ExplorerPatcher
for Windows
by Valentin-Gabriel Radu (valinet)
ExplorerPatcher restores the classic Windows shell on Windows 11 and 10. It brings back the Windows 10 taskbar with labels and never-combine, the full right-click context menu, the old Alt+Tab switcher and the classic system tray flyouts, all from one properties window. Two installers are available: ep_setup.exe for Intel and AMD PCs and ep_setup_arm64.exe for ARM64 devices such as Snapdragon laptops.
ExplorerPatcher for Intel & AMD (x64)
Free Download for WindowsExplorerPatcher for ARM64
Free Download for WindowsAbout ExplorerPatcher
ExplorerPatcher is a Windows shell patch written by Valentin-Gabriel Radu (valinet) that undoes the interface changes Microsoft made in Windows 11. After install, the taskbar can go back to the Windows 10 style, which means it can sit on the left, top or right edge, show window labels and stop grouping windows of the same app.
File Explorer gets its full context menu back instead of the trimmed Windows 11 menu with "Show more options", and the ribbon toolbar can be restored. The Alt+Tab switcher can be set to the Windows 11, Windows 10 or classic Windows 7 style, and the clock, network, volume and battery flyouts in the system tray can use their older layouts.
Everything is configured from a single properties window opened by right-clicking the taskbar. Changes apply immediately by restarting Explorer, without a reboot. A built-in updater checks the official GitHub releases so the patch keeps pace with Windows updates, which matters because each cumulative update can break shell hooks.
Version 26100.8457.70.2 targets Windows 11 24H2 and also runs on Windows 10. Pick ep_setup.exe for Intel and AMD processors (about 11.7 MB) or ep_setup_arm64.exe for ARM64 machines (about 11.3 MB). Windows Defender sometimes flags the installer because it injects into explorer.exe; the source is public under GPL-2.0 if you want to build it yourself.
