How to make XYplorer fully replace Explorer

[admin]

In other words: How to make XYplorer the shell's default file manager, so that every time Explorer would be opened by some process, now XYplorer is opened instead.

Answer: You have to edit the registry. These are the tips from jacky. Apparently they work for many but not all users:

Allright, so I think here's all I've done:
In HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\command I changed the default value from "%SystemRoot%\Explorer.exe /e,/idlist,%I,%L" to "D:\Program Files\XYplorer\XYplorer.exe %L"

And in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\ddeexec I emptyed the default value (org="[ExploreFolder("%l", %I, %S)]")

Seems that it's usually the ddeexec that is used, so if you dont remove it it's still explorer that is used. Once removed, the explore/command will be used, so XY will be launch.


You gotta know though that it might "break" some things. For instance when you open the control panel it's actually done inside Explorer, so now it would just start XY. You can still go to your control panel by starting explorer and going there.

[brian23]

Cool! Been looking for that for some time now. Thanks for the info.

[Pallazzio]

Thanks for that info.

It seems to work great when an application launches a folder or when I press Winkey+E, however when I double click a folder on my desktop it still opens up in Wndows Explorer. ANyone else have this problem? Is there something I can do to correct this?

Thanks
-Pallazzio

[spamalam]

Code: Select all

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell]
@="XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\XYplorer]
@="Open in XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\XYplorer\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\XYplorer\\XYplorer.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell]
@="XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\XYplorer]
@="Open in XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\XYplorer\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\XYplorer\\XYplorer.exe\" \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell]
@="XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\XYplorer]
@="Open in XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\XYplorer\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\XYplorer\\XYplorer.exe\" \"%1\""

Provides a more complete shell replacement, can someone post this in the wiki?

note: always back up your registry before messing with it

[jacky]

Provides a more complete shell replacement, can someone post this in the wiki?

You know it's a wiki, ie. everyone can get an account & make changes on its own

And I don't think this provides a more complete replacement only, but also some trouble (which is why I didn't use it) : when you do that, trying to open Control Panel or Recycle Bin for example will have XY being used, but because XY doesn't handle those special folders it won't display them.
This is obviously not what one would want, and could be either really annoying or seen as a major problem!

[spamalam]

erm, you type "explorer", or make a shortcut to explorer pointing to control panel

Not exactly a show stopper.

True, the shell replacement is tricky because it something that needs implementing at the program level (with an on/off in configuration ideally).

[lukescammell]

What's the issue with XY supporting special folders such as the Control Panel and Recycle Bin? What's with it not supporting these anyway?

[admin]

Code: Select all

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell]
@="XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\XYplorer]
@="Open in XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\XYplorer\command]
@=""C:\\Program Files\\XYplorer\\XYplorer.exe" "%1""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell]
@="XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\XYplorer]
@="Open in XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\XYplorer\command]
@=""C:\\Program Files\\XYplorer\\XYplorer.exe" "%1""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell]
@="XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\XYplorer]
@="Open in XYplorer"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\XYplorer\command]
@=""C:\\Program Files\\XYplorer\\XYplorer.exe" "%1""

Provides a more complete shell replacement, can someone post this in the wiki?

This would result into duplicate menu entries under WinME, AFAIK.
You either have to do "Folder" (which comprises everything including Special Folders like "Control Panel") or "Drive" and "Directory" (which comprises only classic file system entities, but excludes Special Folders like "Desktop" which are not as special "Control Panel" but just aliases pointing to normal folders). I currently use the "Folder" method for the option to have "XYplorer" in the Shell Context Menu... but to use the "Drive" and "Directory" method would be more fitting to XY's nature as a file system explorer (and not a name space explorer). It's a trade off: I like to have XY in Desktop's ctx menu, but I don't like to have it in Control Panels ctx menu. There's no golden way so far.

[lukescammell]

Would that *only* duplicate under WinME? If so - just disable it for that OS?