Managing Files Before File Explorer

In versions of Windows earlier than Windows 95, you needed to use a special application to copy, move, and delete files within Windows itself. In Windows 3.x, this application was called File Manager.

Even after Windows 95 integrated file-managing functions directly into the Windows shell—creating Windows Explorer—some die-hard fans still used File Manager because they preferred its concise, tree-based interface.

Some of those File Explorer fans are still out there today, and three years ago, one of them took Microsoft’s open-source release of the original Windows 3.x code and turned it into a modern version of File Manager for Windows 10.

The interface for the modern File Manager is basically the same as the old version. You can sort files with toolbar buttons, manage drives and directories in multiple sub-windows, and even format disks—but this time, it supports 64-bit Windows, long file names, and other modern conveniences.

How to Get the Classic Windows File Manager

Microsoft maintains File Manager as an open-source project under the MIT License on GitHub. You can download it on GitHub as a ready-to-run EXE file (Winfile.exe), and it’s even available for free in the Microsoft Store. It’s all the fun of Windows 3.0 file management without the baggage of MS-DOS. Just run it, and you’ll think it’s 1990 all over again—even if you weren’t there the first time.