Windows 10 Tip: How To Disable Drag and Drop

The action of Drag-and-Drop is very useful and handy when managing files through File Explorer but it also could lead to a disaster when you accidentally moved a server application folder on a network drive to a different location, which could be a nightmare to recover. And that’s why in some environment the convenient action is better disabled to avoid such incidents.

Windows 10 doesn’t offer a GUI to let you to simply enable and disable the Drag-and-Drop feature but you can do so through a registry tweak. Thanks to Winaero for the tip.

Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following registry key location:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop

You will find two values on the right panel, DragHeight & DragWidth, which define the distance in pixel you need to Drag the file in order to fire up the Drop action, default by 4 pixels. In another word, changing both values with an enormous number will prevent the Drop action from happening, which basically disables the Drag-and-Drop action in general.

However, there is a downside if you change both values to a very large number. You will find it’s very hard and difficult to move any windows around on your desktop. So, choosing a right number is important here. You may need to do a few tests before settling down.

Double-click DragHeigh and DragWidth, type in a larger number of your choice such as 100 and hit Enter.

RegEdit - Control Panel - Desktop

Once done, log off and log back in with the same user account to make the change take effect. Restarting the Explorer process may work as well but if not, try the log-in cycle before giving up.

That’s how you can disable the Drag-and-Drop feature on Windows. It works only on Windows 10 but on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 as well. Enjoy.

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