ExplorerPatcher is a versatile and free tool that allows you to tweak and enhance the Windows Explorer. It comes with a range of useful features, including the ability to add new context menu items, change file name colors, and enable hidden features.
Feature summary
- Choose between Windows 11 or Windows 10 taskbar (with labels support, small icons and lots of customization).
- Disable Windows 11 context menu and command bar in File Explorer and more.
- Open Start to All apps by default, choose number of frequent apps to show, display on active monitor and more.
- Choose between the Windows 11, Windows 10 and Windows NT Alt-Tab window switcher with customization.
Lots of quality of life improvements for the shell, like:
- Skin tray menus to match Windows style, make them behave like flyouts and center them relative to the icon.
- Choose action when left and/or right clicking the network icon.
- Revert to the Windows 7 search box in File Explorer, or disable Windows Search altogether.
- Disable immersive menus and use mitigations that help you run the real classic theme without glitches.
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Discover the program"s full range of features by reading this wiki article.
ExplorerPatcher 22621.2283.57.2 changelog:
Tested on OS build 22621.2283. Installer requires Internet connectivity.
- Taskbar10: Fixed Action Center, Control Center, and notification toasts placements on OS builds 22621.2134+ (thanks @Amrsatrio).
- Taskbar10: Fixed a bug that prevented Task View and/or the window switcher (Alt+Tab) from working on OS builds 22621.2134+ (thanks @Amrsatrio).
- Taskbar10: Fixed a bug that prevented the volume and brightness flyouts from displaying (thanks @Amrsatrio).
- Taskbar10: Fixed a bug that prevented the Win+A (Action Center), Win+N (Control Center), and Win+B (Focus on tray overflow button) shortcuts from working on OS builds 22621.2134+ (thanks @Amrsatrio).
- Taskbar10: Fixed the context menu of the new IME button OS builds 22621.2134+ (thanks @Amrsatrio).
- Taskbar11: Fixed a bug that crashed explorer.exe when right clicking the taskbar on OS builds 22621.2134+.
- Quality of life improvements regarding symbol data (thanks @Amrsatrio).
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Fixed a bug that crashed explorer.exe on OS builds lower than 22621 (Windows 11 22H2).
ExplorerPatcher 22621.2361.58.1 changelog:
Tested on OS builds 22000.2416, 22621.1, 22621.2134, 22621.2361, 22631.2338, and 23545.1000.
- Taskbar10: Fixed Windows 10 taskbar not showing up on Windows 11 builds with "Never combine" on the new taskbar. (bc3bbc7)
- Taskbar10: Fixed pen menu crashing explorer.exe on 22621.2134+. (1977d78)
- Taskbar11: Fixed a bug that crashed explorer.exe when right clicking the new taskbar on Windows 11 builds with "Never combine" on the new taskbar. (6023718)
- File Explorer: EP now tries to avoid crashes related to the new Windows App SDK views. (b426d2c)
- On OS builds 22621+, fixed a bug that crashed explorer.exe when required functions in twinui.pcshell.dll (for Win+X and Windows 10 Alt+Tab) could not be found using the fallback method. (6023718)
Please consult the README for more details.
A detailed change log is available here.
Download: ExplorerPatcher 22621.2361.58.1 | 1.8 MB (Open Source)
View: ExplorerPatcher Home Page | Features