How To Remove “Explore Background” from Desktop Context Menu

Don’t want to see the extra, unnecessary ‘Explore Background’ context menu option when you right-click your desktop on Windows 11? Here’s how to remove it.

One of the best features of Windows 11 is the built-in Windows Spotlight, which automatically changes the wallpaper every day. The best thing is, it keeps your desktop looking always new thanks to the awesome wallpapers from Bing. However, when using Windows Spotlight, you will see a new option called “Explore background” when you right-click on the desktop. In older versions, this same option appeared with the name “Learn about this background”. Selecting this option opens the Bing search results that show more details about the current wallpaper.

If you don’t like this option or find it unnecessarily cluttering the context menu, you can remove it quite easily with a simple registry edit. In this quick and easy guide, I will show you the steps to remove the ‘Explore background’ context menu option when you right-click on the desktop in Windows 11. Let’s get started.

Before You Start

• Administrator rights are required to open and edit the Windows Registry.
• Before making changes, please back up the registry. The backup will help you restore it if something goes wrong.

Steps to Remove ‘Explore background’ context menu option in Windows 11

1. Press “Windows key + R” to open the Run dialog.
2. Type “regedit” and click “OK“.
3. Go to the “Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\” folder.
4. Right-click the “Classes” folder.
5. Select “New” and then “Key“.
6. Enter the name as “DesktopBackground“.
7. Right-click the “DesktopBackground” folder.
8. Select “New” and then “Key“.
9. Enter the name as “shell“.
10. Right-click the “shell” folder.
11. Select “New” and then “Key“.
12. Enter the name as “.SpotlightLearnMore“.
13. Right-click the “.SpotlightLearnMore” folder.
14. Select “New” and then “String value“.
15. Enter the name as “ProgrammaticAccessOnly“.
16. Close the Registry Editor.
17. Restart your computer.
18. The “Explore background” context menu option is removed from the desktop right-click menu.

Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)

First step, open the Registry Editor. To do that, press “Windows key + R“, type “regedit“, and click “OK“. You can also search for “Registry Editor” in the Start menu.

Once it opens, go to the following folder in the Registry Editor. You can paste the path in the Registry Editor’s address bar and press “Enter”.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\

Now, right-click the “Classes” folder, select “New” and then “Key“. Name the new folder as “DesktopBackground“.

After that, right-click the “DesktopBackground” folder, select “New” and then “Key“. Name the new folder “shell“.

Next, right-click the “shell” folder, select “New” and then “Key“. Name the new folder “.SpotlightLearnMore“.

Finally, right-click one last time on the “.SpotlightLearnMore” folder and select “New” > “String value“. Name the value as “ProgrammaticAccessOnly“. We don’t have to set any value data, just creating the value is enough.

That’s it. Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer. After restarting, you will no longer see the “Explore background” or “Learn about this background” context menu option when you right-click on the desktop when using Windows Spotlight.

If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.