Microsoft Windows 95 file manager gets open sourced

Microsoft has released the source code for its original Windows file manager. While it’s a relic from the past, one can now compile it from the source code.

The code requires a few small modifications to run on Windows 10 in 32-bit mode, but there are already forks which compile it in 64-bit mode, without issues.

It’s as nostalgic as running Windows 95 on an Xbox One, Apple Watch or Android smartwatch. If you’re a fan of the original Windows file manager, you can download the app from GitHub and remind yourself of what computing used to look like years ago.

The source code is available on GitHub. Before open sourcing it, Microsoft veteran Craig Wittenberg had been maintaining it under the MIT licence. He had copied the file manager code from Windows NT 4 back in 2007.

According to media reports, this is a testament to the backward compatibility of Windows itself, especially since this version was originally included in Windows more than 20 years ago.

First released for Windows 3.0, the file manager was a replacement for managing files through MS-DOS, and allowed Windows users to copy, move, delete and search for files.