Restore Classic File Explorer with Ribbon in Windows 11

Snugglebugs · Dec 13, 2024

LesFerch said:
Are you using OldExplorer or SwitchExplorer?

SwitchExplorer - the original version you suggeseted and then the update from GitHub, Both gave the oddity I describe.
I will check again today after restart from updates.

LesFerch · Dec 13, 2024

Snugglebugs said:
SwitchExplorer - the original version you suggeseted and then the update from GitHub, Both gave the oddity I describe.
I will check again today after restart from updates.

I would like to try to recreate the behavior. What software are you using to open a file attachment in an email? Is it Thunderbird?

Snugglebugs · Dec 15, 2024

LesFerch said:
I would like to try to recreate the behavior. What software are you using to open a file attachment in an email? Is it Thunderbird?

I always use OEClassic.
I have switched the SwitchEx options back to Win 11 as there have been some other oddities, especially Acrobat Reader DC which no longer opened from its shortcut or direct from the exe file wven though I had set run as as administartor in properties!
Of course that may just be concidence but is is infurating as now I have to open pdf pages individually af ter manually opening Acrobat as ad min!

So I am trying get back to pre-SwitchExplorer just in case hat caused these problems

LesFerch · Dec 15, 2024

Snugglebugs said:
I always use OEClassic.
I have switched the SwitchEx options back to Win 11 as there have been some other oddities, especially Acrobat Reader DC which no longer opened from its shortcut or direct from the exe file wven though I had set run as as administartor in properties!
Of course that may just be concidence but is is infurating as now I have to open pdf pages individually after manually opening Acrobat as admin!

So I am trying get back to pre-SwitchExplorer just in case hat caused these problems

As per the readme, all SwitchExplorer does is apply or remove exactly the same registry settings that are shown in this tutorial.

I installed OEClassic, but I can't replicate the issue. In my tests, as expected, attachments open in their associated program. So, an image loaded in Photos, a text file loaded in NotePad, a PDF loaded in Edge, etc. I do have zip files associated with Explorer, but when I opened a zip file attachment, it opened in the Windows 10 Explorer, as expected, (if that's what I selected using SwitchExplorer).

So, I'm at a loss as to what's happening on your computer. I also installed Acrobat Reader DC and had no problem launching it via its shortcuts or exe. I think there may be something else going on with your machine that coincided with your testing of SwitchExplorer.

Is your account a non-administrator (i.e. a "Standard" user)? If so, I would try changing it to an administrator (at least temporarily) to see if that makes any difference. Not that SwitchExplorer requires admin rights. It's just something to try.

Snugglebugs · Dec 18, 2024

LesFerch said:
So, I'm at a loss as to what's happening on your computer. I also installed Acrobat Reader DC and had no problem launching it via its shortcuts or exe. I think there may be something else going on with your machine that coincided with your testing of SwitchExplorer.

Is your account a non-administrator

Yes, admin and I am the only one.

I am beginning to think that whatever the fault is, it came as a result of some conflict between the new version of Adobe Acrobate and the new 24H2 update. I am researching and find that there are mnay, many questions being asked online about Acrobat. Here are some of the oddities I have found in my own system.
acrord32.exe was not anywhere but the registry entry was - deleted it.
Adobe Acrobat is shown twice in Default Apps + in both, after the list of extensions list, there is another entry as ACROBAT /Adobe Acrobat. Opening the first two gives the same list of extensions and the additional entry.
Seems to me that that could be the reason why no pdf files can be opened using the contaxt menu for any in File Explorer

I have managed to get Acrobat to open from its S tart menu shortcut AFTER finding an obscure box to set Run as Admin. Never had to do that before!

With Acrobat open I could go to any pdf file and using fule/open, find the same file in File Explorer and it would open normally.

After days of rrying the only improvement is that I have now managed to get Acrobat to open from the shortcut in the Start Menu.

Final comment - how do I get rid of the duplicate Default App listings? I do wonder if that could be the context menu problem?

I have waded through the slough of Preferences in Acrobat but found nothing there that makes much sense. (Luckily the mud disn't track out of my hoem office)

Ghot · Dec 18, 2024

@Snugglebugs

I can't give you File Explorer ribbon bar, BUT...
I can give you ten points for filling out your computer specs. That is amazingly helpful.

Btw... @LesFerch is probably our best File Explorer expert. ^^

LesFerch · Dec 18, 2024

Snugglebugs said:
I am beginning to think that whatever the fault is, it came as a result of some conflict between the new version of Adobe Acrobate and the new 24H2 update.

Many users, myself included, stay away from Adobe products, especially since they changed to the "Creative cloud". Too much overhead and too many weird problems.

There are many good PDF viewer/editor alternatives. I tested a bunch of them and found the best performer to be PDF-XChange Editor. I use the free version which provides all the features I need. But everyone has their favorite (see the link).

Snugglebugs · Dec 18, 2024

LesFerch said:
Many users, myself included, stay away from Adobe products, especially since they changed to the "Creative cloud". Too much overhead and too many weird problems.

There are many good PDF viewer/editor alternatives. I tested a bunch of them and found the best performer to be PDF-XChange Editor. I use the free version which provides all the features I need. But everyone has their favorite (see the link).

When PDF started to become popular I used Acrobat 5 and Distiller. That was with XP that I was sorry to see go! I always thought that if MS had waited a bit the much faster processors together with high capacity storage would have enabled small changes to XP that would have avoided Vista, 7, 8, 10 and 11!

I will try XChange. Do I have to uninstall Acrobat? First, or just eventually?

Snugglebugs · Dec 18, 2024

Ghot said:
@Snugglebugs

I can't give you File Explorer ribbon bar, BUT...
I can give you ten points for filling out your computer specs. That is amazingly helpful.

Btw... @LesFerch is probably our best File Explorer expert. ^^

I need to make a small addition to my Computer spec. Will do that in a few minutes.

dacrone · Dec 18, 2024

Snugglebugs said:
Yes, admin and I am the only one.

I am beginning to think that whatever the fault is, it came as a result of some conflict between the new version of Adobe Acrobate and the new 24H2 update. I am researching and find that there are mnay, many questions being asked online about Acrobat. Here are some of the oddities I have found in my own system.
acrord32.exe was not anywhere but the registry entry was - deleted it.
Adobe Acrobat is shown twice in Default Apps + in both, after the list of extensions list, there is another entry as ACROBAT /Adobe Acrobat. Opening the first two gives the same list of extensions and the additional entry.
Seems to me that that could be the reason why no pdf files can be opened using the contaxt menu for any in File Explorer

I have managed to get Acrobat to open from its S tart menu shortcut AFTER finding an obscure box to set Run as Admin. Never had to do that before!

With Acrobat open I could go to any pdf file and using fule/open, find the same file in File Explorer and it would open normally.

After days of rrying the only improvement is that I have now managed to get Acrobat to open from the shortcut in the Start Menu.

Final comment - how do I get rid of the duplicate Default App listings? I do wonder if that could be the context menu problem?

I have waded through the slough of Preferences in Acrobat but found nothing there that makes much sense. (Luckily the mud disn't track out of my hoem office)

since its just acro reader (free), i would say to try using revo to completely uninstall and then reinstall it after a reboot. just to eliminate a corruption in the installation

LesFerch · Dec 18, 2024

Snugglebugs said:
I will try XChange. Do I have to uninstall Acrobat? First, or just eventually?

You can have multiple PDF programs installed. Only one can be associated with file type PDF, but otherwise, they can coexist. But if Acrobat is the problem, you'll likely need to uninstall it or reinstall it to fix anything.

Snugglebugs · Dec 21, 2024

LesFerch said:
You can have multiple PDF programs installed. Only one can be associated with file type PDF, but otherwise, they can coexist. But if Acrobat is the problem, you'll likely need to uninstall it or reinstall it to fix anything.

I have been reading about the 24H2 problems and it looks as if the problem of opening files is due to some conflict with that.

I have installed a trial of PDF-XChange Editor as suggested and that works without the Adobe problem. I have opened files in every way both with the programme open or closed so that is good.

Do you know if it is possible to change the text size in that programme's own menus? I don't mean the text within a document but the very small text descriptions in the menu ribbon.

LesFerch · Dec 21, 2024

Snugglebugs said:
Do you know if it is possible to change the text size in that programme's own menus?

Edit > Preferences > Customize UI

anyname · Jan 5, 2025

Reporting something fundamental (pardon if already reported in this thread too long to read) :
After performing Option Three: Restore Classic File Explorer with Ribbon for Current User using REG file,
and closing /reopening Windows user session to be thorough,
navigation (keyboard and mouse) in Explorer is just plain bad, not displaying what it should display.

soewhaty · Jan 24, 2025

Option 3 works on W11 on 23H2 and 24H2 on a business HP EliteBook 840 G10, Intel. Sadly though, on 23H2, which I was using up until yesterday the "Option 3" fix was making Windows Explorer so sluggish and irresponsive in the long run that it drove me crazy. I should have tested with disabling Option 3 and reverting to the Modern Explorer while I still was on 23H2 to tell if there was any difference but now when I switched to 24H2 it switched me by default to the Modern Explorer and I was blown away by how snappy and responsive it was. So now on 24H2 I don't even dare going towards to Classing (old) explorer. OK, I did so just for a short while but too short to be able to tell if it still becomes sluggish cos I didn't use it long enough. I don't know of others have had these issues.

Also, looked at some YT vids where running a CMD or Shell script was supposed to enable/disable tabs on the Modern W11 explorer, but many complained that this had bricked their system so ... beware.

LesFerch · Jan 24, 2025

soewhaty said:
Option 3 works on W11 on 23H2 and 24H2 on a business HP EliteBook 840 G10, Intel. Sadly though, on 23H2, which I was using up until yesterday the "Option 3" fix was making Windows Explorer so sluggish and irresponsive in the long run that it drove me crazy.

I think there there may have been more going than just that simple reg change to cause that problem. Try using my SwitchExplorer app for testing. It applies exactly the same registry entry so you can switch back and forth very easily to run some tests. It will be helpful to see if you can replicate the issue consistently.

Dronix · Jan 24, 2025

soewhaty said:
Option 3 works on W11 on 23H2 and 24H2 on a business HP EliteBook 840 G10, Intel.

I do not know what else you have applied, but when you apply the change cleanly on Windows 10, everything works. Старый Новый Проводник.bat

LesFerch · Jan 24, 2025

Dronix said:
I do not know what else you have applied, but when you apply the change cleanly on Windows 10, everything works

I guess you meant to say "Windows 11".

Dronix · Jan 24, 2025

LesFerch said:
I guess you meant to say "Windows 11".

Yes.

soewhaty · Jan 25, 2025

Dronix said:
I do not know what else you have applied, but when you apply the change cleanly on Windows 10, everything works. Старый Новый Проводник.bat

I don't see why you'd image I've applied sth else, I am running whatever else I am running on my OS and that's that. I am just making a note of the fact that when applying Option 3 explorer becomes sluggish and that's that

Restore Classic File Explorer with Ribbon in Windows 11

Temporarily Open File Explorer with Ribbon

Create Shortcut to Always Open File Explorer with Ribbon

Restore Classic File Explorer with Ribbon for Current User using REG file

Restore Classic File Explorer with Ribbon for All Users using REG file

Enable or Disable File Explorer Command Bar for Current User using REG file

Enable or Disable File Explorer Command Bar for Current User using Command

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