Windows 10 introduces the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), which provides a common app platform for every Windows 10 device. This also means that your favorite classic Win32 desktop applications are going to vanish one by one over time, just as already happened to the Sticky Notes and Calculator applications. And Paint appears to be the next, which will be replaced by Paint 3D.
This post tells you how to get back the old Windows 8 classic Calculator desktop program in Windows 10.
Get Windows 8 Classic Calculator in Windows 10
Here are the zip files enclosing the Windows 8.1 version of Calculator (calc.exe) along with the MUI files for various languages.
Download Old Calculator from the following link, suitable for your Operating System (bitness).
- classic_calculator_x64.zip — for Windows 10 64-bit systems
- classic_calculator_x86.zip — for Windows 10 32-bit systems
SHA-256
classic_calculator_x64.zip – 35e1d8f9b50ceea79ab45cfb4b5326101d42cf79e80028d7523fcf255349698d
classic_calculator_x86.zip – 4517ef1f7e2bb7f5359ae81c27d77b0619c179ed01e1b692649d108373b1b715
Extracting Windows 8 Calculator
Step 1: Unzip the archive and extract the contents to a folder.
Step 2: Move the file calc1.exe to C:\Windows\System32 folder
Step 3: Move the corresponding MUI file (calc1.exe.mui) to the folder that corresponds to your Operating System language. For example, if using English (United States), copy the MUI file from “en-US” in the source folder, to “C:\Windows\System32\en-US” folder.
I’ve also included several MUI files for other languages. Here is the list of language MUI files enclosed in the zip file.
Ref: Language Code Table
- ar-SA
- bg-BG
- cs-CZ
- da-DK
- de-DE
- el-GR
- en-GB
- en-US
- et-EE
- fi-FI
- fr-FR
- he-IL
- hr-HR
- hu-HU
- it-IT
- ja-JP
- ko-KR
- lt-LT
- lv-LV
- nb-NO
- nl-NL
- pl-PL
- pt-BR
- pt-PT
- ro-RO
- ru-RU
- sk-SK
- sl-SI
- sr-Latn-RS
- sv-SE
- th-TH
- tr-TR
- uk-UA
- zh-cn
- zh-HK
Step 4: Run the REG file named register.reg. This REG file (a plain-text file) sets a registry key so that when you run calc or calc.exe from Run dialog, it launches the classic Calculator instead of the Modern or UWP Calculator app.
For your information, the REG file creates the following App Paths key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\calc.exe
And points it to C:\Windows\System32\calc1.exe
That’s it! You can now enjoy your classic Windows 7 / Windows 8 Calculator.
How to I remove Classic Calculator?
To reverse the changes, run the “undo.reg” file. Then delete calc1.exe from Windows\System32 directory. Also, delete calc1.exe.mui from the corresponding language directory, such as Windows\System32\en-US.
One small request: If you liked this post, please share this?
One "tiny" share from you would seriously help a lot with the growth of this blog. Some great suggestions:- Pin it!
- Share it to your favorite blog + Facebook, Reddit
- Tweet it!
does not work with win 10 v1703
Thank you. It works on Windows 10 Pro build 14393.1358 on version 1607
I’m grateful for this solution of you. That’s unbelievable !
p.s: It’s 11 August 2017 – currently running Turkish Windows 10 x64 with the latest updates. And this solution worked for me.
p.s for admin: I’m ashamed that you blocked users from Turkey. I just wanted to say thank you, so I turned on my vpn. Can you do us a favor and stop block users from Turkey? Please?
thanks very much !!!
Sweeeet!
Thans a lot; it works on my Win 10 October 2018 version.
No need to do the reg-stuff, just unpack it, run it and pin it to the taskbar, then it’s there always for you!
Thanks.. worked well
I opened the mortgage calculator option. How does one remove it when reopening calculator 1? Should be an option for NONE.
Nope, doesnt work. Does it matter where to I extract the folder? (I put it in Programs)
@Erik: It works perfectly fine in v1809 which is the latest build. You need to put the .exe and .mui files in the locations mentioned in the article. Otherwise it won’t work.
Thank you so much, it works. I really appreciate it. Good job.
Thanks for this. The new calculator app was driving me crazy!
muchas gracias, funciona muy bien
Appears to work like magic. Thank you for this.
The Windows 10 calculator takes far too much space on the Desktop. From several sources I have worked out a way to bring back the Windows 7 calculator, assuming you can find a Win 7 system. Here are the steps:
On Windows 7
Make copy of C:\WINDOWS\system32\calc.exe
Make copy of C:\WINDOWS\system32\en-US\calc.exe.mui
[or your preferred localization]
Rename copies to win7calc.exe and win7calc.exe.mui
[renaming is to avoid mashing standard Windows calculator]
On Windows 10
Put win7calc.exe.mui in C:\WINDOWS\system32\en-US [or other]
Put win7calc.exe in C:\WINDOWS\system32
In properties for win7calc.exe, set compatibilty mode to
Windows 7 for all users
Using Run, open %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start
Menu\Programs
Right click & drag win7calc.exe to that folder, create shortcut
Rename shortcut and reboot
Thanks a lot, work on W10-1903
Nicely done. Thanks!
Thank you for your support. Worked like a charm, W10 1903.
Thank you very much
Always be successful and healthy
thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu 🙂
Gracias
tengo tambien tengo la versión para español
Thank You for the tutorial! It works great in Windows 11. The only oddity I have noticed in Windows 11 is that wherever there is a radio button on the calculator there is not much space between the button and the title, but that does not affect the performance one bit.
Спасибо! Работает из папки!!!
This doesn’t work anymore as of Windows 10 version 22H2 build 19045.2486. When calc or calc.exe is run the old app is launched.
By the way, having to rewrite my comment because I forgot to type an email is idiotic. This isn’t 1998.
Worked fine for me on 22H2 19045.2604
The last comulative 22H2 update January 2024 broke several applications run on Intel Core 2 duo and quad core CPU’s. Yet several apps behave like an embedded Trogen virus found NTOSkernal. AVG and defender missed after a ransomware attack clicking on a trusted site article link.
Thank you! That worked perfectly! I just updated to win 10 and I HATED that app because it took up a LOT of screen space and the app remained active even after you closed it!