Add a "Up to parent folder" button in explorer for Windows 7

Windows 7 explorer no longer supports a “folder up” button that can take you back up to the parent folder. Instead, Windows 7 and Vista only has a back button. Below is to add a simple “up” button to Windows explorer in Windows 7 or Vista using a free program called “ClassicShell”. As its name suggests, this software adds a number of functions inspired by the classic Windows XP shell, including a classic “start” menu.

Step 1: download the latest version of ClassicShell (works on 32bit and 64 bit OS’s). The version I used at the time of this writing is 1.9.8

Step 2: run the executable to begin the installation. Make sure to uncheck “Classic Start Menu” (unless you in fact want it) but keep “classic explorer” checked.

Step 3: Open any folder then press ALT+T on your keyboard to access “folder options” in Windows 7.

Step 4: Click on the “view” tab and then check “always show menus”. And click “OK”.

Step 5: Right click in a blank area on the newly visible file menu then check “Classic Explorer Bar”.

Step 6: Click on the now-visible “ClassicShell” icon to access the program settings.

Step 7: In the Classic Explorer settings, do the following

• Check “Show Up button in the title bar”
• Uncheck “Show caption in the title bar” and “Show icon in the title bar” — unless you want these.
• Uncheck “Enable classic copy UI” and “Show free space and file size in status bar” — unless you want these.
• Click “OK”

Step 8: Once you exit out of the settings, go back and uncheck “Classic Explorer Bar” — unless you actually like and want it. (Remember that the object of this post is to only add an “UP folder” button to Windows explorer).

Step 9: Go back to the folder options (ALT+T as in steps 3 and 4 above) and uncheck “always show menus” then click OK.

• Original Post: How to add a "go up to parent folder" button in explorer for Windows 7 and Vista