BC3 Shell Extension not working for files, OK for directories

[jimbabka]

I'm not sure when this happened, but BC3 stopped giving me choices for comparing individual files. I can still see the compare options for directories, but for individual files, there's nothing. I am running Windows 7 64-bit. I tried running shexview.exe as suggested in the help (using the 64-bit version), but even though it shows me a whole bunch of things that are Context Menu extensions, I have tried disabling everything that is not from Microsoft, and it has no effect. BC3 for files does not show up - in fact, even when I disable BC3 itself, it still shows up for directories, and if I disable something else (like 7-zip), that also has no effect. Do I need to reboot after every time I make a change in order to see any changes?

[Aaron]

Hello,

To help limit other factors, I suggest testing this with files and folders on your Desktop, since your user will almost always have full access to any items on the Desktop. If you right click a single file or single folder, do any BC3 shell items appear?

Please make sure that the Tools menu -> Options dialog, Startup section, has "Include Beyond Compare 3 in Explorer context menu" is enabled, and "Compare" is available on the Main Menu.

Rebooting might help as long as ShellExView keeps the extensions disabled through a reboot. After a reboot, double-check to see if they are all still disabled.

[jimbabka]

Shell extension still not working for plain files

I have used ShellExView to disable all the context Menu items that I can (it won't disable anything that comes from Microsoft) except for BC3's. The ShellExView owner told me that I had to log off and log back on for it to have an effect, but I even went farther and rebooted. After it came back up, I verified that all the context menu items were still disabled (and in fact, I can see that they don't show up anymore when I right-click). I then created two plain text files on my desktop, and still see the same problem - no BC3 context menu items. However, if I right click on a shortcut (there are plenty of those on my desktop already), I get the BC3 "Select left file for compare". So, it only doesn't work for plain files - shortcuts and folders work fine.

What else can I do? I have disabled as much as I can, and I even reinstalled BC3, but it had no effect.

[jimbabka]

Further details

After my previous post, I tried uninstalling BC3 again, and this time it told me I needed to reboot. So I did, and when it came back, ShellExView showed that there was still a context menu extension named CirrusShellEx (the one that was the entry for BC3), but all the associated info was gone (description, version, product name, even the BC icon were gone, but the entry remained). I then reinstalled (an old version - 3.1.11, build 12204), and rebooted after that new install, but I still get exactly the same behavior as before. Any ideas?

[Chris]

This earlier thread has a .reg file you can use to completely remove the shell extension:

http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbull...36&postcount=9

After that, try installing the current version of BC (3.3.5) and see if the shell extension works correctly.

[jimbabka]

This earlier thread has a .reg file you can use to completely remove the shell extension:

http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbull...36&postcount=9

After that, try installing the current version of BC (3.3.5) and see if the shell extension works correctly.

This did nothing. I still have the same problem, even though I downloaded and installed BC 3.3.5 (instead of my old version and let it upgrade).

[Aaron]

Hello,

After uninstalling BC3, rebooting, running the registry patch to remove the shell extension, and rebooting, this should fully remove the shell extension. All of these steps are not always necessary, but would be useful for troubleshooting.

[jimbabka]

That didn't change anything. In fact, I also rebooted after installing BC3 (so 3 total reboots - one after uninstalling, one after running the registry update, and one after reinstalling), and it did nothing. Shexview-x64 shows no CirrusShellEx - in fact, it shows absolutely nothing that has anything to do with BC3. If you give me an email address, I can send you a screen shot of it, along with one that shows that I do have the box checked for "Include Beyond Compare in Explorer context menu," and the "Factory Defaults" button is gray (because I'm using the defaults).

[Aaron]

Certainly. Email us at [email protected] and please include a link to this forum thread for our reference.

As of your last 2 posts, you mentioned that "I needed to reboot. So I did, and when it came back, ShellExView showed that there was still a context menu extension named CirrusShellEx ", then after running the registry patch and Chris' instructions you mentioned "This did nothing", so I was working under the assumption that the CirrusShellEx was still present.

I wanted to reach a scenario after running the registry patch where it was not present and was completely, cleanly removed, as something went wrong during its installation. Once gone, a fresh install should add it back.

We have a few more registry patches that can manually add it in. If you email us, we can try some of those. This type of issue most commonly happens when people repackage our setup.exe as an .msi or an altered setup.exe for deployment in a large company; are you using the BC 3.3.5 setup.exe directly from our website? If not, please use that for the install.
http://www.scootersoftware.com/download.php

[jimbabka]

I emailed the screen shots as indicated, with a reference to this thread.

The only thing that I did not do after uninstalling BC3 was that I did not delete the directory into which BC3 was installed. This is because I wanted to preserve my license key and my preferences. Otherwise, it was completely removed (and ShellExView showed there was nothing). Do I need to delete that directory?

I installed the setup.exe I directly downloaded from your website.

[jimbabka]

My problem was fixed by running a separate "Add" registry update I got from Scooter. I wonder if the problem has to do with Administrator privileges on Windows 7 (i.e. BC3 does not run as an admin on my machine).

[Aaron]

Running the setup with "Run as Administrator" or with administrator privileged is not normally required, but might be if your user account has lessened permissions than default.

[Chip35]

Same Problem, found fix!

It took me a long time to read this forum and find the fix for me. "Select left file for compare" showed for directories, but not individual files when the rt-mouse context menu was displayed in Windows 7 64 bit.

I have McAffee Host Intrusion and Virus Scanning pushed to my box. I uninstalled both and reinstalled BC3 version 3.3.5 using new download from Scooter, rebooting after uninstalling BC3. Still no success. Then I merged registry entries from the "Add CirrusShellEx.reg" file in this link. The file date is 1/6/2011 2:47. Merging entries (rt-mouse the .reg Merge) fixed the problem immediately with no other steps.

Link for Windows 7 Registry fix
http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbull...36&postcount=9

[tflan]

same issue for me. Selecting Merge unchecked the box in BC3 for shell extension. then launching BC3 as admin and rechecking the box fixed the problem.