How to add a burn option to the right-click menu

Open Settings in Burn by Zaweba (Ctrl+,) and turn on the Explorer right-click commands. You then get Burn with Zaweba and Back up with Zaweba when you right-click files and folders, and Burn image with Zaweba and Mount with Zaweba when you right-click disc images. Burn also offers this the first time it starts.

The commands are added for your own Windows account only, and turning the option off removes exactly the registry keys Burn added, nothing more.

The four commands and what they do

Burn with Zaweba, on files and folders, opens Burn with them on a new data disc. Select several items before right-clicking and they all arrive together as one disc.

Back up with Zaweba, on a folder, opens the Backup Assistant with that folder ready to go into a backup set, where Burn plans the discs, burns them and checks every file.

Burn image with Zaweba, on a disc image, opens Burn ready to write that image to a blank disc.

Mount with Zaweba, on a disc image, mounts it as a drive using Windows' own mounting, converting it to ISO first if it's an older format.

Switching them on and off

The Explorer right-click menu is off until you turn it on. When Burn first starts, it asks whether you'd like the commands. If you said no then, or want to change your mind, open Settings, from Ctrl+, or the menus, and use the Explorer right-click option. Settings is also where you'll find the theme, the check after burning, the finish sound and Advanced mode.

Because the commands are added for your Windows account only, other people on the same PC won't see them unless they turn them on in their own copy of the settings. And when you switch the option off, Burn removes exactly its own registry keys, leaving everything else in Explorer as it was.

If you ever remove Burn, it makes sense to turn the commands off in Settings first. That way the right-click menu is left exactly as it was before Burn added anything, and you won't be left with entries that point at a program that is no longer there.

Where to find them on Windows 11

Windows 11 shows a shorter right-click menu at first, with many program commands moved to a second menu. If you don't see Burn's commands straight away, choose Show more options at the bottom of the menu, or hold Shift as you right-click, which opens the full menu.

Once they're on, the commands turn common jobs into two clicks. Right-click a folder of holiday photos and choose Back up with Zaweba. Right-click an ISO you've downloaded and choose Burn image with Zaweba. Right-click an old BIN/CUE file and choose Mount with Zaweba to get at its contents without burning anything.

Selecting several items at once is worth getting used to. Hold Ctrl and click the files and folders you want, from one folder, then right-click any of them and choose Burn with Zaweba. They all arrive on the same disc, so a disc for a friend with a few photo folders and a document or two takes seconds to set up.

Burn by Zaweba is free, works offline and needs no account, so these commands do their work on your own PC.