You set the classic menu months ago. A feature update lands, the PC restarts — and the short menu is back, as if you never changed anything. Nothing is broken and nobody targeted your tweak; big updates rebuild large parts of Windows, and small unofficial keys can be swept away in the process. Here is the two minute check and the reapply.
First, separate the update types. Monthly cumulative updates normally leave the tweak alone. Feature updates — the big version jumps — reinstall large parts of the shell, and users have long reported the classic menu key disappearing or stopping being honoured afterwards. The fix is boring, quick, and exactly the same as the first time.
Open Command Prompt and run:
reg query "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32"
If it lists the InprocServer32 key, the tweak is still in place — restart Windows Explorer from Task Manager and you are done. If it answers with the cannot-find-the-key error, the update removed it; move to the reapply.
Run the same line as the first time:
reg add "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32" /f /ve
Or double click your saved Classic Menu Switcher file — this is the day you kept it for. Restart Explorer, right click a file, done. Nothing about the reapply is different or riskier than the original application.
A feature update is closer to a fresh Windows installation with your files carried over than to a small patch. Shell components are re-registered during the move, and a hand added key that masks one of those components is exactly the kind of thing that does not always survive it. It is not personal, it is not a sign of a problem with your PC, and it will likely happen again at the next version jump — which is a maintenance note, not a crisis.
Save the script, or a plain text file containing the command, somewhere that survives updates — your Documents folder or a USB stick — with a name you will recognise in six months. After each feature update, do one right click to check. If the short menu is back, reapply and move on. A thirty second routine beats re-searching the internet twice a year and wondering whether the method changed.
Microsoft never published this tweak or promised it a future, and the compact menu itself keeps evolving between builds as entries are added and rearranged. One day a future build may ignore the key entirely. If that day comes, the honest options are the Shift and right click habit, or a maintained third party menu tool with its own updates to chase. Until then: reapply, and carry on with your day.
The video's switcher file is the fastest reapply there is — watch the creator use it and keep your copy from the description.
▶ Watch Full VideoTypically only feature updates - the large version upgrades - disturb it. Ordinary monthly updates usually leave the key untouched. Check after any update that noticeably changed how Windows looks.
Restart Windows Explorer first; Explorer may simply be running with old settings. If the key exists and a restart does not help, delete the key, restart Explorer, and apply it again fresh - a clean rewrite of the marker.
No. Microsoft offers no setting to make the classic menu the default, which is why this guide is a tweak with a reapply routine rather than a one time setting.