Get Windows 7 Desktop Context Menu in XP, Add “View”, “Display Settings”, “Gadgets” & Other Options

This tutorial will help you in getting the same Windows 7 Desktop context menu under Windows XP.

As you can see in the above image, we have mentioned both default as well as the modified Desktop context menu. So you can get an idea what kind of output you are going to have after following this guide.

Windows 7 Desktop context menu is much different than XP one. Following are a few things which are new in Windows 7 menu and we are going to have them in XP:

"View" menu visible in Desktop context menu
"Arrange Icons By" renamed to "Sort By"
"Properties" renamed to "Personalize"
"Auto Arrange" and "Align to Grid" options moved to "View" menu from "Sort By" menu
2 new options "Display Settings" and "Gadgets" added to the menu

So above are a few changes which are new in Windows 7 but we can get them in XP using our favorite tool "Resource Hacker".

Prerequisites:

To modify Desktop context menu, we'll need to edit "%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll" file in Resource Hacker. If you are new to Resource Hacker, we'll advise you to go through following tutorial to learn about it:

All About Resource Hacker in a brief Tutorial

Once you become familiar with Resource Hacker, make sure you have run WFP Patcher in Windows. WFP Patcher disables WFP (Windows File Protection) service. WFP service protects editing of system files and you'll not be able to edit "Shell32.dll" file until you disable it using WFP patcher. You can find it in our "Downloads" section.

If you don't want to disable WFP, you can save the modified file at some other location and then replace default Shell32.dll file with your new modified one using Replacer. This tool can also be found in our "Downloads" section.

Getting Started:

1. Open "%windir%\System32\Shell32.dll" file in Resource Hacker and go to:

Menu -> 215

2. Select the whole code given in right-side pane and replace it with the following code:

215 MENUEX
LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_US
{
POPUP "", 0, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED, 0
{
POPUP "&View", 0, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED, 0
{
MENUITEM "Filmstri&p", 28719, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "T&humbnails", 28717, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "Tile&s", 28718, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "Ico&ns", 28713, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "&List", 28715, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "&Details", 28716, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "", 30208, MFT_SEPARATOR, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "Show in &Groups", 30209, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "&Auto Arrange Icons", 28753, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "A&lign Icons to Grid", 28756, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "", 30208, MFT_SEPARATOR, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "Show &Desktop Items", 29698, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
}
POPUP "S&ort By", 28673, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED, 0
{
MENUITEM "", 30208, MFT_SEPARATOR, MFS_ENABLED
}
MENUITEM "R&efresh", 28931, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "", 65535, MFT_SEPARATOR, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "Customize This &Folder...", 28722, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "", 65535, MFT_SEPARATOR, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "&Paste", 28698, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "Paste &Shortcut", 28700, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "&Undo", 28699, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
}
}

3. Click on "Compile Script" button.

4. Now go to:

Menu -> 220

5. Again select the whole code given in right-side pane and replace it with the following code:

220 MENUEX
LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_US
{
POPUP "", 0, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED, 0
{
MENUITEM "Display Settings", 0, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "Gadgets", 0, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
MENUITEM "P&ersonalize", 0, MFT_STRING, MFS_ENABLED
}
}

6. Click on "Compile Script" button.

7. That's it. Now save the file. Restart your system and get ready to have the Windows 7 Desktop context menu in your XP.

PS: "Display Settings" and "Gadgets" options will open Desktop Properties. Its a limitation in XP. We can't do anything.

NOTE: If you get "Can't create file…" error message when you try to save the file, it means you have edited and saved the file recently and there is a backup file which needs to be deleted before saving the file again. Go to the "System32" folder and look for a file "Shell32_original.dll". Delete it and try to save the file again.

This article was posted in Resource Hacker, Windows XP.

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21 Comments

Nikolaj

nice but can u do something like google translate or something i relly want this in Danish
Mick

I have a dutch version of XP Professional, is there a way to put these codes provided here in Resource Hacker without language conflict?

It's a pitty that you only give advice for English versions of XP.

Isn't there a way or maybe a trick in Resource Hacker itself to change the code so it is suitable for a Dutch XP version before compiling? Or do you have any advice for editing the codes itself so they are compatible with a Dutch XP version?
Kai

Great post!
VG

@Nikolaj and Mick
While you paste the above code, manually replace the labels to your desired one. As you can see the labels are enclosed in double quotes. So just change them to whatever text you want to see in context menu.
Swapnnil

Please reply to e-mails...
Andre

hi vg,

can I make 'display settings' option opens video card settings and 'gadgets' opens google desktop sidebar?
thx
VG

^^ No. You can't.
kyosan1988

Wonderful. I will try later. Thank for all
kyosan1988

I have some problem. When I restart my computer, some message box look like: "shell32.dll is not suitble with your system...your windows can not login, please restart..."

My OS: windows xp media center 2005 sp3.
kyosan1988

Ok. Second script is very good. First script is unnecessary. Thank again