Hello, we noticed that for many of our machines using Windows 10 1607 and 1709 the Windows File Explorer context menu option to share a file is missing. Does anybody know where to look first for troubleshooting? Thanks.

Thanks, I can confirm that this is the solution.

Sharing option missing in Windows File Explorer

MarWerNo
Brass Contributor
Jul 09, 2020
For me it was the solution described in this forum:
https://www.tenforums.com/software-apps/95815-no-context-menu-onedrive-directory-2.html

In Short, change the following registry key to the setting below:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"EnableLUA"=dword:00000001

Especially if the current setting is 0

It only works after a restart!
- kyousuke_hasegawa
  Copper Contributor
  Oct 24, 2020
  MarWerNothank you. it works for me.
  another option if you afraid make mistake in editing the registry, you can change UAC from "disabled" to "Notify me only when apps try ... (default)".
- MuhammadSarwar
  Copper Contributor
  Jul 28, 2020
  MarWerNo : thanks man it works, appreciated.
Howard Olsen
Brass Contributor
Aug 30, 2018
I just fixed it on my Machine (Surface Pro 4)
Go to User Account Setting in control panel and if you have disabled it, re-enable it. Then Reboot
Then to to UAC settings and disable it and reboot

The link in the context menu should return. I found this solution after hours of searching and confirm it worked for me.
http://cloud.high-output.com/529972913851
- spacespud3000
  Copper Contributor
  Dec 27, 2022
  Worked for me. Tried everything on the number one Google result page (also on microsoft.com) to no avail. This worked. Thank you.
- rnpereira
  Copper Contributor
  Nov 29, 2019
  Howard OlsenNice, it did work for me as well.
- Solution_Engineer
  Copper Contributor
  Feb 06, 2019
  Howard Olsen wrote:
  I just fixed it on my Machine (Surface Pro 4)
  Go to User Account Setting in control panel and if you have disabled it, re-enable it. Then Reboot
  Then to to UAC settings and disable it and reboot
  
  The link in the context menu should return. I found this solution after hours of searching and confirm it worked for me.
  http://cloud.high-output.com/529972913851
  This fixed the issue for me, Howard Olsen. Thank you!
VasilMichev
MVP
Jun 26, 2018
The menu is only available in folders "homed" under your ODFB root. There aren't any settings to configure, but you can check the registry for the presence of the Context menu handler entries (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FileSyncEx and the same for HKLM/HKCU). The same are responsible for the overlay icons, so check if those are missing too.
- Deleted
  Jun 28, 2018
  I compared a machine where it's working with one that's not. Here's what I found in the registry:
  
  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FileSyncEx only has the (Standard) entry for both machines.
  
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions only has a "Cached" subfolder on both machines.
  
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions has an "Approved" and "Cached" folder on both machines.
  
  Here're the keys for the machine where it's working:
  
  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Approved]
  "{08165EA0-E946-11CF-9C87-00AA005127ED}"="WebCheckWebCrawler"
  "{09A47860-11B0-4DA5-AFA5-26D86198A780}"="EPP"
  "{0F8604A5-4ECE-4DE1-BA7D-CF10F8AA4F48}"="Contacts folder"
  "{13D3C4B8-B179-4ebb-BF62-F704173E7448}"="Windows Contact Preview Handler"
  "{16C2C29D-0E5F-45f3-A445-03E03F587B7D}"="group_wab_auto_file"
  "{289AF617-1CC3-42A6-926C-E6A863F0E3BA}"="DLNA Namespace Extension"
  "{3DBEE9A1-C471-4B95-BBCA-F39310064458}"="Microsoft Camera Raw Property Store"
  "{4F58F63F-244B-4c07-B29F-210BE59BE9B4}"=".group shell extension handler"
  "{60254CA5-953B-11CF-8C96-00AA00B8708C}"="Shell extensions for Windows Script Host"
  "{7D559C10-9FE9-11d0-93F7-00AA0059CE02}"="Code Download Agent"
  "{7FC0B86E-5FA7-11d1-BC7C-00C04FD929DB}"="WebCheck SyncMgr Handler"
  "{8082C5E6-4C27-48ec-A809-B8E1122E8F97}"=".contact shell extension handler"
  "{92dbad9f-5025-49b0-9078-2d78f935e341}"="Microsoft Windows Mail Html Preview Handler"
  "{ABBE31D0-6DAE-11D0-BECA-00C04FD940BE}"="Subscription Mgr"
  "{b9815375-5d7f-4ce2-9245-c9d4da436930}"="Microsoft Windows Mail Html Preview Handler"
  "{BFD468D2-D0A0-4bdc-878C-E69C2F5B435D}"="Microsoft Windows Mail Html Preview Handler"
  "{CF67796C-F57F-45F8-92FB-AD698826C602}"="contact_wab_auto_file"
  "{E6FB5E20-DE35-11CF-9C87-00AA005127ED}"="WebCheck"
  "{F5175861-2688-11d0-9C5E-00AA00A45957}"="Subscription Folder"
  "{f8b8412b-dea3-4130-b36c-5e8be73106ac}"="Microsoft Windows Mail Html Preview Handler"
  "{656172DA-E9F8-4216-8A7E-07D91E2E3AA2}"="Windows Search Vault Cache Namespace Extension Class"
  "{8BA85C75-763B-4103-94EB-9470F12FE0F7}"="Microsoft SkyDrive Pro Icon Overlay 1 (ErrorConflict)"
  "{CD55129A-B1A1-438E-A425-CEBC7DC684EE}"="Microsoft SkyDrive Pro Icon Overlay 2 (SyncInProgress)"
  "{E768CD3B-BDDC-436D-9C13-E1B39CA257B1}"="Microsoft SkyDrive Pro Icon Overlay 3 (InSync)"
  "{D0498E0A-45B7-42AE-A9AA-ABA463DBD3BF}"="Microsoft OneDrive for Business Browser Helper"
  "{0875DCB6-C686-4243-9432-ADCCF0B9F2D7}"="Microsoft OneNote Namespace Extension for Windows Desktop Search"
  "{E3956DCF-D1C7-4375-AAAA-22FF8191C479}"="Microsoft Access Metadata Handler"
  "{33154C99-BF49-443D-A73C-303A23ABBE97}"="Microsoft Excel Metadata Handler"
  "{01BE4CFB-129A-452B-A209-F9D40B3B84A5}"="Microsoft PowerPoint Metadata Handler"
  "{5383EF74-273B-4278-AB0C-CDAA9FD5369E}"="Microsoft Visio Metadata Handler"
  "{5985FC23-2588-4D9A-B38B-7E7AFFAB3155}"="Microsoft Word Metadata Handler"
  "{C41662BB-1FA0-4CE0-8DC5-9B7F8279FF97}"="Microsoft Access Thumbnail Handler"
  "{72B66649-3DBF-429F-BD6F-7774A9784B78}"="Microsoft Excel Thumbnail Handler"
  "{35C5242B-7455-4F9C-962B-369EA43ED6F3}"="Microsoft PowerPoint Thumbnail Handler"
  "{AFE9E2F0-5BBA-4169-A33B-EE3727AC3482}"="Microsoft Visio Thumbnail Handler"
  "{355822FC-86F1-4BE8-B5F0-A33736789641}"="Microsoft Word Thumbnail Handler"
  "{506F4668-F13E-4AA1-BB04-B43203AB3CC0}"="{506F4668-F13E-4AA1-BB04-B43203AB3CC0}"
  "{D66DC78C-4F61-447F-942B-3FB6980118CF}"="{D66DC78C-4F61-447F-942B-3FB6980118CF}"
  
  ...and here for the machine where it's not
  
  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Approved]
  "{08165EA0-E946-11CF-9C87-00AA005127ED}"="WebCheckWebCrawler"
  "{09A47860-11B0-4DA5-AFA5-26D86198A780}"="EPP"
  "{0F8604A5-4ECE-4DE1-BA7D-CF10F8AA4F48}"="Contacts folder"
  "{13D3C4B8-B179-4ebb-BF62-F704173E7448}"="Windows Contact Preview Handler"
  "{16C2C29D-0E5F-45f3-A445-03E03F587B7D}"="group_wab_auto_file"
  "{289AF617-1CC3-42A6-926C-E6A863F0E3BA}"="DLNA Namespace Extension"
  "{3DBEE9A1-C471-4B95-BBCA-F39310064458}"="Microsoft Camera Raw Property Store"
  "{4F58F63F-244B-4c07-B29F-210BE59BE9B4}"=".group shell extension handler"
  "{60254CA5-953B-11CF-8C96-00AA00B8708C}"="Shell extensions for Windows Script Host"
  "{7D559C10-9FE9-11d0-93F7-00AA0059CE02}"="Code Download Agent"
  "{7FC0B86E-5FA7-11d1-BC7C-00C04FD929DB}"="WebCheck SyncMgr Handler"
  "{8082C5E6-4C27-48ec-A809-B8E1122E8F97}"=".contact shell extension handler"
  "{92dbad9f-5025-49b0-9078-2d78f935e341}"="Microsoft Windows Mail Html Preview Handler"
  "{ABBE31D0-6DAE-11D0-BECA-00C04FD940BE}"="Subscription Mgr"
  "{b9815375-5d7f-4ce2-9245-c9d4da436930}"="Microsoft Windows Mail Html Preview Handler"
  "{BFD468D2-D0A0-4bdc-878C-E69C2F5B435D}"="Microsoft Windows Mail Html Preview Handler"
  "{CF67796C-F57F-45F8-92FB-AD698826C602}"="contact_wab_auto_file"
  "{E6FB5E20-DE35-11CF-9C87-00AA005127ED}"="WebCheck"
  "{F5175861-2688-11d0-9C5E-00AA00A45957}"="Subscription Folder"
  "{f8b8412b-dea3-4130-b36c-5e8be73106ac}"="Microsoft Windows Mail Html Preview Handler"
  "{656172DA-E9F8-4216-8A7E-07D91E2E3AA2}"="Windows Search Vault Cache Namespace Extension Class"
  "{42042206-2D85-11D3-8CFF-005004838597}"="Microsoft Office HTML Icon Handler"
  "{DB19096C-5365-4164-A246-59FEFF9D8062}"="Nameext"
  "{0006F045-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"="Microsoft Outlook Custom Icon Handler"
  "{0875DCB6-C686-4243-9432-ADCCF0B9F2D7}"="Microsoft OneNote Namespace Extension for Windows Desktop Search"
  "{E3956DCF-D1C7-4375-AAAA-22FF8191C479}"="Microsoft Access Metadata Handler"
  "{33154C99-BF49-443D-A73C-303A23ABBE97}"="Microsoft Excel Metadata Handler"
  "{01BE4CFB-129A-452B-A209-F9D40B3B84A5}"="Microsoft PowerPoint Metadata Handler"
  "{5383EF74-273B-4278-AB0C-CDAA9FD5369E}"="Microsoft Visio Metadata Handler"
  "{5985FC23-2588-4D9A-B38B-7E7AFFAB3155}"="Microsoft Word Metadata Handler"
  "{C41662BB-1FA0-4CE0-8DC5-9B7F8279FF97}"="Microsoft Access Thumbnail Handler"
  "{72B66649-3DBF-429F-BD6F-7774A9784B78}"="Microsoft Excel Thumbnail Handler"
  "{35C5242B-7455-4F9C-962B-369EA43ED6F3}"="Microsoft PowerPoint Thumbnail Handler"
  "{AFE9E2F0-5BBA-4169-A33B-EE3727AC3482}"="Microsoft Visio Thumbnail Handler"
  "{355822FC-86F1-4BE8-B5F0-A33736789641}"="Microsoft Word Thumbnail Handler"
  "{506F4668-F13E-4AA1-BB04-B43203AB3CC0}"="{506F4668-F13E-4AA1-BB04-B43203AB3CC0}"
  "{D66DC78C-4F61-447F-942B-3FB6980118CF}"="{D66DC78C-4F61-447F-942B-3FB6980118CF}"
  
  What I could see is that on the working machine the icons that appear when a files is being synched, ready or in error exist whereas they do no on the machine where the sharing context menu entry is missing. I'd like to add that on the faulty machine these three icons are indeed missing as well but I was mainly concerned about the missing sharing option in the context menu.
  
  Any idea? I already tried resetting the OneDrive but it didn't change anything.
  
  Thanks.
  - VasilMichev
    MVP
    Jun 28, 2018
    Well yeah, you seem to be missing the relevant extensions. Reinstalling the client should fix that, assuming it has enough permissions to write to those keys. So I would also check any restrictions you impose on those machines.
Deleted
Jun 26, 2018
Do your files have sync icon's on them before right clicking? Might need a reboot or opening onedrive client again.
- Deleted
  Jun 28, 2018
  Yes, they used to be present but have no been missing for y couple of weeks on many of our machines. A reboot did not fix it.

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Sharing option missing in Windows File Explorer

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