Restore Classic File Explorer with Ribbon in Windows 11

Ghot · Mar 16, 2023

heinrich said:
Is it completely useless to send complaints to Microsoft?

Ja !!

LesFerch · Sep 20, 2023

Here's an alternative for Option 2 of the tutorial:

OldExplorer

Launch Windows 10 Explorer on Windows 11

lesferch.github.io

Kees · Sep 20, 2023

This really is very clever. I don't know how you did this, but it does function in the dev. version of 23H2 as well!
Thank you so much for this program, hope it will stay functioning in the future modifications of Windows 11!

Kees · Sep 20, 2023

I have one question:

When the adress bar is filled in with a target link which is long (for instance "D:\Folder for my own special purpose\"), that is done rather slow, as if someone is typing. So it will last some time until the real folder is appearing.

Is that done on purpose or should I change something in the shortcuts that I make on my desktop?

LesFerch · Sep 20, 2023

Kees said:
This really is very clever. I don't know how you did this, but it does function in the dev. version of 23H2 as well!
Thank you so much for this program, hope it will stay functioning in the future modifications of Windows 11!

It just runs control admintools, waits for the window to open, and then sends C: (or the path you specify on the command line) to the address bar. It should continue to work until the day comes when Microsoft completely replaces the Control Panel with the Settings app.

LesFerch · Sep 20, 2023

Kees said:
When the adress bar is filled in with a target link which is long (for instance "D:\Folder for my own special purpose\"), that is done rather slow, as if someone is typing. So it will last some time until the real folder is appearing.

Version 1.0.4 (available now) does fast input of the path by using the clipboard for any paths > 3 characters in length. The tradeoff, of course, is that it must overwrite what's currently on the clipboard. This is not really an issue if you have clipboard history enabled. However, just to cover all bases, it also allows you to disable using the clipboard (and go back to the slow input) by including /x on the command line. See the ReadMe for details.

Note: You may see a false positive "Trojan:Script/Wacatac.H!ml" detection when you download it. I have submitted a false positive report to Microsoft, so, hopefully, it will be allowed through with the next definition updates. In the meantime, you may have to "allow on this device" in order to use it.

Update: The Windows Defender team is fast! They've already analyzed the file, agreed it was a false positive, and updated the definitions. I updated my Windows Defender definitions (1.397.1334.0 as of today) and the file then downloaded and scanned without any issues.

Kees · Sep 21, 2023

I decided not to use your program. Reason is this:

LesFerch said:
It should continue to work until the day comes when Microsoft completely replaces the Control Panel with the Settings app.

As a matter of fact I was going to get used to the (less handy) new UI of the File Explorer. In your little program I saw some possibility to use the old UI, but it seems I better have to continue getting used to the new method. Better so than having to watch if MS (maybe suddenly) is changing its policy for this older File Explorer and things would not work properly after that.

But anyway thanks for your program!

LesFerch · Sep 21, 2023

Kees said:
I decided not to use your program. Reason is this:

As a matter of fact I was going to get used to the (less handy) new UI of the File Explorer. In your little program I saw some possibility to use the old UI, but it seems I better have to continue getting used to the new method. Better so than having to watch if MS (maybe suddenly) is changing its policy for this older File Explorer and things would not work properly after that.

But anyway thanks for your program!

I wouldn't use the removal of Control Panel as a reason. At the rate Microsoft has been working on that, it will be years (possibly many years) before that happens. Windows 10 came out in 2015 and they still have a long way to go. Anyhow, I suggest keeping the option for any time where you see the new Explorer running slow. Try the old version and you will likely see much better performance.

Kees · Sep 21, 2023

At this moment the new Explorer is much faster than your way-around for the old version.
Even in my VirtualBox 23H2 dev. version, the new Explorer is very fast.
And programs tend to be slower in that environment because of emulation and 4 processors in stead of 8 in my normal system.
So I have nothing to complain until now. The only thing is the headers that take (on a PC) much to much space, useless I think.
But may be on a smaller touchscreen you would need those larger headers.

I don't understand why Microsoft has thrown away all setup options, even the WinTools Change Systemfonts does not function anymore on the sizes of the new explorer header. But that's how Microsoft is these days. Once upon a time you could set all character sizes (and types) as you wished, but that has gone long ago.

LesFerch · Sep 21, 2023

Kees said:
At this moment the new Explorer is much faster than your way-around for the old version.

We're not talking about the same thing. You're referring to launching where it's a matter of a second or two. I'm talking about where you see Explorer chugging away with a green bar creeping across the screen as you're waiting for a folder to open. That's where you will see a huge difference between the old and new Explorer. If you don't ever encounter delays like that, then that's great. But if you do, I'm saying you should try the old explorer with the same folder and see how it compares.

Kees · Sep 21, 2023

LesFerch said:
...Explorer chugging away with a green bar creeping across the screen as you're waiting for a folder to open...

I only have that when opening the network overview by a link on my desktop, that only if I do that for the first time. When repeated soon after that, there's no problem. I think that's because the router has to be awakened (or something like that).

But when opening a folder in a network NAS drive, the folders are there right away, I would say in a fraction of a second. And all normal folders and subfolders open rightaway, not a second or two, but a fraction of a second. On all my (fixed) drives and HD-drives I connect via USB.

So for me no problem at all with Explorer running slow.
My only problem is with user interface, character sizes and so.

DerNetzreporter · Oct 20, 2023

at my system OldExplorer.exe dont opens C: or any other path.
It always opens Systemsteuerung\Alle Systemsteuerungselemente\Windows-Tools
Using the known bat that opens and closes the shell window works for me.
But I would like to use the OldExplorer.exe, without this "popup-window".
Winver: 22H2 (B 22621.2428)

LesFerch · Oct 20, 2023

DerNetzreporter said:
at my system OldExplorer.exe dont opens C: or any other path.
It always opens Systemsteuerung\Alle Systemsteuerungselemente\Windows-Tools

This issue should have been obvious to me immediately. The code I wrote identifies the window by it's name, which, of course, varies from one language to another. There may be some clever method to find the window in a language agnostic way, but so far I've come up blank. I may code in the strings for other languages or maybe provide a way for the user to supply the strings. I'll have to think about it.

DerNetzreporter said:
Using the known bat that opens and closes the shell window works for me.

Can you provide a link to that batch file or post it here?

garlin · Oct 20, 2023

LesFerch said:
This issue should have been obvious to me immediately. The code I wrote identifies the window by it's name, which, of course, varies from one language to another. There may be some clever method to find the window in a language agnostic way, but so far I've come up blank. I may code in the strings for other languages or maybe provide a way for the user to supply the strings. I'll have to think about it.

OldExplorer.exe is launching "control admintools" -- so you already have the child's PID. Can't you find the window handles by PID, instead of by searching for random localized titles?

LesFerch · Oct 21, 2023

garlin said:
OldExplorer.exe is launching "control admintools" -- so you already have the child's PID. Can't you find the window handles by PID, instead of by searching for random localized titles?

The command control.exe admintools actually launches an instance of explorer.exe so it's a bit tricky getting the correct explorer.exe process.

Update: I finally got it working reliably without using a window title. The solution is to get the window handle of the process that has a task command line of C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe /factory,{5BD95610-9434-43c2-886c-57852CC8A120} -Embedding.

DerNetzreporter · Oct 21, 2023

LesFerch said:
This issue should have been obvious to me immediately. The code I wrote identifies the window by it's name, which, of course, varies from one language to another. There may be some clever method to find the window in a language agnostic way, but so far I've come up blank. I may code in the strings for other languages or maybe provide a way for the user to supply the strings. I'll have to think about it.

Can you provide a link to that batch file or post it here?

This bat is working for my german setup. (but as I said, the Popup isnt really nice)

powershell.exe -nop -ep bypass -c "& {"Start-Process \"Control\"; $wshell = New-Object -ComObject wscript.shell; $null = $wshell.AppActivate(\"Systemsteuerung\"); Start-Sleep 0.75; $wshell.SendKeys("'""^"lDieser PC~"'")}"

LesFerch · Oct 21, 2023

DerNetzreporter said:
at my system OldExplorer.exe dont opens C: or any other path.
It always opens Systemsteuerung\Alle Systemsteuerungselemente\Windows-Tools

OldExplorer version 1.1.1 works correctly, regardless of system language. It's available now at the same link:

OldExplorer

Launch Windows 10 Explorer on Windows 11

lesferch.github.io

DerNetzreporter · Oct 24, 2023

thanks for your great work, works perfect.
maybe a little bit slow, is there a way to speed it up a few milliseconds?

hdmi · Oct 24, 2023

DerNetzreporter said:
thanks for your great work, works perfect.
maybe a little bit slow, is there a way to speed it up a few milliseconds?

Windows 11 Explorer alternative

Different embedding command lines correspond to different Explorer process modes. The one shown in the screenshot (and below) is what you get when Explorer is started in Windows 10 mode (i.e. Control Panel): C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe /factory,{5BD95610-9434-43C2-886C-57852CC8A120} -Embedding...

www.elevenforum.com

You can save the code shown in my post (link above) to a .cs file with notepad, save the code below to a batchfile in the same folder, and run the batchfile to compile the code. The batchfile runs the built-in C# compiler of .NET Framework which comes with Windows 11 by default.

Batch:

@ECHO OFF
FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full" /v InstallPath`) DO SET InstallPath=%%F
SET InstallPath=%InstallPath:*REG_SZ =%
FOR /F "tokens=* Eol= " %%F IN ("%InstallPath%") DO SET "InstallPath=%%F"
IF EXIST "%InstallPath%csc.exe" (ECHO ON) ELSE (ECHO ERROR - Missing csc.exe & GOTO end)
"%InstallPath%csc.exe" /out:"%~dp0\OldExplorer.exe" /target:winexe "%~dp0\OldExplorer.cs" /lib:%InstallPath%WPF /r:UIAutomationTypes.dll,UIAutomationClient.dll
:end
@ECHO Press any key to close this command window . . . & PAUSE >NUL

In its current state, if you specify a folderpath that is located somewhere inside your personal user folder, it opens the old File Explorer as a separate window, and, after that, it doesn't automatically close the Control Panel window. (I was going to provide a fix, but then I got bored... you could always decide to just use ExplorerPatcher instead, go to Properties, File Explorer section, set the Control Interface to Windows 10 Ribbon and then call it a day...) Also, with my code if you specify a folderpath or address that cannot be parsed with SHParseDisplayName, it automatically falls back to using the SendKeys method which typically causes a tad more delay than SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems especially when you specify a long folderpath. Another caveat is that SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems may not always be able to access the desired folder i.e. due to ACL restrictions having been applied to the parent folder (but not the child), AFAIK it isn't possible to make it navigate to the child directly, so...

As for using the Windows clipboard to paste text into the address bar, the downside of that is that it destroys any clipboard content that may have been present before launch, so... it isn't just about the fact that the ExplorerPatcher approach effectively eliminates the delay altogether. Rather, ExplorerPatcher is far superior in every way, and, since what we're doing here is we're making our own .exe to reinvent the wheel, the whole argument of not wanting to use 3rd party code is already 150% moot anyway in the first place. So...

DerNetzreporter · Oct 24, 2023

I think I read a few month ago, a windows-update changed something on explorer.exe and so the explorerpatcher crashed and windows was unusable. So I want a "parallel" solution,

@hdmi, where do I have to add the "This PC" start path, in your script?