Symptom

When you open the Windows Vista Start menu and right-click Recent Items, the option Clear Recent Items List may be missing. Also, the Recent folder may be displayed with a generic folder icon in Windows Explorer.

Resolution

This happens if the desktop.ini file in the Recent folder is deleted. Thanks & Credits to dean-dean for posting this solution in the Microsoft Newsgroup.

  • Click Start, type "%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows" and press {ENTER}
  • Right-click the folder named Recent, and choose Delete. Click Yes when prompted.
  • Now, type the command "shell:recent" in Start - Search box, and press {ENTER}.
Note: The above command re-creates the Recent folder, along with a new desktop.ini file and opens the folder. For additional information on Shell: command, see this blog entry: Shell commands (shell:) to access the special folders in Windows Vista
  • Logoff and login back. You should now see the context menu entry Clear Recent Items List when you right-click on the Recent Items folder in the Start menu.