Guide to Removing ‘Edit with Paint’ Option in Windows 11

Recently, a new update for Paint has introduced a redundant entry in the context menu of Windows 11, allowing users to edit images directly in Paint without navigating through the “Open with”submenu. Although this feature is currently restricted to Windows Insiders, a broader release is anticipated soon. The context menus in Windows 11 have already sparked debates among users, and this latest adjustment may contribute to further discontent. Fortunately, users have the option to streamline their experience by removing the “Edit with Paint”entry from the context menus with relative ease.

Steps to Remove “Edit with Paint”from Windows 11 Context Menus

It’s important to note that executing the following steps necessitates Administrator privileges.

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box, then type regedit and press Enter. Alternatively, you can launch the Windows Registry Editor using your preferred method.
2. To remove “Edit with Paint”for the current user only, copy and paste the following path into the address bar of the registry editor: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions.
3. For a system-wide removal affecting all users, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions.
4. Inspect the Shell Extensions key to see if a “Blocked”key exists. If it is absent, create a new key by selecting Edit > New > Key and naming it Blocked. If “Blocked”is already there, click to select it.
   

   

5. With “Blocked”highlighted, choose Edit > New > String Value.
   

   

6. Rename the newly created value to {2430F218-B743-4FD6-97BF-5C76541B4AE9}.
   

   

7. Your changes will take effect immediately, eliminating the need to restart your computer or the explorer.exe process.

If navigating through the Windows Registry seems daunting, you can also create a file using Notepad. For the current user, paste the following content:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked]
"{2430F218-B743-4FD6-97BF-5C76541B4AE9}"=-


To apply the change for all users, use this code instead:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked]
"{2430F218-B743-4FD6-97BF-5C76541B4AE9}"=-


Save the file with a. reg extension and double-click it to execute. Confirm any prompts that appear and restart your computer for the changes to fully take effect.

Restoring “Edit with Paint”in Windows 11

If you decide to revert your changes, re-adding the “Edit with Paint”option is a straightforward process. Follow these steps:

1. Access the Windows Registry Editor once again.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked (for the current user) or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked (for all users).
3. Locate the value {2430F218-B743-4FD6-97BF-5C76541B4AE9} and delete it. The changes will be effective immediately.

Alternatively, uninstalling the Paint application completely will also remove the “Edit with Paint”context menu entry. This option is particularly suitable for those who prefer not to use the built-in image editor of Windows 11.

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