right click menu missing...

[DanGo]

Hi Since installing the BC3 version (and uninstalling cirrus) I've lost the right click menu in explorer. I seem to remember an advanced settings in the cirrus installer for enabling this but I don't see it in the BC3 installer.

This is the primary way I launch BC and would hate to lose this functionallity.

Thanks,
Dan

[Craig]

The update instructions should have asked you to uninstall Cirrus first, but it doesn't. The Cirrus uninstaller removes the shell extension registry entries; just enable it in the BC3 Options dialog again and it should reappear.

[Chris]

Hi Dan,

You can try turning on the shell extension from BC3's options.

Select Tools|Options.
In the Startup section, check "Include Beyond Compare in Explorer context menu".

Please let me know if this doesn't make the shell extension show up on your computer.

[Dave_L]

I ran into the same problem.

I installed BC3 build 453 on WinXP. On the first launch, I selected to import the Cirrus settings (which worked). Then I uninstalled Cirrus (build 449).

The Compare item won't show up in the context menus.

I've tried cycling the setting in Tools >> Options, and rebooting, with no effect.

Are there registry items I should check?

[Dave_L]

I still have BC 2.5.2 installed. If I enable its setting for Explorer context menus, the Windows registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/*/shellex/BCShellEx is added.

But BC3 doesn't place a key there.

[Craig]

BC3 still writes to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/*/shellex/CirrusShellEx. We were planning on removing the duplication but got some negative feedback about it.

Frankly the easiest and quickest way to solve this will probably be to just uninstall and reinstall BC3. It won't remove your settings or anything, so it should come back unchanged.

[Dave_L]

I just uninstalled and reinstalled BC3, rebooting afterwards each time. The context menu items are still absent, and so is the registry key.

[Dave_L]

Any ideas on this? Is there a way I can manually restore the context menu?

[Craig]

The attached zip has a .reg file that removes any trace of the beta shell extension from the registry. Try importing it, restarting BC3, and enabling it in the Options dialog.

[Dave_L]

Thanks, that fixed it. :)

[RunnerBiker]

Thanks Craig. I waited until this was finally resolved to uninstall Cirrus, since I almost always start BC with the Explorer Context menu option.

This morning, I uninstalled Cirrus, applied the registry fix and re-enabled the Context menu with Tools => Options.

I'm a happy camper again. Thanks. :D