Section 0: Important disclaimer.
This is most definitely not a good idea. I make exactly zero guarantees in regards to the fitness of this workaround for any purpose. If you import random registry entries from strangers on the internet, you get exactly what's coming to you. Even having had no interaction with the developers of this fine product, I can promise you that this setup is entirely unsupported. Your mileage will vary. Your system could very well break. You may cause a plague and pestilence to rain down on the land the likes of which this world has never seen. You are very much on your own - we are charting new territory here because from cursory google and Bing searches it seems that nobody else has this exact information - I had to cobble together this workaround from several different sources and some trial/error. Things will break and it is on you to fix them.

Section 1: Boring stuff and bad storytelling.
Now then: I'm not a fan of the way Windows 11's default file browser looks. There are several excellent third-party file browsing apps available, and some of them even allow you to replace explorer. After considerable effort, I was able to figure out exactly which Registry entries that the current version of Windows 11 checks to replicate this experience with any arbitrary executable you would like. In this case, I'm using Dolphin because I noticed it was available through winget, however I've also tested it with filebrowser.exe from ReactOS.

On to the important bit, the secret sauce that makes it work, what follows is the contents of a .reg file that assigns Dolphin as the default handler for Directories, as well as intercepting Win+E. This covers 99% of user use cases, while gracefully allowing explorer.exe to continue handling things that Dolphin doesn't (such as legacy windows control panel). Simply copy these contents into a blank text document, save it as a .reg file, and import into Windows Registry. IMPORTANT: This assumes that Dolphin is installed in Program Files, if it's installed differently, change the file path to point to the correct location before importing the file into your registry. Changes take place immediately, no logout or restart required.

Section 2: The important bit you're actually looking for

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\shell]
@="openindolphin"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\openindolphin]
@="Open in Dolphin"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\shell\openindolphin\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Dolphin\\bin\\dolphin.exe\" %1"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\CLSID\{52205fd8-5dfb-447d-801a-d0b52f2e83e1}\shell\opennewwindow\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Dolphin\\bin\\dolphin.exe\""
"DelegateExecute"=""


Section 3: Wait, no, go back I changed my mind.
It's easy! Just reinstall your computer! I jest. Simply delete the registry entries that were added, and you're good to go. If you are lazy, you can put the following into a registry script and leave it on the desktop so you can double-click and import it.

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Revert Default
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell]
@=-

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shell\openindolphin]

; Revert Win+E
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{52205fd8-5dfb-447d-801a-d0b52f2e83e1}]



Section 4: Closing thoughts.
Thank you for coming on this journey with me. If you discover any new information, feel free to share details with the class. If you're a developer who contributes, feel free to abuse registry entries to add this as a toggle in the settings or during installation (note: if you do decide to do this, please make sure to restore the setting when uninstalling so you don't accidentally softlock users). If Microsoft changes something and you find the updated information, feel free to share the changes. If you are a Microsoft developer working on Windows 11, feel free to make it a setting end users can toy with in Default apps. That's all.