A component of Microsoft Windows | |
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File Manager in Windows NT 3.5 displaying a folder and the contents of partition C:.
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Details | |
Type | Shell |
Included with | Windows 3.0 to Windows NT 4.0 and Windows ME |
Replaces | MS-DOS Executive |
Replaced by | Windows Explorer |
Related components | |
Program Manager |
File Manager is a file manager program bundled with releases of Microsoft Windows between 1990 and 1999. It was a single-instance graphical interface, replacing the command-line interface of MS-DOS, to manage files (copy, move, open, delete, search, etc.). Although File Manager was included in Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 and some later versions, Windows Explorer was introduced and used as the primary file manager, with file management via a 2-pane view different from File Manager's, and a single-pane view obtained by clicking a "My Computer" icon.
The program's interface showed a list of directories on the left hand panel, and a list of the current directory's contents on the right hand panel. File Manager allowed a user to create, rename, move, print, copy, search for, and delete files and directories, as well as to set permissions (attributes) such as archive, read-only, hidden or system, and to associate file types with programs. Also available were tools to label and format disks, manage folders for file sharing and to connect and disconnect from a network drive. On Windows NT systems it was also possible to set ACLs on files and folders on NTFS partitions through the shell32 security configuration dialog (also used by Explorer and other Windows file managers). On NTFS drives, individual files or entire folders could be compressed or expanded.
The Windows NT version of File Manager allows users to change directories, files, local, network and user permissions.
From Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 onward, File Manager was superseded by Windows Explorer. However, the WINFILE.EXE
program file was still included with Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me (16-bit executable), and Windows NT 4.0 (32-bit executable). The last 32-bit WINFILE.EXE
build (4.0.1381.318) was distributed as part of Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a (SP6a). The last 16-bit WINFILE.EXE
build (4.90.3000) was distributed as part of Windows Me operating system.