Want to replace Explorer.exe in Windows 7 to implement some awesome windows 7 themes? Rejoice! There’s an easier way to replace explorer.exe now. With simple registry editor, you can take full ownership of Windows 7 system files and can rename or overwrite them. Follow the simple step by step guide posted below:

Replace Explorer.exe in Windows 7

Step 1: Take ownership of the folder. Process will execute a series of commands.

Step 2: Go to C:/Windows and right click on Explorer.exe, if you see “Take Ownership” option, just click on it. If you don’t see “Take Ownership” option for explorer.exe:

• Right click on explorer.exe and click on “Properties”.
• Go to “Security” tab.
• Select the user you want to grant privileges and click “Edit”.
• Here give “Full Control” to selected user and press “Ok”.

Step 3: Rename explorer.exe to something else.

Now you can overwrite or replace explorer.exe with a customized version of the same. You will need that to install Windows 7 themes that come with VisualStyle.