explorer.exe??

[dvr]

I changed my explore.exe file along time ago,
now I want to put the original file back.
but I forgot how to change the file. 8(
I have the backup file so I can change them.
just need to know how to do it.
I am running win 2000 pro.

[Comatose]

what do you mean .... changed? You altered the EXE? (if so, check out: http://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourcehacker/), or you went into the registry and changed which program loads as explorer?

[dvr]

yes, I changed the boot screen so I made a back up of explore.exe named it explore1.exe, now I need to change it back so I can update my OS.
how can I replace explore.exe with the back up explore1.exe?

[Comatose]

I'm not 100% sure if you can do it manually. Such as open a command prompt, and use a copy explorer1.exe explorer.exe..... you might be able to just overwrite it... or you might have to open task manager, processes, and stop explorer.exe from running, and then switch them over.... Maybe A Safemode will help?

[dvr]

isn't explore.exe the desktop program if you stop it won't you crash the system?

[Comatose]

I know in XP (and just about any windows version with a "task manager") if you kill explorer.exe it takes out the start button, and the desktop.... but you could still click file, new task (Run), and type in explorer.exe and it will reload. So, you could, essentially kill explorer.exe, hang out at your system for a while (keep playing solitaire?), and then from task manager, re-run it, and it will carry on like nothing happened.

Also, There are some programs out there, (known as shells) that replace the "windows interface" (explorer.exe) with their own program. I think I've had blackbox, or afterstep [called light (or lite) step] that made my windows box look like a unix's xwindows interface. Don't be confused.... Explorer.exe is just another program.

[DMR]

Maybe A Safemode will help?

Yeah, explorer.exe is the graphical shell; booting directly to a DOS shell (command prompt only) should let you do it with DOS commands.