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Many of you may know about the Microsoft Upcoming OS Windows 8 which is under testing phase. The new Windows 8 explorer contains Ribbon UI for some people it’s an awesome feature but some may not like it and there is no option to disable it and get the old toolbar back.

Today in this tutorial I will be showing you How to disable Ribbon UI in Windows Explorer 8 and get the old toolbar back.

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How to Remove Ribbon UI from Windows Explorer

Let’s start the tutorial.

Step 1. We will be needing Resource Hacker tool to edit the DLL. Click here to Download Resource Hacker

Step 2. After downloading and installing Resource Hacker. Open it and go to File >> Open and Copy the below text

%windir%System32ExplorerFrame.dll

We will be modifying a system file so make sure you backup the old file.

Step 3. After you opened the DLL file in Resource Hacker go to

UFILE —> EXPLORER_RIBBON —-> 1033

Step 4. Now we will be deleting the 1033 key. So right click on 1033 and Click Delete Resource and It will delete the key.

Step 5. Go to File and Click Save As, save the file to Desktop.

Step 6. Now we will be needing ownership of system file to replace it.

Step 7. Download this file by clicking here. After downloading double click on the file and Click on Yes.

Step 8. Now go to %windir%System32 and right click on ExplorerFrame.dll and Click Take Ownership.

Step 9. After doing the above step copy the old modified file and paste in to %windir%system32 and it will ask you to replace so click on Replace.

Step 10. Restart your computer and see the new old toolbar back

Be sure you have already made a backup of the original ExplorerFrame.dll so incase of any problem you can restore it.

I hope using the above methods you have successfully removed the ribbon in Windows Explorer and get the old toolbar back in Windows 8.

If you have any problems in using Resource hacker or any trouble while doing the above steps then please let me know and I will try my best solve your problem.