Windows Explorer shows different third-party context menus in 32-bit mode on Vista 64

A similar problem was treated in the following thread : HgTortoise in Vista 64-bit not showing the context menu.

There, the accepted answer was a way to run 32-bit windows explorer on Vista 64-bit using the command:

%Systemroot%\SysWOW64\explorer.exe /separate

A later update to the thread said:

Update: TortoiseHg 0.8 (released 2009-07-01) now includes both 32 and 64 bit shell extensions in the installer, and also works with Windows 7. The workaround described below is no longer necessary.

So it seems that your problem is that some products simply install only one version of the extension, either 32 and 64 bits. This is normal, since 32-bit shell extensions cannot be loaded into a 64-bit Windows Explorer, and vice-versa.

A solution would then be, for each such product, to find the missing shell extension 32/64-bits version and to install it in its proper environment.

My apologies if I simply show my ignorance with this suggestion, but it is meant well.

If you go to NirSoft and look at the freeware called ShellEx View, under his freeware System Tools, it may be of help:

Shell Extensions are in-process COM objects which extends the abilities of Windows operating system. Most shell extensions are automatically installed by the operating system, but there are also many other applications that install additional shell extension components. For example: If you install WinZip on your computer, you'll see a special WinZip menu when you right-click on a Zip file. This menu is created by adding a shell extension to the system.

The ShellExView utility displays the details of shell extensions installed on your computer, and allows you to easily disable and enable each shell extension.

ShellExView can be used for solving context-menu problems in Explorer environment. For more information, read the following article: Right-click is slow or weird behavior caused by context menu handlers.