Cansin Acarer

Problem

I generally like to keep my context menu clean and don’t allow any programs to add additional items. That’s what I did while installing VSCode only to realize it would be very useful to be able to right-click on a folder and open it in VSCode from there as below. I could reinstall it to enable that option this time, of course, but there is another way.

Solution

You can create a .reg file, open it in a text editor, and type in one of the following based on whether you are using the x64 or the x86 version.

For x64:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; This will make it appear when you right click ON a folder
; The "Icon" line can be removed if you don't want the icon to appear
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\vscode]
@="Open Folder as VS Code Project"
"Icon"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe\",0"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\vscode\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe\" \"%1\""
; This will make it appear when you right click INSIDE a folder
; The "Icon" line can be removed if you don't want the icon to appear
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\shell\vscode]
@="Open Folder as VS Code Project"
"Icon"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe\",0"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\shell\vscode\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe\" \"%V\""

For x86:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; This will make it appear when you right click ON a folder
; The "Icon" line can be removed if you don't want the icon to appear
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\vscode]
@="Open Folder as VS Code Project"
"Icon"="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe\",0"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\vscode\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe\" \"%1\""
; This will make it appear when you right click INSIDE a folder
; The "Icon" line can be removed if you don't want the icon to appear
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\vscode]
@="Open Folder as VS Code Project"
"Icon"="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe\",0"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell\vscode\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe\" \"%V\""