Browse free open source C++ System Shells and projects below. Use the toggles on the left to filter open source C++ System Shells by OS, license, language, programming language, and project status.

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  • 1
    Classic Shell

    Classic Shell

    Start menu and Windows enhancement software

    Classic Shell adds some missing features to Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Vista like a classic start menu, toolbar for Explorer and others. Note: The software available here is not the latest version. Visit the new website www.classicshell.net to download the latest version and to access the new forums and documentation.
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    Downloads: 176 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 2
    fish

    fish

    The user-friendly command line shell

    Finally, a command line shell for the 90s. fish is a smart and user-friendly command line shell for Linux, macOS, and the rest of the family. fish suggests commands as you type based on history and completions, just like a web browser. Watch out, Netscape Navigator 4.0! fish supports 24 bit true color, the state of the art in terminal technology. Behold the monospaced rainbow. fish is fully scriptable, and its syntax is simple, clean, and consistent. You'll never write esac again. For those lucky few with a graphical computer, you can set your colors and view functions, variables, and history all from a web page. Other shells support programmable completions, but only fish generates them automatically by parsing your installed man pages. fish will delight you with features like tab completions and syntax highlighting that just work, with nothing new to learn or configure.
    Downloads: 20 This Week
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  • 3
    Swish
    Access your remote files over SFTP directly from Windows Explorer and 'My Computer'.
    Downloads: 21 This Week
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  • 4
    fshell is the Symbian equivalent of bash + telnet + a posix-like set of command-line tools. In other words it's a console framework for Symbian OS with support for remote connections and a suite of tools for debugging the device.
    Downloads: 28 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 5

    Process Manager for Windows (PMW)

    A easy to use task manager that lets you control your apps

    Process Manager for Windows is a smart Task Manager that lets you manage priority, transparency, visibility of your processes with few clicks. It lets you kill one process or all processes in with just shortcut key and let you gain control of your unresponding windows computer and let you regain all the resources back, of course when killing apps you always have the risk of losing the unsaved data. ================= This tool flourished from 2008 to 2013, and was downloaded over 200K times, However, it was decommissioned in 2013 by the sole developer Arif Ali Saiyed This tool was free with optional donations to milaap.org that raised about $1400 and just that small amount helped 15,372 needy people through microlending and created a new source of income stream for 3401 entrepreneurs. Check out the link below to see the impact you all made by donating. https://milaap.org/users/6877/impact
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    Downloads: 8 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 6
    A Windows Installer Database To XML Bi-Directional Converter. The command line tool msi2xml converts Windows Installer Databases (.msi) to text based XML files. The complementary tool xml2msi reconstructs the .msi from the XML file.
    Downloads: 23 This Week
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  • 7
    Blackbox for Windows is an alternative shell for Microsoft Windows. It is based stylistically on the Blackbox window manager for the X Window System, however it does not use the same codebase except for the gradient rendering code.
    Downloads: 13 This Week
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  • 8

    Kobo XCSoar Launcher

    a customizable boot menu for your Kobo Mini

    Mainly this project aims at easing startup and use of XCSoar (see xcsoar.org) on Kobo Mini. But the scope of use should not be limited solely to XCSoar. The Launcher should be small in code size, reuse most of the original libraries, provide flexible configuration to any application that might be ported to the Kobo Mini. It supports customizable fonts, toolbox-pages, buttons (also graphical), labels, autostart and sleep timers.
    Downloads: 19 This Week
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  • 9
    SoupToNuts is a repository of technical articles and example software covering Postfix, OpenSSH, C and C++, Live Linux CD, MySQL, SQLite, Berkeley DB, Bash and System Administration.
    Downloads: 17 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 10
    mp3ext
    This is Michael Mutschler's famous mp3 shell extension, also available for Windows7 and 64 bit.
    Downloads: 14 This Week
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  • 11
    this is a very primitive dos multitasking gui i think it will help alot of people with window management it also comes with some example progams
    Downloads: 13 This Week
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  • 12
    Dreamos is an operating system developed on Sega Dreamcast to be ported to an array of embedded devices. The goal of the project is to be able to run non-ported Unix programs on the Sega Dreamcast and other embedded devices with ease and POSIX compliance
    Downloads: 5 This Week
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  • 13
    Shell Extension Manager helps you activate / deactivate MS Windows shell extensions in order to improve the stability and speed of your computer. Your actions with this program could fail your Windows Explorer Shell! Use with caution!
    Downloads: 5 This Week
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  • 14

    Context Menu (Shell Extension)

    Free configurable Windows Explorer context menu extension.

    ContextMenu is a free configurable shell extension allowing users to define their own menu items to be included in the Windows Explorer’s context menu. This project consists of two DLLs (x86 and x64) written in native C++ with plain access to the Win32-API representing the shell extension, a composer written in C# to be used to configure all shell extensions at once as well as of a help file explaining all necessary details. The composer is also available as x86 and x64 version. Note this shell extension is tested under Windows XP (64) and under Windows 7 (32). Furthermore, a parallel usage (multiple installations) of this shell extension is also possible.
    Downloads: 4 This Week
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  • 15
    cLaunch - Highly customisable PocketPC Today Screen Launcher based on tdLaunch code
    Downloads: 2 This Week
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  • 16
    KonsolScript: Automate and Orchestrate

    KonsolScript: Automate and Orchestrate

    Embeddable scripting runtime for live behavior, AI, and automation.

    KonsolScript is an embeddable scripting runtime for games, tools, automation, and AI-driven applications. Add a live scripting layer to any C++ application. Hot-reload behavior, patch running apps, and orchestrate AI workflows - without rebuilding or redeploying the binary. Ship once. Evolve forever. Key capabilities: - Embed into any C++ app with a single header - Hot-reload scripts at runtime without restarting - AI-safe: validate or reject scripts before execution - Orchestrate LLMs (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Ollama) in .ks scripts - Built-in: String, File, JSON, CSV, Math, Regex, and more - Plugins: HTTP, SQLite, MySQL, TCP, Redis, Crypto, JWT, Zip - Push behavior updates to remote instances over TCP Use cases: - Scriptable game engines (hot-patch rules mid-session) - AI event bridges (natural language to live app behavior) - Automation pipelines (CI, log triage, file processing) - LLM orchestration workflows Docs: https://konsolscript.sf.net/kookbook.html
    Downloads: 1 This Week
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  • 17

    USB Extension

    Software for the placement of removable devices shortcuts.

    Software for the placement of removable devices shortcuts on the desktop in Microsoft Windows. Support cd-rom, usb-drives, flash cards, network drives and etc. Work on Windows XP and later. Written on c++. Now the installer (1.0.2) with required DLL-files.
    Downloads: 2 This Week
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  • 18
    Sinhala Desktop is a Sinhala Version of Windows Shell Replacement. This project contains all the major Windows System components with Sinhala User Interface. (Sinhala is a national language of Sri Lanka.) Developed Using Delphi 6 and C++Builder 6.
    Downloads: 3 This Week
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  • 19
    Windows Native Unix Shell (wnus prompt)

    Windows Native Unix Shell (wnus prompt)

    A comprehensive Unix/Linux-like shell environment for Windows 7+ 64bit

    This project is implemented entirely in C++ without external dependencies. Windows Native Unix Shell (wnus prompt) (pronounced Wenus) brings the power and familiarity of bash sh ash commands and common terminal utilities to native Windows, with full NTFS support and Windows API integration. . It contains 342 fully implemented commands built-in , encompassing file managements operation and so much more. It has a comprehensive help system. This doesn't require WSL to work, or any other outside compatibility layer. Just download and manage files like you would in bash. It requires git, gcc, g++, and docker exes in path if you wish to use them. otherwise you do not need them for wnus to run. Windows 10 or Windows 11 highly recommended. Screenshot are of older version the app still looks the same, Now sh has access to all built-in commands from subshell.
    Downloads: 3 This Week
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  • 20
    This is a collection of small utilities written for use in Windows CMD scripts. However some of the utilities are also useful for use in UNIX shells.
    Downloads: 3 This Week
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  • 21

    TclFltk

    Dynamic Extension for TCL/TK

    Implements a Tcl binding for the Fast Light Tool Kit portable GUI development environment.
    Downloads: 2 This Week
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  • 22
    GeoShell is a Windows Shell Replacement. It replaces the standard 'Start Menu', 'Desktop', 'Task Bar' and 'system tray' of windows with a smaller, faster, and more configureable program, with an extensible bar-oriented minimal interface.
    Downloads: 1 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 23
    Quake II-based 3D shell, currently aimed for Windows (Linux in consideration). The project hopes to create a much more logical user experience for performing common tasks inside a computer, while establishing a three-dimensional online world.
    Downloads: 1 This Week
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  • 24
    BeRDP is a project dedicated to bringing the RDP protocol to the BeOS platform utilizing the rdesktop project.
    Downloads: 1 This Week
    Last Update:
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  • 25
    This program is a simple shell. chdir, echo, mkdir,rmdir,cat, history, variables, a little help, ... are supported. For more info see the changelog! There's also a script installer/uninstaller. (you can run it using GabySH!!!). Win32 Plateform.
    Downloads: 1 This Week
    Last Update:
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