Is it possible to use Windows XP's explorer.exe in Windows 7?

By WinClassicFan
in Tips, Tweaks & Customization

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WinClassicFan

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I'm not a big fan of the new Windows Explorer. I'm one of those people trying to migrate from XP to 7, having never gone through Vista and there are a couple of things about 7's explorer that bother me.

So I was wondering, would it be possible to just use Windows XP's explorer.exe in Windows 7? I already used that "method" to deal with a few other problems, for instance the new Calculator looks pretty horrible in Classic theme and after I changed the fonts in the registry to get rid of Segoe UI it became basically unusable so I've just been using calc.exe from Windows XP which works fine.

Now, I have Windows 7 x64, so I tried doing the same thing with explorer.exe - copied it from XP and tried it in 7, but it doesn't work. I get this message: "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142)". My question is - is this because my XP is 32-bit and explorer.exe as a 32-bit application cannot run in windows 7, being much more "complicated" than the calc, or is it because it's simply incompatible. If it's the former, then if I found a copy of Windows XP 64-bit Edition's explorer.exe would that run on 7 or should I not bother at all...

Alternatively, the main things that bother me in the new Windows Explorer are:

1) Status bar does not show available free space or anything else besides number of items selected

2) The + signs on the navigation side disappear if the cursor is not in that section, which is mighty annoying.

3) The bar that starts with "Organize" looks dreadful in classic mode and is really useless when you have the standard menu and I would give anything to get rid of it.

If anyone knows a way to fix anyone of those things I would be eternally grateful!

Edited by WinClassicFan
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Andrew Lyle Global Moderator

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You will mostly like not be able to carry that over, specially since you are trying to bring your 32bit XP explorer.exe over to a 64bit Windows 7.

You can customize the taskbar you know, perhaps it won't look like Windows XP, but it will look like Windows Vista.

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Krome

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A proper registry hacks would do you justice. But that's just my hindsight. But I would not know where to start. I myself just screw up "Manage" context menu on "My Computer" so don't take my suggestion too lightly. Just good precaution on that and I have to learn the hard way. Now I will be off to hunt down for solution to fix my problem.

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Andrew Lyle Global Moderator

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Colin-uk will like this. A reason he hasn't upgraded from XP, and the fact he loves Internet Explorer 6 :laugh:

That Classicshell is pretty neat, i'll try to keep that in mind if someone doesn't like their new Windows 7 start menu

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WinClassicFan

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^^^

I have actually, I love Win 7 except for the Windows Explorer and a few other things and visual bugs which I'm hoping they'll fix in the first service pack, but the Windows Explorer is driving me a little crazy.

@tuxplorer

I just installed classic shell, it's not bad but it didn't disable the disappearing arrows, which is by far my biggest annoyance.

Second to that is the ridiculously huge, ridiculously ugly and ridiculously useless command bar. If anyone has any idea how to get rid of that I will worship you for all eternity!

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MS Bob 11

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There's a button on the toolbar added by Classic Shell called "Classic Explorer settings". It has an option: "Don't fade buttons". Too bad there's no way to turn off the ugly command bar, MS locked down the UI too much, can't even change its color.

Edited by tuxplorer
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WinClassicFan

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^^^

I see. Thanks! You're absolutely right about them locking the UI. It has to do with them trying to cater more to people who are new users / don't know anything... :( this is the trend with everything now and hardcore users are gonna be more and more screwed until we die off... Idiocracy will happen.

Anyways, I think I finally found a solution to my problem. It's called Directory Opus. :D

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Fish

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Anyways, I think I finally found a solution to my problem. It's called Directory Opus. :D

I was just about to suggest this. There are plenty of alternative file managers out there, DO being one of the best imo. But seriously, trying to force XP's Explorer into 7.... why did you even think this might work? :D

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Now, I have Windows 7 x64, so I tried doing the same thing with explorer.exe - copied it from XP and tried it in 7, but it doesn't work. I get this message: "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142)". My question is - is this because my XP is 32-bit and explorer.exe as a 32-bit application cannot run in windows 7, being much more "complicated" than the calc, or is it because it's simply incompatible. If it's the former, then if I found a copy of Windows XP 64-bit Edition's explorer.exe would that run on 7 or should I not bother at all...

Alternatively, the main things that bother me in the new Windows Explorer are:

1) Status bar does not show available free space or anything else besides number of items selected

a: No, but if you right-click on a folder and select Properties, you can see that. Plus if you click My Computer in the left hand navigation pane, you can see how much free space for every drive in the right hand pane.

2) The + signs on the navigation side disappear if the cursor is not in that section, which is mighty annoying.

a: Yeah, I agree, I would like those to always be visible. It would be nice if that could be restored somehow.

3) The bar that starts with "Organize" looks dreadful in classic mode and is really useless when you have the standard menu and I would give anything to get rid of it.

a: Again, what are you doing running in 'classic mode'? Do you mean you're running the old classic UI, and not Aero?

If anyone knows a way to fix anyone of those things I would be eternally grateful!

I just have a couple questions: Why are you running the Classic Theme? If you have a halfway decent video card, you're better off running Aero, and letting your GPU handle all the graphics rendering of the UI and leave your CPU for just everything else.

Secondly, the Calculator with Windows 7 is so infinitely better than the one in Windows XP, and you're using the old one? Why not just run XP for crying out loud? For your three numbered points, see above.

Finally, Explorer.exe is the shell! Not just a file browser.

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+devHead Subscriber²

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Why do people upgrade if all they are going to do is want to revert to the older versions of parts of the OS?

My theory is this: if they didn't upgrade, they wouldn't have anything to rant about on forums. I mean really, how many responses would you get if you created a new topic with the theme: Well, I'm stilling running XP. Probably not many.

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etempest

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Try geting the explorer.exe from the 64bit version of windows xp, all you have to do is install the trial version of it.

Or grab it from the extracted XP 64bit service pack download. Will have to decompress it.

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sendmeactivationemail

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So many Windows 7 fanboys. Honestly if you prefer Windows XP, stick with Windows XP. Personally I loved Windows XP, I hated Windows Vista, and so far I really like Windows 7. Of course if you're keen on keeping certain features and interfaces from XP while using Windows 7, sure it's possible, but you're going to be jumping through hoops - just stick with Windows XP (my opinion).

There are a lot of minor improvements in Windows 7, but nothing so drastic that you really need to upgrade if you still prefer XP.

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soldier1st

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if you want something that an earlier windows has that the new one changed then you will either need to stay on the older one or try hacking the new os to accept your changes but it may not work but it will require alot of work depending on what you want to be hacked in.

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