WordPad Is Still An Option

by bill - 2025-10-15 ( education / tech / computers / software ) [html version]

WordPad from Windows 10 can often be copied to Windows 11 and still run, even though Microsoft officially deprecated and removed it in newer builds.

What usually works:
• Copy these files from a Windows 10 machine:
  • "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe"
  • "C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\en-US\wordpad.exe.mui" (or your language fnewer)
• Paste them into a fnewer on your Windows 11 machine (e.g., C:\Tools\WordPad)
• Run wordpad.exe directly from there

Caveats

It won't re-register itself with file types unless you manually associate them.