Windows – Blank context menu items in Windows 10

context menuwindows 10windows-explorer

From time to time, and recently constantly, the context menu in Explorer on my Mac Pro running Windows 10 is missing most of the items – they are simply blank:

I've also experienced that graphic disappears in other programs. In addition I've experienced a lot of application crashes in Visual Studio 2015 and Skype for Business 2016. Wondering if there is a connection.

I upgraded the machine from Windows 8. Not a clean install.

Edit: Disabling shell extensions

I followed this guide and ran ShellExView to disable any non-Microsoft shell extensions, but to no avail. Now the context menu is even funnier:

Best Answer

Definitely a driver issue. Windows is displaying the appropriately sized list, its just the graphics incorrectly rendering.

Like cause: Windows 7/8 drivers on a Windows 10 system.

Reinstalling the latest drivers from your graphics card vendor should definitely resolve this.

Related Solutions

Windows – How to identify the cause of a crash in the context menu

The crash file uploaded has the following information inside:

0:014> .exr -1
ExceptionAddress: 000007fef2dabf80 (<Unloaded_SugarSyncVFSNamespace64.dll>+0x000000000001bf80)
   ExceptionCode: c0000005 (Access violation)
  ExceptionFlags: 00000000
NumberParameters: 2
   Parameter[0]: 0000000000000008
   Parameter[1]: 000007fef2dabf80
Attempt to execute non-executable address 000007fef2dabf80

It seems that the crash is related to Sugar Sync.

0:014> lm vm *Sugar*
start             end                 module name

Unloaded modules:
000007fe`f2d90000 000007fe`f2de5000   SugarSyncVFSNamespace64.dll
    Timestamp: Tue Nov 05 05:51:38 2013 (5278795A)
    Checksum:  000471D3
    ImageSize:  00055000

The version you're using is from November 2013. Maybe there's a newer one available (couldn't figure out from the website).

I'm using WinDbg to analyze the crash dump.

Commands used:

.symfix d:\debug\symbols
.reload
.exr -1
lm vm *Sugar*

Explanation of the commands:

Make sure the symbols will be downloaded from Microsoft
Force a reload of the symbols to make sure they are up to date
Show the last exception record
Show detailed information about the DLL given in the exception address

I think you could use similar commands in VS2012 if you enter them in the Immediate Window, but I'm not too familiar with it.

Windows – Keyboard shortcut for Windows explorer context menu items

Add an ampersand & in the title before the character you'd like as the shortcut key. Then you can press the letter as a shortcut key.

For example, Pla&y should show up with the y underlined, and pressing y would activate the command.

Edit: Disabling shell extensions

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – How to identify the cause of a crash in the context menu

Windows – Keyboard shortcut for Windows explorer context menu items

Related Question