Windows 10/11 guests: incomplete Windows Explorer context menus

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by Sven G, Oct 12, 2021.

  1. Sven G

    Sven G Member

    Messages:
    64
    In Parallels 17 and in a Windows 10 or 11 guest, after a fresh and clean install, with only the Parallels Tools and some few other programs installed, the Windows Explorer context menu that you get when clicking on the desktop is incomplete, if compared for example to a similar installation in VMware Fusion: not all the OneDrive entries are there and the same for the "new file" entries for Microsoft Office (for example, the PowerPoint and Publisher items are not there); the Parallels Tools were of course installed before installing the other programs, so maybe they could be responsible for this strange behaviour...? Do they maybe change some group policy? Or some other invisible change, that prevents all menus from showing up...?
     
  2. Sven G

    Sven G Member

    Messages:
    64
    ... And, as can be seen in the attachments (where Windows 10 is in Italian, but I don't think the language has to do with the problem, here), the exactly same Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 Office installation gives an incomplete "New" menu in Parallels Desktop, with missing Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher items (while in VMware Fusion they are all present); similarly for OneDrive and other programs: so, what causes these limited context menus, in Parallels Desktop...? That's the question...
    * Parallels Desktop:
    A1ECE5C0-DA51-461E-81AD-4A94735AA39B.jpeg
    * VMware Fusion:
    9B07F00A-4A51-4539-8E19-6201991EC64B.jpeg
     
  3. Sven G

    Sven G Member

    Messages:
    64
    ... An update: I made a test Windows 10 Pro 64 bit virtual machine, duplicated it and installed Microsoft 365 (Office) 64 bit, with the online installer; if Office is installed before installing Parallels Tools, all "New..." contextual menus in File Explorer are correctly present; if Office is installed after installing Parallels Tools, some "New..." contextual menu entries are missing (such as Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher): so, it indeed looks like the Tools are responsible for this strange glitch...
     
  4. Sven G

    Sven G Member

    Messages:
    64
    ... And when the Tools are installed after installing Office, the pre-existing complete contextual menus (see above) remain , untouched. So, maybe the Tools, if installed before Office, prevent some registry entries from being created...? Who knows: very strange, indeed! Anyway, the current workaround, as said above, is to install Office before the Tools...
     

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