While working with Windows 10, you probably have noticed the Cast to Device entry in the file/folder context menu. For those who don’t know, Cast to Device is the rebranded version of the Play to Device feature present in previous versions of the Windows operating system.
The Cast to Device is nothing but a feature to stream from your PC or tablet running to a Miracast or DLNA technology supported device. The recent feature update has added Cast to Device feature to the Edge browser as well, meaning you can now cast YouTube videos and other web contents to supported devices right from the Microsoft Edge browser.
While Cast to Device is a handy feature, not everyone has Miracast or DLNA supported TV or device. Although one can always buy a wireless display adapter such as Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter, a vast majority of PC users are not going to use this feature.
The Cast to device context menu option appears only when you click on a supported media file or a folder containing one or more media files.
Methods to remove Cast to Device from the context menu
If you’re someone who likes to have a tidy context menu, you might want to get rid of Cast to Device entry from the context menu of Windows 10. Luckily, it’s possible to remove Cast to Device entry from the File Explorer context menu with ease. Follow the directions in one of the methods given below to get rid of Cast to Device entry from the context menu in Windows 10.
Please note that none of these methods help you remove Cast to Device from Microsoft Edge. This guide is strictly for File Explorer or Windows Explorer context menu in Windows 10.
Method 1 – Remove Cast to Device from the context menu using Registry Editor
Method 2 – Remove Cast to Device from the context menu using ShellExView
Method 1 of 2
Remove Cast to Device using Registry Editor
If you’re new to editing Windows Registry, we recommend you create a manual restore point before following these directions on your PC so that you can easily revert the changes with ease.
Step 1: Type Regedit in the Start menu or taskbar search box and then press Enter key. Click Yes button when you see the User Account Control dialog.
Step 2: In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions
Step 3: Expand Shell Extensions, and if you can’t see Blocked key (see picture below), right-click on Shell Extensions key, click New, click Key to create a new key, and then name it as Blocked.
Step 4: Click on the newly created Blocked key. Now, on the right-side, right-click on the empty area, click New, click String, and name it as {7AD84985-87B4-4a16-BE58-8B72A5B390F7}.
Ste 5: Double-click on the newly created {7AD84985-87B4-4a16-BE58-8B72A5B390F7} string value, and change its value data to Play to menu. Once done, you may close the Registry Editor if you wish to.
Restart Windows Explorer or reboot once to see the change.
To restore the Cast to device entry
Step 1: Right-click on {7AD84985-87B4-4a16-BE58-8B72A5B390F7} string, and click Delete.
Step 2: Restart Windows Explorer or restart your PC.
Method 2 of 2
Remove Cast to device from context menu using ShellExView
Step 1: Visit this page of NirSoft, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and then download ShellExView. If you’re running 64-bit Windows 10 (check if you’re running 32-bit or 64-bit), please download ShellExView for 64-bit.
Step 2: Extract the zip file to get the ShellExView folder. Open up the ShellExView folder and then double-click on the executable to launch ShellExView.
Step 3: Once the program is launched, under the Extensions name (the first column), look for the entry named Play To menu, right-click on it, and then click Disable selected items to remove Cast to Device from the context menu.
Restart Windows Explorer, sign-out and sign-in, or reboot your PC once to see the change.
