unable to completely remove Explorer++

[wallymann]

i changed a setting in E++ that started it to crash @ launch.

now E++ wont launch at all -- and unfortunately i had it set as the default file manager for everything in windows.

and since i cant launch E++, i cant disable that setting to remove E++ completely.

i've deleted the E++ executable and the registry path.

whenever i try to launch any folder on the filesystem, windows tries to honor that E++ setting which i can no longer disable, so now i'm stuck.

is there some other way to revert windows to ignore the E++ setting to replace file-explorer?

[David Erceg]

When you set Explorer++ as the default file manager, it changes one of two registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\shell - Used if you change the default file manager for filesystem folders.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Folder\shell - Used if you change the default file manager for all folders.

The default value for the appropriate key is changed to openinexplorer++.

When you remove Explorer++ as the default file manager, the default key value is changed back to it's standard value, which is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Directory\shell
none

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Folder\shell
empty value

So making that change will revert back to the default settings.

i changed a setting in E++ that started it to crash @ launch.

Which setting did you change and which version is affected?

[wallymann]

figured out a solution:
1. navigate to E++ executable folder using windows explorer.
2. delete config.xml
3. launch Explorer++.exe directly from this location as admin
4. should launch OK to make whatever desired configuration changes or completely remove E++