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ExplorerPatcher 22631.5335.68.2

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.

  • Discover the program's full range of features by reading this wiki article.

ExplorerPatcher 22631.5335.68.2 changelog:

Tested on OS builds 22621.3296, 22631.5189, 22631.5335, 26100.3476, 26100.4061, and 26100.4188.

Changes:

  • Start10: Fixed Pin to Start on 226x1.4541+ and 261xx.2454+. (#3984) (4ef3667, 123ea8b)
  • sws: Added support for 24H2. (#3765)
  • ep_dwm: Added support for 24H2. (#3555)
  • ep_dwm.exe has been renamed to ep_dwm_svc.exe to get around 24H2 upgrade blocks. (115b462)
  • ep_dwm: Now always unregistered on uninstallation, regardless of whether it was running during the uninstallation or not. (858b634)
  • Setup: The failure message now displays the associated code line number that failed, to assist in troubleshooting. (c64a17e)
  • Taskbar10: Fixed disabling immersive menus on ARM64. (8b4d8db)
  • Taskbar10: Fixed Win+X menu still having Windows Terminal entries when Windows Terminal is not installed, that crashes Explorer when selected. (1b20cbd, 207f669)
  • For now, if you want to have PowerShell entries, Windows Terminal must be uninstalled.
  • Taskbar10: Fixed Win+X entry clicks doing nothing on 26xxx.5551+ ARM64.
  • GUI: Added dropdown indicators to dropdown entries. (9f71a5c)
  • GUI: The language names now include the country name. (3f11766)
  • Localization: Added Czech translations. (Thanks @9hb, @andrewz1986, and @Panzimy!)
  • Localization: Added Spanish (Spain) translations. (Thanks @AlejandroMartiGisbert!)
  • ep_taskbar: Added support for "Show desktop button: Hidden" setting. (#4020) (1be6658)
  • ep_taskbar: Fixed a bug that prevented shortcut global hotkeys from working on 24H2. (#3777, #4016)
  • ep_taskbar: Fixed a bug that prevented the taskbar from resizing properly after DPI changes. (#3796)
  • ep_taskbar: Added the following languages: German, French, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Lithuanian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Spanish (Spain), Turkish, Ukrainian, Chinese (Simplified).
  • ep_taskbar: Fixed a number of memory leaks and code/behavior inaccuracies.
  • ep_taskbar: Fixed incompatibility with 26200.5603 (Dev), 26120.4151 (Beta), and 26100.4188 (Release Preview). (#4321)
    ep_taskbar: Now supports all Windows 10 versions supported by EP (17763/1809+). (aec8c70, 1edb989)

Important note:

Newly released binaries tend to get falsely flagged by Defender. False flags like these usually go away after some time.

Please include the following files and folders in your antivirus' exclusion list to prevent issues due to antivirus detections:

  • C:\Program Files\ExplorerPatcher

  • %APPDATA%\ExplorerPatcher

  • C:\Windows\dxgi.dll

  • C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy

  • C:\Windows\SystemApps\ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy

For Defender, you can run the following script in PowerShell as an administrator:

If you are downloading from this page, please temporarily disable real-time protection or save to a folder excluded from antivirus scans.Failure to exclude ExplorerPatcher's files may result in inability to install/uninstall EP and explorer.exe being unable to start.If you do not trust this process, please refrain from using ExplorerPatcher and look for alternatives instead.

A little request from developer: Because the development of EP's taskbar implementation took a lot of effort for 8 consecutive months, and that an ARM64 device to support the making and testing of ARM64 builds is not cheap, it would be really appreciated if you can donate @Amrsatrio via Ko-fi.

Please consult the README for more details.A detailed change log is available here.