How to remove “Cast to Device” from the context menu in Windows 10

Learn how to remove “Cast to Device” from the context menu in Windows 10 File Explorer.

Steps

1. Right-click on the Windows start menu button and then click on Run.

Open a Run window in Windows 10

A “Run” window will open.

You can also press the Windows Windows key + R key simultaneously to open a “Run” window.

Windows and R keyboard keys

2. Type regedit.

3. Click on the OK button or press the Enter key on your keyboard.

Open Windows Registry Editor

A “Registry Editor” window will open.

You can also open it by typing regedit or registry editor in the Windows search bar and then click on it in the results.

4. Navigate to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\

You can also copy and paste the path in the address bar of the “Registry Editor” window.

Navigate to Shell Extensions

5. Right-click on Shell Extensions > New > Key.

Create a new key

6. Name the new key Blocked.

Name the key Blocked

You can rename the key by right-clicking on it > Rename.

7. Right-click on the newly created Blocked key > New > String Value.

Create a new String Value

8. Give the new String Value the following name:

{7AD84985-87B4-4a16-BE58-8B72A5B390F7}

You can rename the String Value by right-clicking on it > Rename.

Name the new String Value

9. Close the “Registry Editor” window.

You will either need to log out and log back in or restart your computer to see the change.

After you log back in, open File Explorer, and right-click on a media file, you will see that the “Cast to Device” option has been removed from the context menu.

If you ever want to add the “Cast to Device” option back to the context menu, you will need to open Registry Editor and delete the new String Value you just added to the “Blocked” key.

If you want to remove “Cast to Device” from the context menu without having to follow the steps above, then you can download a special registry modification file.

WARNING: You shouldn't trust random registry files that you find on the internet without checking them first. You can check this file by opening the file using Notepad (right-click > Edit) and looking at its contents.

If you don't trust this file, then you should follow the steps of the first method above.

1. Download the Remove “Cast to Device” modification file.

2. Unzip the file.

3. Double-click on the remove-cast-to-device.reg file.

4. You will see a warning message when you run the Registry modification file. Just click Yes to continue.

Warning message when running a REG file

You will either need to log out and log back in or restart your PC to see the change.

After you log back in, open File Explorer, and right-click on a media file, you will see that the “Cast to Device” option has been removed from the context menu.

If you ever want to add the “Cast to Device” option back to the context menu, you will need to run the undo-remove-cast-to-device.reg file.