New+ Feature - Option to hide the built-in New context menu (37545 and 37946)

[cgaarden]

Summary of the Pull Request

New+ Add the option to hide the built-in New context menu via settings

Note: This setting requires PowerToys to be run as Administrator as it relies on updating the registry

PR Checklist

• [x] Closes: #37545 and #37946
• [ ] Communication: I've discussed this with core contributors already. If work hasn't been agreed, this work might be rejected
• [X] Tests: Added/updated and all pass
• [X] Localization: All end user facing strings can be localized
• [n/a] Dev docs: Added/updated
• [n/a] New binaries: Added on the required places
  • [n/a] JSON for signing for new binaries
  • [n/a] WXS for installer for new binaries and localization folder
  • [n/a] YML for CI pipeline for new test projects
  • [n/a] YML for signed pipeline
• [X] Documentation updated: If checked, please file a pull request on [our docs repo] -- Doc PR coming (https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/windows-uwp/tree/docs/hub/powertoys) and link it here: #xxx

Detailed Description of the Pull Request / Additional comments

1. Includes updates to PowerToys settings to update the registry to enable/disable the built-in New context menu
2. Updated installer to reenable New context menu on uninstall

Validation Steps Performed

Windows 11 x64 and Windows 11 ARM64

1. Settings UI
2. Non elevated mode
3. Elevated mode
4. New+ enabled
5. New+ disabled

Windows 10 x64 NOT tested. Do not have a Windows 10 key with me

Windows 11 x64, Non-elevated, New+ Disabled

Windows 11 x64, Non-elevated, New+ Enabled

Windows 11 x64, Elevated, New+ Enabled

[cgaarden]

Updated property notification per feedback

[github-actions[bot]]

@check-spelling-bot Report

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Unrecognized words (1)

GC'd

These words are not needed and should be removed

DEFT iextn localappdata msvsmon OTHERUNZOOM OTHERZOOM PARENTCLOSING PARENTOPENING pswd SCROLLCHILDREN SHELLEXTENSION SHELLNEWVALUE SHGFIICON SHGFILARGEICON TGM VARENUM

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... in a clone of the [email protected]:cgaarden/PowerToys.git repository on the New+feature-37545-option-to-disable-existing-new branch (:information_source: how do I use this?):

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perl - 'https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/actions/runs/15583608046/attempts/1' &&
git commit -m 'Update check-spelling metadata'

Warnings :warning: (4)

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:warning: Warnings	Count
:warning: binary-file	1
:warning: ignored-expect-variant	2
:warning: no-newline-at-eof	2
:warning: single-line-file	1

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[cgaarden]

Hi @shuaiyuanxx and @moooyo

Wanted to check-in and see if you had any ideas or feedback?

Kind regards, Christian

[moooyo]

I have no idea on this toy...I didn't touch this part before, any suggestion? @shuaiyuanxx

[lei9444]

I will trigger a official build for per-user installer and test it, I afraid if the per-user installer could restore as expect as the per-user will not have UAC popup

[lei9444]

Tested the per-user installer but it couldn’t restore the built-in New context menu:

The machine-level installer works fine since it uses UAC to elevate permissions.

[yeelam-gordon]

Questions and Suggestions

1. Registry Effectiveness When we remove/restore the registry, does it take effect in real time, or does it require restarting explorer.exe? If it is not real-time effective (especially on restore), then we should not enable this feature yet.

2. Settings Integration We should introduce this option into the settings (JSON). Without this, DSC and backup/restore for the setting will not work. dllMain for Peek also doesn’t know how to handle it if GPO disables New+ — in that case, the setting should also be restored.

3. Documentation Update We should update the Peek developer readme to mention disaster recovery steps. The guidance is on how to restore the setting in case PowerToys cannot start or is gone for unknown reason.