How to Cleanly Uninstall OldNewExplorer and Reset File Explorer to Default

One of the greatest engineering advantages of OldNewExplorer is that it does not modify or patch core Windows system files on your disk. Unlike dangerous patchers that overwrite explorer.exe or shell32.dll, OldNewExplorer operates purely through standard COM shell extensions.

Because no system files were altered, uninstalling the utility and returning File Explorer to its factory Microsoft state takes under 60 seconds.

Standard Uninstallation Method (GUI)

1. Open the folder where you extracted OldNewExplorer.
2. Right-click OldNewExplorerCfg.exe and choose Run as administrator.
3. Uncheck every checkbox under Behavior and Appearance.
4. Under the Shell extension section at the top, click the Uninstall button.
5. Once the button label changes back to Install, close the window.
6. Restart Windows Explorer:
   • Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to launch Task Manager.
   • Locate Windows Explorer in the list, right-click, and select Restart.

Manual Unregistration via Command Prompt (If DLL is Locked)

If you encounter a message stating "File in use" or "Action cannot be completed because the file is open in Windows Explorer" when trying to delete the folder, the shell extension DLLs are still mapped into active explorer memory. Follow these steps:

1. Open an elevated Command Prompt: Press Win + S, type cmd, and click Run as administrator.
2. Kill Explorer temporarily:

   taskkill /f /im explorer.exe

3. Unregister both 32-bit and 64-bit DLLs:

   regsvr32 /u "C:\Path\To\OldNewExplorer\OldNewExplorer32.dll"
   regsvr32 /u "C:\Path\To\OldNewExplorer\OldNewExplorer64.dll"

4. Restart Explorer:

   start explorer.exe

5. You can now delete the OldNewExplorer folder completely with zero leftover registry clutter.