'We've literally broken Windows so bad that it downgraded itself to a previous version.' This is why i love this channel

As someone who likes captions on videos, I really appreciate that you made proper captions for the video, really makes it easier to watch. Especially in loud environments or on places I'd rather not have my phone making noise. Thank you ThioJoe!

The part where Windows starts reverting itself up to 10 is the funniest part of it all 🤣🤣

I need to wake up at 5 a.m., but a ThioJoe video is more important.

Fun fact, when I first got my laptop from hp retailer it said that it came pre installed with windows 11, but it was exactly like how you showed windows 10 with the windows 10 start and explorer. After I updated it went back to normal but it was a wild out of the box experience for me, because the setup process was exactly like windows 11 but with broken stuff lying around.

TaskManager was built to run, even if the windows Shell (root process) is not running. It's a fail-safe. That's why it always starts.

You can also get the Windows 10 Explorer in Windows 11 by opening the control panel and then navigating to a folder from there

I thought this was going to be cheesy "look how messed up it is" type of comedy video when I saw the title, but it turned out to be really interesting and way more in-depth than I expected. I liked the step by step explanation of the problem solving to try to correct the errors seen. Nice video!

In a way, it's kind of cool that Windows tries to protect itself so the user doesn't just bork their system. On Linux, a user with sudo permissions is really dangerous because they can just rm -rf / and bork the system with ease. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that on Linux you're free to do with your system as you please, but I feel like some more protection against malicious users and programs *by default* would be nice.

Also 2, Windows 11 is not just built on 10, it is Windows 10 with a new GUI. Or technically they all are Windows NT 4.0 from 1996. They expanded on features and made new GUIs but in the kernel, you'll find DOS era code and what was built upon. They started from scratch for NT but still used their old code to look up stuff, repeating some past mistakes. Most of the code is not capable of using modern CPU and language features. Also a lot of applications are the exact same as in previous versions, compiled again. So you basically just deleted one layer of skins on the explorer. That's also the reason you can open the settings you know from Windows XP.

Good thing you didn’t broke it further otherwise it would have reverted back to Windows XP 😂

Something i would never mess with but its definitely interesting to watch windows just break like that

idk why i thought windows 11 was entirely separate from windows 10, i was genuinely surprised when it actually reverted back to the windows 10 taskbar and explorer, it's interesting to me how all windows versions are just build upon older versions and not entirely new

This is a good example of how windows 11 has UWP apps heavily integrated in the system. Even the right click menu is actually an app, so thats why you couldnt even right click. The real apps (like win10 explorer, taskmngr, notepad, etc) are either in System32 or elsewhere in the Windosws folder (as it should be, as they are actually part of the OS) and they seem to be set as some kind of fallback if the UWP ones fail, so thats why it started reverting.

He deleted Internet Explorer...

Windows is more robust than I would have thought. And I also learned about some tools that I really should have known about previously. Have a well-earned like

I tried deleting apps this way but I guess due to registeries, the apps still showed up in the Programs and features panel :/

Try deleting all environment variables. I did that recently without thinking about it too much, made the computer unusable and took me a while to fix haha

Just reminds me of how often we had to reinstall windows back in the day. You get to a point where you knew reformatting was the easy way out.

I like how Windows just started freaking out with the cursors like you know it really gave up, poor Virtual Machine

Thio Joe your vids are always so interesting!

I think you could do a video combining everything you have done so far, and delete as many files from windows as possible without it completely crashing. Would be fun to see what would happen then

Great video, Never thought of trying this. Thanks

I find these videos more satisfying to watch more than other tech vids

Very very interesting. I enjoyed every bit of it

kinda curious, what would the auto repair/advanced boot up options say about all this? would it find and fix some stuff? would it turn windows 11 to windows 10 even more? would it crash? is safe mode still an option? I feel like there is more to it

YESS MORE OF THESE WHAT ID YOU DELETE STUFF, been watching you for 3 years

Thanks for the great tutorial on how to get the old windows 10 explorer back on windows 11 :)

Windows: you know what? screw you. *downgrades your virtual machine*

Also, the SearchEngine indexes all files one the system which are not yet indexed, so if you delete the database (.db duh) it has more to index and creates its folders again. Killing the windows search (or uninstalling the system feature) will remove the folder forever.

What happens if you back up the folders before deleting them and just copy them back? would that be enough to fix it?

Oh yeah! A what if video! Love them

Love this series of messing with Windows in VM! You could try to boot from a Linux Live ISO in the VM and delete things from the outside if the virtual disk and Windows installation it's not encrypted. You could try a System snapshot in Windows as a final recovery to see if it can recover all the way in such destruction, or attempt recovery methods that doesn't imply full reinstall to see to what extent you can make Windows somewhat functional again without reinstalling. In the System 32 deletion one you tried some of the recovery options in Windows, you could try some of the "outside" Windows ones. Like the tools you recommend to have in pendrives in other videos, or for example, copying from the outside from a fresh install (from other VM maybe) the folders missing to see if that improves something. Very cool series!

You can do an in-place upgrade and that will probably fix the system without wiping data (But you probably deleted the progams anyway which cannot be restored but at least you can restore the system to stable state again)

You can just use 7zip to access most of the protected system folders. Ofc as running as admin. And IObit Unlocker to delete files/folders that has running process.

Maybe you could try exporting the whole registry to a .reg file, use some find and replace tool with regex to replace all string values to empty, all dword/qword values to 0 etc... and see what happens, tho it sounds a little too extreme so you could try to do just the user ones first and then move on to the other parts of registry but it sounds like a fun way to nuke Windows.

I think next video might be deleting windows files. Always loved your presentation and you eyes :)😁

You are the record holder of computers! You have most important videos in the world.

There is like already so much information i got from this video and now i am curious to try this on my VM as well

Reverting to W10 was hilarious...loved it. THX!

I actually messed with the Program Data folder because of the start menu. That start menu folder some folders that correspond to folders that are visibble to everyone in the start menu So what i did was a folder called Customization for customization programs like rainmeter and wallpaper engine And Maintenece for maintenece programs All those are shortcuts that everyone will be able to see in the start menu There is also something like this for the desktop You can open C:\Users\Public\Desktop drop files in there and then there will be a icon on your desktop (and everyone elses on your pc) (the icon is like the file or shorcut you put in there) And these dont count as part of your desktop but still show up innit so you can have a lot of shortcuts on your desktop and have a clean desktop folder in the explorer (to make it easier to upload stuff from the desktop if you are not a drag and drop person)

Such a fun experiment!

In windows 11, the secure whatever thingy that’s require is what prevents the access and deletion of these In such a way (I think). It literally forces the CPU to keep you out of them.

Good video man

Good channel Theo

Some parts of windows 11 still identifies as windows 10. For example when I try to access group policy in the home version of windows 11, it said that group policy was not supported by this version of windows 10, even though it is windows 11

The fact that Windows 11 lit went to 10 is just crazy. I always thought the main Windows files were in the "Windows" folders

It would be interesting what would happen in older Windows versions

I did not expect the ending

1:40 - most of them ARE apps, not just preinstalled, but most installed apps from MS Store or sideloaded UWP / Windows App SDK apps or APPX/MSIX packaged apps and they do have manifests (and manifests or other assets in other, similarly named, folders) look at the size of that folder in WizTree or WinDirStat, it most likely takes around 1GB for clean install of Windows, that would be too much for just manifests

What happens if you change the location of the folder? I.e if you copy them to your D: drive and then delete it from your C: drive?

Sir I have a question, what happens when we delete measured boot folder in C:\Windows\logs? Cause when I deleted it on my main PC without thinking about it, some weird things started happening, like my battery started lasting for a very short duration, even though running on low power mode and battery saver turned on as well!

Mildly interesting: The old simplified aero theme from Windows Vista/7 can still be seen on Win11 in a few different spots before the modern skin gets applied.

The funniest part is when it started to look like Windows 10

Program Files\WindowsApps is where apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store usually go.

The windows apps folder is actually for Microsoft store apps

Little fun fact, you can actually make W11’s taskbar look like W10 (not surprising though again, considering it’s built off 10) in settings to put the taskbar to the left, rather than the center. Or you can delete all those files (pls no) lol

Windows 11: Dad! Help! This guy is beating the hell out of me! Windows 10: I'm coming, son!

Is it possible to combine all the "Program Files" stored on 2 HD's onto only 1 drive and have them still work without having to reinstall those files>

In the windows 7 days there was this trick on the login screen where you could replace the accessibility menu with a cmd prompt running as SYSTEM and bypass the password entirely. I want to know if this still works in windows 10 you can find videos on how its done.

thanks for showing the app to delete as a trusted installer

Oh yeah and A your right click freezes due to registry keys pointing to applications which do not exist anymore (for example run defender scan) since you didn't delete the keys, it loops indefinitely between follow link -> failed -> follow link ... and B, sfc is 100 percent correct. There are no corrupted files, that tool is not a backup suite (Windows restore points are). Most of what you deleted, you could have uninstalled anyways. So restoring that stuff would be pretty bad actually. But your background came back - generated by the same tool which says "configuring windows, this may take a couple of minutes" when you first log into a fresh windows. It does not remember you already went through that process because you deleted program data, but it doesn't have much to do because a lot of what is does is written to C:\Windows\...

This is what's it really got me with furious sign with someone that all Ready has dam signature,

Also, you can likely fix it easily by manually installing a browser, getting some of those deleted program files and putting them back in but idk

If you want to prevent your software getting deleted and killing your computer, don't let your cat sleep on your laptop.

from my knowledge the "Windowsapp" folder is the directory for .appx, and .msixbundle (Microsoft store) apps, you can even use the "wsappbak" tool to repackage apps, using windows sandbox helps, and if the app doesn't have a trial version on the store page you can crack paid apps by downloading and installing from the store.rg-adguard and repackging from the tool

I love the what if and then you delete something in pc so we don't do the same error you such a good dude btw in the trusted installer (in my vm) I simply made me the owner of the entire c drive so I can delete everything in it but not running apps

on the bios advanced restart firmware options, it recognized my Win11 as Win10, so now it makes more sense.

What about system restore points to fix this? This may sound stupid, but I do not really know what they are.

On the windows 11 prototype, someone on 4chan found out by uninstalling edge forcibly it would revert explorer and the taskbar to the Windows 10 ones. I have the thread archived somewhere on my hard drive.

This is so cool! I can be old when im young.

the comments section is witty af, not more than you Joe. Good video as always !

What if you tried -Using system reset -Restore point? -Running DISM/SFC in a USB/disc install menu (targeting the internal drive)?

Try unlocker for deleting things. I often install to my own location, but some software doesn't allow changing install location.

11:56 - when it got stuck like this, just press Enter, or even Spacebar (if I remember correctly). And it'll continue.

The funny thing is that I actually almost deleted the Program Files but due to my gamer reaction time I cancelled it before it could do any damage.

I cannot seem to get a clear answer anywhere. Does TrusedInstaller have more permissions than SYSTEM?

Do a video of uninstalling and then deleting if needed, I wounder how far you would get to keep the system and yet how much of the integrated system can be cleared before its no longer useable.

icacls /reset only sets the same permissions as parent folder. The windows folders trees have much more complex permissions. You need to restore the delicate structure of permissions by using icacls /restore from backup created on working installation of the same windows build. In-place upgrade/reinstall is the best way to fix this mess. I would welcome video on how to intentionally switch to Windows 10 file explorer in Windows 11.

I don't have Windows 11. I'm still using 10. On Win-11, is there a restore feature that allows for a reinstallation that does not destroy your data files, settings and programs that you've downloaded?

5:27 why does your explorer and task manager look like this? Mine looks different, doesn’t have tabs…. Am I gonna get this up change too? Is there a way I can like, NOT?

Thank you ThioJoe cuz I have spent many hours recovering from my intense curiosity of, "I wonder if". Now, I can let you just do it. It is fun when you're changing computers though and got all of your data off:-)

What if you update windows to a next feature update in this state?

You should have tried an in place upgrade. It can solve almost any Windows install related issue

If something says it is in use, the easiest way to circumvent that is to drag it into the recycle bin and empty the recycle bin

Thanks, TJ~

Better video title: how to make your windows 11 install look like windows 10 with big risk of bricking your pc

3:11 Why does windows have a ringtones folder...? Is it some leftover from the mobile version or something like that?

Changing the file extensions and/or filenames can be fun. Of course files with high privileges will not let you do it until your escalate your own privileges.

@10:50 its a simple fix, you need to disable the wsearch service that keeps trying to index things and then restart. I dont need indexing myself so i have it perma turned off (and yes you can still use the search bar!)

'...in use." messages are among the most irksome things I can encounter when doing tasks (personal or professional) on a computer. It's almost exclusive to removable drives. Even when everything's closed as one does before powering down, I'll attempt to 'properly' eject external storage drives but will get errors claiming they're being used even after some time's passed since files were accessed on them. So naturally I do the "eh, f*ck it" thing we all do and yank those drives out. Hey, I was patient and gave it a warning. (Yoink!)

WindowsApps does include installed applications, it has all of the appx/UWP apps

Did you sign out as the dialog said to test if it changed anything?

What happens if you delete those folders from another OS so there are no permissions to worry about?

W11 seems to "revert" to the Windows 10 look because you removed the WindowsApps folders, which contain all UWP apps in the system. W11 Explorer, Paint, Notepad, Terminal, Taskmgr etc are all UWP

how to fix when i turn on pc there is the programfiles folder that pops up in a different drive with nothing in folder, and when i delete the folder, it reappears when turn on pc again

hello! I got problem please help. I downloaded solidwork 2022 from get into pc but I filed to install the crack. I did it myself . I delete all file and folder manually but some folder I can't delete. It says "The action can't be completed because the folder or file in it is open in another program", due to this now I can't install solidework . I asked my elder but they have no idea to install. what is the actual problem. I tried many way to delete it but still I can't . How to delete all files of this software so that I can install.

the fact that windows 11 goes back to 10 is really interessting

Thiojoe, can you help me see what will happen if windows(C:)Dumbstack is deleted (It is a hidden system file)?Thanks

You COULD try to reset it my Restarting and going into the recovery mode. You can get to it by just Booting up your computer when the windows logo appears force shut it down. It SHOULD Boot you into recovery mode. But only thing: If your computer is ruined then I am about 70% sure your VM will boot into recovery. You may or may not be able to do a clean install. I hope this helps. ☺