9. Step Here’s the end result that works:

If you still have problems, you can post your questions below. Please allow a few days for a qualified response on your input