List of alternative shells for Windows information
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "List of alternative shells for Windows" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(September 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This is a list of software that provides an alternative graphical user interface for Microsoft Windows operating systems. The technical term for this interface is a shell. Windows' standard user interface is the Windows shell; Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1x have a different shell, called Program Manager. The programs in this list do not restyle the Windows shell, but replace it; therefore, they look and function differently, and have different configuration options.
Shell
Software license
Windows versions
Development status
3.1x
9x
2000
XP
Vista
7
8
10
11
Blackbox
GPL
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Active
BumpTop
Apache License
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Discontinued
Cairo Shell
Apache License
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Stalled[1]
Calmira
GPL
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Discontinued
Central Point Desktop
Proprietary
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Discontinued
Classic Shell
Proprietary
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Discontinued[2]
Emerge Desktop
GPL
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Discontinued[3]
LDE(X)
GPL
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Discontinued[4]
LiteStep
GPL
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Stalled[5]
Norton Desktop
Proprietary
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Discontinued
Open-Shell
MIT License
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Active
Packard Bell Navigator
Proprietary
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Discontinued
ReactOS Explorer
GPL
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Active[6][7][8]
SharpEnviro
GPL
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Discontinued[9]
TabWorks
Proprietary
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Discontinued
Talisman Desktop
Trialware
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Stalled[10][11]
Xerox Rooms
Proprietary
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Discontinued
^"Cairo Shell GitHub Releases". Cairo Development Team. 26 September 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
^"Classic Shell no longer in development. Source code released". Retrieved 3 January 2024.
^"emergedesktop.org has shutdown". Emerge. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
^phil (18 April 2007). "The road ahead is a cliff face". LDE(x) Forums. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
^Donelle (11 January 2017). "Re: Added .NET Framework interoperability to the core and started a c# binding library". GitHub. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
^"ReactOS Explorer". ReactOS Project. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
^"ReactOS Explorer source code". ReactOS Project. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
^Fuchs, Martin. "ReactOS Explorer (original author, details)". Retrieved 16 May 2014.
^"Download SharpEnviro". Retrieved 3 January 2024.
^"Talisman Desktop". LightTek Software. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
^"Talisman Desktop News, no updates since Aug 15, 2011". LightTek Software. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
and 26 Related for: List of alternative shells for Windows information
This is a listof software that provides an alternative graphical user interface for Microsoft Windows operating systems. The technical term for this interface...
known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application and default desktop environment that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating...
The Windowsshell is the graphical user interface for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Its readily identifiable elements consist of the desktop...
Initially a Windows component only, known as Windows PowerShell, it was made open-source and cross-platform on August 18, 2016, with the introduction of PowerShell...
Microsoft Windows applications on Unix-like operating systems ListofalternativeshellsforWindows Timelines of: Intel / Microsoft / Microsoft Windows / other...
Build 2019 developer conference in May 2019 as a modern alternativeforWindows Console, and Windows Terminal's source code first appeared on GitHub on May...
a WindowsShell replacement forWindows 9x and up, licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). LiteStep replaces the Windows Shell...
command line for additional work with the shell. POSIX shells and other Unix shells allow background execution by using the & character at the end of command...
Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, and was made...
of 2024[update], the most recent version ofWindows is Windows 11 for consumer PCs and tablets, Windows 11 Enterprise for corporations, and Windows Server...
The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores low-level settings for the Microsoft Windows operating system and for applications that opt...
profile script for the command shell they are using. In Microsoft Windows, each environment variable's default value is stored in the Windows Registry or...
influential of the early Unix shells were the Bourne shell and the C shell. Both shells have been used as the coding base and model for many derivative...
designations usually matches the Windows version number. Builds of codebases were only released via the Windows Insider program. Windows Server 2022 reports as...
and Tcl shells have syntax quite similar to that of said programming languages, and the Korn shells and Bash are developments of the Bourne shell, which...
Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. A remastered version titled Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition was released on 4 March 2021 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series...
compatibility aspect of that version. For example, Win32 is the major version ofWindows API that runs on 32-bit systems. The name, Windows API, collectively...
switching between windows, and is also a widget engine. GNOME Shell replaced GNOME Panel and some ancillary components of GNOME 2. GNOME Shell is written in...
been downloaded over 5 million times. ListofalternativeshellsforWindows "Why Microsoft killed the Windows Start button". PC Pro. Retrieved 2012-12-15...
OpenSSH source code to Windows and in Windows 10 version 1709, an official Win32 port of OpenSSH is now available. File managers for UNIX-like systems (e...
equivalent on DOS (COMMAND.COM) and Microsoft Windows (cmd.exe) is the cd command with no arguments. Windows PowerShell provides the equivalent Get-Location cmdlet...
The Microsoft Windows Script Host (WSH) (formerly named Windows Scripting Host) is an automation technology for Microsoft Windows operating systems that...
customization. PowerToys are available forWindows 95, Windows XP, Windows 10 and Windows 11. The PowerToys forWindows 10 and Windows 11 are free and open-source...
("Minimalist GNU forWindows"), formerly mingw32, is a free and open source software development environment to create Microsoft Windows applications. MinGW...
Global Information