Can File Explorer be Disabled?

We use q-dir for everything, but there are some things that insist on opening File Explorer instead. An example is that my wife has a few shortcuts on her desktop to folders. If the shortcut is to a file like Excel, it will open Excel as expected. However, if the shortcut is to a folder, it opens File Explorer and not Q-Dir. That is why she wants to somehow disable File Explorer. There are several things that launch File Explorer. In fact one that I hate is if I am in Q-Dir and right click a Macrium Reflect image and tell it to mount as a drive letter, that will work but it opens the drive letter in file explorer. Then I quit File explorer and open that letter in Q-Dir. I believe this is not a Q-Dir issue but will happen in any alternative File Program. Could there be a redirect from file explorer to Q-Dir?

Berton said:

No, File Explorer [and the older Windows Explorer of Win7 and earlier] can't be disabled, is pretty much the core of Windows, if it isn't working neither is Windows. This all goes back to Win95 when the Disk Operating System [DOS] was starting to be merged into the OS/Operating System. Before Win95 one installed DOS [more than a couple of brands such as IBM-DOS and PC-DOS and MS-DOS] as the OS then installed Windows 3.11 or earlier on top of DOS as the GUI/Graphical User Interface. There were intermediate programs such as HDM/Hard Disk Menu that gave a customizable list that could be used to choose which DOS-based program or Windows itself was opened.

If wanting something else usually the right-click of a Folder or a file and Open with works.

Well, Open With does not show with a shortcut, but I tried to right click and q-dir was there. Thanks.

there are some things that insist on opening File Explorer instead.

This is most likely a programming issue. If the program uses a fixed path to explorer.exe, then that will be used. Only if the appropriate registry key is read, identifying the default file manager, will your chosen program be launched.

The same occurs in some instances with IE and now Edge, even if the user has specified, say, Firefox as their default browser.

OH...I can look.