Enable or disable Drag & Drop in Windows 11/10

Sometimes a drag-and-drop operation may result in a Copy and sometimes a Move, but that’s a different story, and you can read more here about Drag and Drop in Windows. If it is the accidental drag-and-drops that you want to avoid, then you will have to change the drag sensitivity or threshold. This means that you will have to move the file or folder, to a longer distance, to execute this operation. In Windows 10/8, by default, if you move an item by 4 pixels, and leave it, it will result in a drag and drop operation. So what you need to do is increase this distance to say 50 or 100 pixels, so that your operating system interprets it as a drag operation, only if it is moved by say, 50 or 100 pixels.

Change Drag and Drop sensitivity using Registry

To adjust the drag sensitivity or threshold, you will have to modify the Registry. To do so, first, create a system restore point or back up the registry. Then open the Registry Editor. Navigate to the following key: Now, in the right pane, double-click on DragWidth and change its value from 4 to, say, 50. You can decide this value depending on your requirements and experience. Do the same for DragHeight. If you change it to 100, you will have to drag the items over a still long distance.

Exit Windows Registry and restart the computer to see the results. Now for Windows to recognize that a drag and drop action has been initiated, the mouse will have to move the items by a significantly longer distance. You will thus have disabled accidental drag and drop in Windows. If you do not want to disable drag and drop, then you can also add a confirmation box or change Drag and Drop sensitivity using freeware. If you find that your drag-and-drop function is not working in Windows 10/8/7, this post of ours titled Drag and Drop not working in Windows may help you.