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The most common answer found is that a policy restriction has been put into place to disable the File button. This makes one ask ones self, if a policy restriction has been made, why you are unaware of it. Do you have Admin. rights or are logged in as a user with Admin rights? Since you'd need admin rights to check for this, I can see no harm in supplying the registry keys you'd need to check or a method for searching the registry for the applicable value NoFileMenu:
File Menu and/or Tools Menu Missing in Internet Explorer http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;244158
SYMPTOMS
When you start Internet Explorer 5, the File menu and the Tools menu may be missing.
CAUSE
This issue can occur if you set certain system policies. If you set the policy that restricts access to the Run command on the Start menu, the Tools option may disappear in Internet Explorer. If you set the policy that disable the File menu in Windows Explorer, the File menu in Internet Explorer also disappears.
RESOLUTION
If these options are missing in Internet Explorer, request that the appropriate policy be removed, from your administrator or if your a user who has a profile with admin privileges see below instructions:
Disable or Enable use of the file menu from Explorer with the following Registry change.
Select Start/Run, type REGEDIT in the 'Open' box and press enter. When the Registry Editor opens, click 'Edit' on the toolbar and then 'Find'. Next in the 'Find what:' window, type NoFileMenu and press enter. If the entry is found, it will show in the right pane. Right click it and select 'Delete' from the menu, or select 'Modify' and change the value from '1' to '0'. You can also check the keys below, rather than using the 'Find' feature.
(Note* I am unsure if these are the only hkeys where this value may be found, you may be better off searching the registry as described above).
CAUTIONS: Remember to either set a restore point, backup the registry or export any hkey your about to edit so you can undo the edit should you decide to do so or the need arises to do so.
hkey=Value your looking for:
NoFileMenu = enable/disable Explorer/IE File Menu
NoFileMenu = value will enable/disable Explorer/IE File Menu
NoFileOpen = value will enable/disable Open in File menu, Ctrl+O and Ctrl+L
NoFileNew = value will enable/disable New in File Menu and Ctrl+N
Remember =enable/disable is not the actual value you will find, It will be either a 1 or a 0.
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This may not be your fix but it only takes a few minutes to check out and eliminate this as a possibility. Please remember to update your post with the good or bad results. Did you have this value (NoFileMenu) in the reg?
Hi jjwlkz,
I'm glad this worked. I figured the hkeys were going to vary. That's why I suggested the registry "search" rather than just looking for the keys I supplied. Thank you for updating your post. Any idea how this policy got set?
