Just a shot in the dark here... have any of you changed your desktop background, Windows Themes, or system icons (like Recycling Bin, User Folder, etc.) I haven't made many changes to my system... so as an obvious troubleshooting step, the logical thing to do would be to see if I could recreate the issue taking one step at a time looking for the effect in question. Unfortunately, this isn't possible at the current moment. I haven't tried to reinstall, but I
did try to copy the Directory context menu registry keys for VLC (since, for whatever reason, they still existed) but I kind of figured it wouldn't work.
edit: ... and it didn't.
I think there is something in Windows Explorer that overrides it, but I have no idea what is causing it.
I would have to concur what VLC_help suggested. I was thinking the same before I ever visited this site. The registry entry is entirely gone. How many of you use CCleaner? But hey... I didn't post on here just to ask a bunch of questions! I have a potential solution (for some of you, hopefully). It didn't work for me... and honestly, reinstalling with the 'Context Menus' option checked off should definitely resolve the problem... soooo...
But just in case it may help even
one person out there... try accessing the properties of vlc.exe, navigate to the compatibility tab, and check the 'Run as Administrator' box. Hit apply, and try it. If that doesn't work, try creating a shortcut and doing the same thing, except the 'Run as Admin' will be under the
Shortcut tab ->
Advanced button.