Files (Nautilus)
Drop-in replacementFreeCalled Files. Already installed and already on the taskbar on Ubuntu and Fedora. Same layout and same habits.
Your files: Reads USB sticks and external drives formatted on Windows, including NTFS ones.
Does File Explorer run on Linux?
Verdict: No
No. File Explorer is part of Windows and does not exist on Linux, but every Linux desktop comes with its own file manager doing the same job, already on the taskbar.
Microsoft describes File Explorer as the Windows tool for finding, opening, organising and managing files on your PC and in the cloud. It is built into Windows and has never been offered separately, so there is nothing to install on Linux and nothing to buy.
The replacement is already there. On Ubuntu and Fedora it is called Files, on KDE systems it is called Dolphin, and in both cases it is on the taskbar the first time you log in. Places down the left, folder contents on the right, tabs, search, copy and paste, zip and unzip. The ideas are the same.
The differences are small. There is no C: drive. Your documents, pictures and downloads live in a folder with your name on it, and other drives appear in the sidebar when you plug them in. The right-click menu is shorter than the Windows one, and there is no ribbon.
Your files come across untouched. USB sticks and external drives formatted on Windows mount when you plug them in and the contents are there. If you kept everything on OneDrive, that is worth sorting separately before you switch, because OneDrive has no official Linux app.
What to use instead of File Explorer
FSearch
Different way of workingFreeIf what you actually used File Explorer for was finding files fast, this is the instant search tool.
This doesn't have to stop you
One stubborn program doesn't have to decide the whole question. You can keep Windows on the same PC and restart into it only when you need File Explorer. Everything else you do can move.
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