Nilesoft Shell for Windows 11: Customize and Clean Up Right-Click Menus

What Nilesoft Shell is​

According to the developer's site, Shell is a context menu manager for File Explorer. It can add custom items, and it can modify or remove entries added by Windows or by third-party software. The developer lists support for Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11 on x86, x64 and ARM64. It says Shell works on files, folders, the desktop and the taskbar. Menus can be nested and can use glyphs, SVG, icon files and colors.

Those are the vendor's claims, not independent test results. The same goes for the "lightweight" and "minimal resource usage" labels, because no benchmarks were gathered here.

The download page currently lists version 1.9.18, with x64, x86 and ARM64 installers and a portable x64 build. The page says the software is free for personal and commercial use. Versions change, so check the page yourself.

What the author reports​

Bohlooli's account is first-person, so treat these as one user's observations rather than guaranteed behavior:

• Taskbar menu: He says right-clicking the taskbar gives a "Go To" menu for folders such as AppData, plus a quick route to Settings.
• Window menu: He describes a "Window" menu that can tile or stack windows. He tried "Show side-by-side" and called it fast.
• Terminal menu: He reports a "Terminal" menu with Command Prompt and PowerShell, which also appears on folders.
• Entries removed: He removed "Open in Visual Studio," "Combine files in Acrobat," "Scan with Microsoft Defender," "Ask Copilot" and "Create with Designer."
• Icon swap: He replaced WinRAR's old colored icon with a glyph.

Other write-ups agree on the general picture. How-To Geek describes new options such as Terminal, File Manager and Go To appearing in the desktop context menu. Which entries you see depends on your installed apps and Windows version, so your menu will differ from his.

Installing it​

His summary says to run the installer, launch the app as Administrator and press Register. The developer's current installation guide describes it differently, so follow the documented routes.

Installer route

1. Download the installer from Nilesoft's own site.
2. Run setup.exe with administrative rights and follow the prompts.
3. Agree to restart File Explorer.

The default location is C:\Program Files\Nilesoft Shell\.

winget route

winget install Nilesoft.Shell

The guide says this also installs to the Program Files folder.

Portable route

1. Run setup.exe, tick Portable Mode and extract to a folder.
2. Open an elevated command prompt in that folder.
3. Run shell -register -restart.

Scoop and Chocolatey are also supported. The developer recommends downloading only from its own site, to avoid bundled software from other sources. That is vendor guidance, not proof that any particular mirror is unsafe.

Some third-party guides describe a Register button in a Manager entry on the Shift + right-click taskbar menu. That route is not in the developer's documentation, so treat it as unverified.

Your escape hatches​

Because Shell is a shell extension, you should know the way out before you start editing. The developer documents these keys, used when you right-click or press Shift+F10:

To uninstall the installer version, run unst000.exe or unstall.exe from the program folder and restart Explorer. For the portable version, run shell -unregister -restart from an elevated prompt. winget users can run winget uninstall Nilesoft.Shell.

Editing the menu​

The main config file is shell.nss in the installation folder. To find the folder quickly, hold Shift and right-click the taskbar. Open the Shell submenu and choose the directory entry. You only need a text editor such as Notepad. There is no graphical editor, which Bohlooli calls the one real caveat.

Some guides point to the Imports folder and modify.nss. How-To Geek, for instance, says to open the Shell submenu, choose Directory, then open the Imports folder and the Modify.nss file. Which file you edit depends on how your install is organized. The configuration reference says imports let you split settings across files.

Syntax basics from the official reference:

• The syntax is case-insensitive, and spaces around = are optional.
• Existing entries are changed with modify and remove. New entries use item, menu or separator.
• Errors are written to shell.log in the installation directory.

A sensible workflow (the backup step is general advice, not from the documentation):

1. Copy shell.nss to a safe place.
2. Add one rule at a time.
3. Reload with Ctrl + right-click on the desktop or taskbar, or restart Explorer.
4. If something breaks, check shell.log or restore your backup.

The example rules​

The author's rule for hiding "Edit with Photos" is:

remove(find="Edit with Photos")

The official reference confirms that remove is supported. It also confirms that find matches an existing item by its title, so this approach fits the documented model. I could not verify this exact line against the docs, so test it on your own install.

His WinRAR icon change was:

modify(find="WinRAR" image=image.glyph("\uE1A4", #22A7F2))

The official property reference says menu images can be files, resource icons, glyphs or colors. The specific glyph code and color are his choice, and the result may vary.

Properties that stand out in the official reference:

• Filtering: type limits an item to files, folders, drives, the desktop or the taskbar. mode controls behavior for single or multiple selections.
• Placement: pos, vis and in control where an item appears and whether it is shown. They can also target a specific submenu.
• Commands: new items can run a cmd with arguments, a working directory and a window style, or with admin rights if admin is set.

This is why Shell goes beyond a list of shortcuts. Be careful with admin, since it makes a menu click launch elevated commands. Not every entry from every third-party handler may be removable cleanly, so test after each change.

Who it suits​

It fits you if:

• You are comfortable editing text files.
• You want to keep the Windows 11 look while pruning clutter.
• You want a menu you can back up and reproduce on another PC.

Think twice if:

• You want point-and-click settings.
• You manage locked-down work devices. Shell is a third-party extension that hooks into Explorer, so check your organization's policy first.
• You prefer built-in solutions. Windows can restore the classic menu by other means, but those don't offer this level of customization.

Bottom line​

Nilesoft Shell is a documented, actively listed project that lets Windows 11 users prune and restyle the right-click menu without going back to the Windows 10 look. Bohlooli's enthusiasm is subjective, and so are his views on how good the stock menu looks. The practical facts are that it is text-configured, reversible with the documented keys and uninstallers, and best approached with a backup and one edit at a time.