Restoring Windows 10 Ribbon on Win 11

Well discovered Freddy.

However, to Microsoft. This shouldn't be necessary. The current update to Explorer, increasing sub-menus and removing useful functions has severely reduced functionality. What on earth were the thinking.

I totally agree with mtn_grrrl, excellent coment

For those who really want the old ribbon..

create a batch file in notepad something like this:

c:

cd c:\windows

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe

start "" C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-explorer_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.22621.608_none_b3fd0d5042b63bbd\explorer.exe

exit 0

Save to the desktop or wherever.

Create another one replacing the long command with:

start "" C:\Windows\explorer.exe

Save as "Exporg.bat" or whatever you like.

The first batch will end explorer and open it again only now the ribbon will appear in all instances when you open them.

The second batch will do the same in reverse, restoring the new ribbon. You can add the first batch to the "startup" folder and it works fine. Classic Shell works fine with both. The only downside for me is that "explorer patcher" gets kicked out with the old ribbon which means there is no context menu on the taskbar on right-click. But it is easy enough to swap back and forth using the batch files.

It's clunky but works for now!

Didn’t work for me with the 22H2 update

that didn't work. it should be noted that "Launch folder windows in a separate process" wasn't checked to begin with.

Hi balloonie，

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

Changing the functional area of File Explorer back to the style of Windows 10 can be achieved by modifying the registry. I will list the operation method below for your reference:

1. Click the search button on the taskbar and open it. Type "Regedit" to open the registry editor
2. In the path bar, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions and check on the right to see if there is only one "default" value.
3. Create a new "item" by right clicking on the blank space. Create a new string to the right of the new item, and name it {e2bf9676-5f8F-435c-97eb-11607A5BEDF7}
4. Restart your computer to see if the functional area is restored

Disclaimer: Generally, modifying registry subkeys or work group is intended for advanced users, administrators, and IT Professionals. It can help fix some problems, however, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For further protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click here to view the article.

Please feel free to let me know if you got any further updates, thanks

Best Regards,

Manson - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist