how do i bring back the old windows 7 file explorer back to windows 11?

PBWINLEVEN · Oct 9, 2023

I just downloaded and installed Explorer++. It is a bit old but it works. It is a lot better than the poorly designed Win 11 Explorer. Explorer++ will work for me while I "explore" Brink's suggestion from a few moments ago in post #19.

Rollback_Jockey · Oct 9, 2023

pietcorus2 said:
Why should you use WinRAR in contextmenu for a .lnk-file ??

You wouldn't, why did you ask?

hdmi · Oct 10, 2023

pietcorus2 said:
Why should you use WinRAR in contextmenu for a .lnk-file ??

To add the .lnk file to (or update it in) and already existing archive that already contains multiple other files? Or to add it to a new archive for whatever the reason you might have, like, e.g., to store the filepath and/or user permissions of the file with possible attributes, to add a description/comment to the archive, etc.? You know... to be able to archive an .lnk file, which isn't a very strange thing to do for anyone who works with data.

Stigg · Oct 10, 2023

PBWINLEVEN said:
I just downloaded and installed Explorer++. It is a bit old but it works. It is a lot better than the poorly designed Win 11 Explorer. Explorer++ will work for me while I "explore" Brink's suggestion from a few moments ago in post #19.

I'm using v1.4.0.2264 (October 04, 2023) development build, and it's running fine for me.

About Explorer++ v1.4.0.2264 (October 04, 2023).jpg

There are also many other third party file managers much better than File Explorer. It seems to be losing more functionality as time goes on.

pietcorus2 · Oct 10, 2023

"
To add the .lnk file to (or update it in) and already existing archive that already contains multiple other files? Or to add it to a new archive for whatever the reason you might have, like, e.g., to store the filepath and/or user permissions of the file with possible attributes, to add a description/comment to the archive, etc.? You know... to be able to archive an .lnk file, which isn't a very strange thing to do for anyone who works with data. "...................I want to get rid of WinRAR in the right-click contextmenu for the .lnk-files !
HOW (??) to do this...........??

Berton · Oct 10, 2023

A treatise on .lnk files [shortcuts]:

How can You Open and Edit Windows .lnk Shortcut Files?

While most people will never need to open a .

www.howtogeek.com

Edwin · Oct 10, 2023

pietcorus2 said:
I want to get rid of WinRAR in the right-click contextmenu for the .lnk-files !
HOW (??) to do this...........??

Either, disable shell integration all together, or put up with it..., or you'll have to find the proper CLSID to delete in the Registry.

pietcorus2 · Oct 10, 2023

Edwin said:
Either, disable shell integration all together, or put up with it..., or you'll have to find the proper CLSID to delete in the Registry.

Using WinRAR 6.11 , the regedit-items for the contextmenus WinRAR are visible in regedit.
Strange , can not find them after updating to latest WinRAR ( 6.24 ).................!!

PBWINLEVEN · Oct 10, 2023

Stigg said:
I'm using v1.4.0.2264 (October 04, 2023) development build, and it's running fine for me.

I am on the same version now too. Looking good so far, way better than the all WHITE Windows 11 piece of sh&te. I could barely tell one column from another. The menus were rubbish too. MicroSpam must have hired a few out of work Apple-ites who fell off the tree.

archfoto · Oct 10, 2023

The only thing I would change about file explorer in Win 11 is to stop the expansion of all the subdirectories in the navigation pane. Other than that, it works quite well. And, I have tried all the batch files and fixes, to that end, and yet, the subdirectories still expand in the expansion pane.

Rollback_Jockey · Oct 10, 2023

pietcorus2 said:
Strange , I can not find the WinRAR contextmenu-items in regedit , of the new ( latest) WinRAR.
while they are all present of the previous ( WinRAR 6.11 ) ........
Why should you use WinRAR in contextmenu for a .lnk-file ??

Mine are under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT under the .rar and .zip subkeys in the shellnew section.

Edwin · Oct 10, 2023

Rollback_Jockey said:
Mine are under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT under the .rar and .zip subkeys in the shellnew section.

I don't see em!
Can you post a screenshot?

Berton · Oct 10, 2023

Mine are too.

Rollback_Jockey · Oct 11, 2023

Edwin said:
I don't see em!
Can you post a screenshot?

Edwin · Oct 11, 2023

Yeah, I have those, but nothing to indicate WinRAR being associated with .lnk files.

Berton · Oct 11, 2023

Edwin said:
Yeah, I have those, but nothing to indicate WinRAR being associated with .lnk files.

I also don't have WinRAR linked with other than compressed .rar files.

A Search of the C: drive finds lots of the references the Shortcuts are for, 484 at sizes less than about 5KB, quite small. A portion of the list:

pietcorus2 · Oct 11, 2023

HOW ( ??) to update WinRAR to latest version ( from 6.11 to 6.24) , without changing the contextmenus ??
Contextmenus in 6.11-version are fine , HOW (??) to keep them ?
Contextmenus in 6.24-version are a mess , cant change them , cant find them in regedit also............!! :what:

Edwin · Oct 11, 2023

pietcorus2 said:
Contextmenus in 6.24-version are a mess

There is a setting called 'Legacy Menus'...,
it creates a double set of entries...

hdmi · Oct 11, 2023

archfoto said:
The only thing I would change about file explorer in Win 11 is to stop the expansion of all the subdirectories in the navigation pane. Other than that, it works quite well. And, I have tried all the batch files and fixes, to that end, and yet, the subdirectories still expand in the expansion pane.

For me, it doesn't expand any subfolders in the nav pane until I click on the little expand button that appears in front of the folder/subfolder in question. Also, when I close/reopen File Explorer, it correctly remembers which ones are expanded/collapsed. Maybe it's because I use ExplorerPatcher with this setting:

...combined with Classic Explorer of Open-Shell:

archfoto · Oct 14, 2023

hdmi said:
For me, it doesn't expand any subfolders in the nav pane until I click on the little expand button that appears in front of the folder/subfolder in question. Also, when I close/reopen File Explorer, it correctly remembers which ones are expanded/collapsed. Maybe it's because I use ExplorerPatcher with this setting:

...combined with Classic Explorer of Open-Shell:

View attachment 73931

Thanks hdmi, but my own experience with Win 11 is that I once tried to change things with 3rd-party patches to get back to "Classic Windows," and my computer would not restart. I had to finally put it in safe mode to boot and restore to an earlier time to get it to restart. It would be nice if MS would give me the option with an update to get what I had in Win 10.