Fotocx for Windows 11
 

 click to enlarge

Fotocx can be used in Windows 11 by installing Windows Subsystem for Linux 2, or WSL2. There is ample documentation in the internet about how to do this - be sure to use a recent document, since some old/obsolete documents are left hanging around.  Fotocx uses lots of memory when editing large image files, so your computer should have at least 16 GB memory, and preferably 32 GB. You should have some basic Linux knowledge for this exercise. If not, you may still be clever enough to make it work.

If your image files reside in the Windows file system (NTFS), Fotocx will be very slow.
Here are a few benchmarks to illustrate the problem.
  file system used by Fotocx                Windows     Linux
  initial index of 14377 files              1139 sec.   85.2 sec.
  startup time - no image index              0.2         0.2
               - index old files only         24         0.3
               - old + search for new        573         1.1
  show gallery having 2143 images             62         < 1
  search time - indexed parameter            368         < 1
              - non-indexed parameter        530          13
  Retouch a 50 megapixel image               < 1         < 1

NTFS is reasonable only if you have fewer than about 500 image files. Therefore move your image files to the Linux file system. You can still access them using Windows File Explorer and other Windows apps, so nothing is lost. Microsoft actually advises developers to put their project files in the Linux file system for better performance. Use the 'Linux' icon in File Explorer to access your home folder in the Linux file system. Add a Pictures folder if needed, and move your image files there.

Installing Fotocx on WSL2 is the same as for any other Linux:

Download the Fotocx binary package file from https://kornelix.net
In the Linux  terminal:
  $ cd /mnt/c/Users/<user>/Downloads    # go to Windows downloads folder
  $ tar -xzf fotocx-xxx-bin.tar.gz      # unpack package to folder fotocx
  $ cd fotocx                           # go to folder fotocx
  $ chmod u+x install.sh                # make install script executable
  $ ./install.sh                        # run the script, install fotocx
  $ fotocx                              # start Fotocx

You may need to restart the Linux window for the last step to work.

Fotocx will not start if any required library files are missing. The resulting error message names the first missing file encountered. Install the relevant package using
   $ sudo apt install <package-name>
and start Fotocx again.

When Fotocx starts, it may ask you to install missing "outboard" programs that are used by Fotocx, e.g. dcraw and exiftool. Use the package installer as above and start Fotocx again.

When Fotocx starts, you are asked for the location of your image files. Input one or more folders, e.g. /home/<user>/Pictures. The index process will begin and may take a few minutes if you have many thousands of image files.

Read the introductory parts of the user guide (key F1). Fotocx has deep functionality. Do not expect to master Fotocx in a few minutes.