Make Win11 File Explorer use Icons AND Text for all icons

[britechguy]

I have done some searching on this, but nothing I have found so far appears to work anymore in Windows 11, Version 22H2.

One of the things I dislike about the Windows 11 File Explorer is that the ribbon at the top shows (for the most part) only icons without any text beneath them:



I far prefer the old look under Windows 10, where icons and text were the default. I don't care if the new icon set is used, but I'd like to have the text beneath them.

One of the things I did find was a registry hack that used to cause the Windows 10 styled File Explorer to be used instead of the native Windows 10 File Explorer. I tried those instructions just for the fun of it, but if they worked in the past, they don't now.

I'm already pretty much used to the "icons only" layout, but I know that for some of my clients this is going to be sure to be a challenge, and a bigger one than one might expect. Many people remain very much text driven and text focused and have never paid much of any attention to the corresponding icons.

 

[Porthos]

@britechguy Dig thru this and play around. https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/...0c39768fc23a32a7b5583ac38f567#google_vignette

 

[Porthos]

For Windows 11 22H2​

Method 1: Using Control Panel​

Open Control Panel (control.exe) and then click on the up arrow icon at the top.


(Alternately, you can press the Alt + Up arrow on your keyboard.)

This launches Explorer with the ribbon interface.

 

[britechguy]

@Porthos, Thanks much.

While that trick with Control Panel does work beautifully, it does not make this a "permanent fix" nor the way File Explorer appears if you bring it up from elsewhere. Clearly, this is something simple that *should* be a setting, but isn't.

 

[GTP]

Have you tried manually editing the Registry?
Go to: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions

Right-click the Shell Extensions folder on the left side and select New > Key. Rename the new key Blocked.

Open the Blocked registry key and create a new string value by right-clicking any free space in the main panel and selecting New > String Value. Rename the String Value {e2bf9676-5f8f-435c-97eb-11607a5bedf7}.

Restart the PC and it should work.

 

[britechguy]

Have you tried manually editing the Registry?
Go to: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions

Right-click the Shell Extensions folder on the left side and select New > Key. Rename the new key Blocked.

Open the Blocked registry key and create a new string value by right-clicking any free space in the main panel and selecting New > String Value. Rename the String Value {e2bf9676-5f8f-435c-97eb-11607a5bedf7}.

Restart the PC and it should work.

Before I ever posted here. Note well that the site, Get Back Windows 10 Ribbon UI in Windows 11 File Explorer, which was provided by @Porthos makes clear that this registry hack stopped working with the advent of Windows 11, Version 22H2.

That hack is discussed in a number of venues, and like so many things with Windows 10 over its evolution and Windows 11 during its own, what was accurate in earlier Versions and Builds is no longer so later on. This is one of the reasons that after the "bleeding edge" period is over, whether for Feature Updates or Windows version upgrades, I strongly encourage people to get on the bandwagon early. As time goes by people forget how they even did thing X or thing Y, and often if you make a change early on, it sticks at a Feature Update even if you cannot replicate it via the same technique if you try to afterward. Being on the same journey that a huge number of other people are on, at the same time they are, has distinct advantages over being a latecomer and having to make up time.

 

[GTP]

That's a bummer. Hopefully a fix will appear soon.

 

[GTP]

@Kitten Kong

 

[U.V.K]

I know of a way that still works. I just haven't added it to UVK because it is a bit of a hack. You just need to apply the registry tweak, that UVK has had for a long time, and then make Windows use an older version of explorer.exe. It can be found in C:\Windows\WinSxS. For instance, C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-explorer_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.22621.1105_none_31ba613bf53b7034\explorer.exe

The folder may have a different name. Apply the registry tweak and then try this at cmd:
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start "" C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-explorer_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.22621.1105_none_31ba613bf53b7034\explorer.exe

if it does not run you need to find the correct folder name:
dir C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-explorer_*

Once you find a version of explorer that still works with the old ribbon, set the Shell value of th HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon key to the path of that file.

This is working fine for me. I still have the old ribbon in build 22H2.

 

[britechguy]

I just haven't added it to UVK because it is a bit of a hack.

Which makes sense. I just thank you for giving the details. If someone needs that functionality to return, there's now a clearly documented method!

 

[britechguy]

Thank you very much, again.

 

[U.V.K]

Thank you very much, again.

You're welcome.

 

[U.V.K]

I'm pulling the batch scripts out because they don't seem to work anymore after the latest set of updates. Not sure which one breaks it. Microsoft definitely does not want us to use the old ribbon, but they could at least add icon labels..