How to disable single click to open folders / files in Windows Explorer? Can’t change single click to double click? In order to change the behavior to open files with a single click or double click, you have to open the Folder Options. But what to do if you find the option “Single-click to open an item (point to select)” is greyed out? To fix this issue, you have to turn off Classic Shell group policy for Windows Explorer.

Method 1: Turn off Classic Shell Using Group Policy

1. Open Local Group Policy Editor and browse to: User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components, then click on “File Explorer” (or “Windows Explorer” for Windows 7/Vista/XP).

   

   In the right side, double-click on the “Turn on Classic Shell” policy to edit it.

2. Select either Not Configured or Disabled. Click OK.

   

3. Exit the Local Group Policy Editor and restart Windows. After that you can open Folder Options and enable single-click or double-click for opening folders / files.

Method 2: Turn off Classic Shell Using Registry Editor

1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. In the right pane, locate the DWORD ClassicShell and right-click it, then select Delete from the pop-up menu.

   

2. Use the same method to delete the ClassicShell value if it also exists under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
3. Close Registry Editor and restart your computer for the changes to take effect. You should then be able to select or deselect “Single-click to open an item (point to select)” setting in Folder Options.