Take the 2-minute tour ×

What is the least invasive way (read: least amount of modification to the OS; or least invasive software or utility) to disable the right-click ability of a pointing device in Windows XP and/or Windows 7?

Edit: apparently people are making silly assumptions and down-voting this question. To clarify on the backdrop -- this is for a Kiosk-like setup, not for personal use.

share|improve this question
If two mouse buttons is one to many for you then you should consider getting a Mac. Anything you do to disable any functionality so intrinsic to XP/W7 WILL be invasive. –  ubiquibacon Mar 27 '11 at 9:33
This is for a kiosk-like setup. Researching different options, including what it takes to disable mouse right-click. This is not for personal use. –  DuckMaestro Mar 27 '11 at 10:18
And if you read my question I'm asking for the "least" invasive way, not a "non"-invasive way. There is a difference in how I've phrased my question than from how you are interpreting it. –  DuckMaestro Mar 27 '11 at 11:02

4 Answers 4

I'm not sure if there is a simple way to do this across the whole OS (i.e. disable the button completely for every application) but you can at least disable the desktop/Explorer context menus.

  1. Browse to this key in the registry: HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

  2. Change the value of NoViewContextMenu to 1.

If NoViewContextMenu doesn't exist then you can create it. Right click in the right-hand pane, select New, then DWORD Value (on Windows XP) or DWORD (32-bit) Value (on Windows 7).

share|improve this answer
From my testing, this only effects windows explorer. Is there a way to disable the right mouse button entirely? –  Johnie Karr Dec 7 '11 at 14:26

I was looking for the same thing. I wanted to disable the right mouse button but I could not find a good software solution. I just physically removed the right mouse button from the circuitboard inside the mouse. It was the quickest and least invasive method I could find.

share|improve this answer

I'm not sure about least invasive, but a simple Autohotkey script set to load on startup can do it.


You can also compile the script to a standalone executable so AHK does not have to be installed in the destination computer. Then it becomes a small, simple executable that you can run on startup to disable the right mouse button.

You would also need to restrict access to Task Manager, so they can't just end the process.

share|improve this answer

I have read a few articles about disabling the right-click mouse function. They all seem to involve somewhat convoluted settings changes that yield limited results - the disabling takes place only in certain folders and programs. One respondent on a post provided a link to a downloadable disable program, but the file seems to have been removed from the site.

I find it surprising and frustrating that this is not an optional setting in the Windows Control Panel.

Might it be simpler to somehow mechanically disable the right side of the mouse itself? Could the cover of the mouse be removed, and whatever contact or button that triggers the right-click menu be removed or blocked off?

share|improve this answer

Your Answer


