I don’t know how it happened, but it happened twice to me already. Somehow something happened and the menu toolbar on the Windows Explorer disappeared. I tried several ways to restore it but was not successful. In the end I had to check the Microsoft support website for remedy.

It turned out the registry value could have been corrupted. It didn’t explained how it could have got corrupted so that I could avoid experiencing it again. Anyhow the solution provided fixed the problem.

It requires using the Registry Editor and deleting the offending corrupted value. Do back up your Registry before doing any editing, just in case you messed up.

As per the support website directions:

Close all open Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer windows. Start the Registry Editor (Click Start, Run and enter REGEDIT.EXE).

Go to the following Registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerToolbar

For Windows Explorer: In the right pane, locate the Explorer sub-key and open it. In the right pane, locate the ITBarLayout value. Right click this value and select Delete.

For Internet Explorer: In the right pane, locate the WebBrowser sub-key and open it. In the right pane, locate the ITBarLayout value. Right click this value and select Delete.

Quit Registry Editor.

Voila! My menu toolbar was restored. Wasn’t so difficult if you know what to do.

Only thing left was to re-customize the menu / toolbar because by deleting the above sub-key values, any customization was removed as well. Oh, well…

Reference: Microsoft support website