Toggle Taskbar Auto-hide

*A convenient shortcut to directly toggle the "Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode" option + additional system tray shortcut.

Implementation Details

I originally implemented this as a .bat script like so @echo off powershell -command "&{$p='HKCU:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3';$v=(Get-ItemProperty -Path $p).Settings;if($v[8] -eq 2){$v[8]=3;}else{$v[8]=2;}&Set-ItemProperty -Path $p -Name Settings -Value $v;&Stop-Process -f -ProcessName explorer}" But the problem with this was that a command prompt window would pop up for a split second causing a visual disturbance. To work around that limitation we re-write the script as an invisible GUI application that makes direct sys calls. The StuckRects3 can be documented as follows:

    ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
    ║ StuckRects3 "Settings" Binary Structure Map (64-byte serialized configuration)║
    ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
    ║ Offset │ Size │ Purpose                                                       ║
    ╠════════╪══════╪═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
    ║ 0x00   │ 4    │ Structure version identifier (typically 0x30,0x00,0x00,0x00)  ║
    ║ 0x04   │ 4    │ Configuration bitflags:                                       ║
    ║        │      │ • Bit 0: Taskbar position (0=bottom, 1=top, 2=left, 3=right)  ║
    ║        │      │ • Bits 1-31: Reserved for internal Windows use                ║
    ║ 0x08   │ 1    │ ► Visibility control flag:                                    ║
    ║        │      │ • 0x02 = Always visible (standard configuration)              ║
    ║        │      │ • 0x03 = Auto-hide enabled                                    ║
    ║ 0x09   │ 3    │ Reserved for future use                                       ║
    ║ 0x0C   │ 16   │ Taskbar position/dimension information                        ║
    ║ 0x1C   │ 36   │ Additional configuration data                                 ║
    ╚════════╧══════╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

The rest of the code deals with the tray icon and reopening explorer windows state since they have to be closed and reopened for the setting change to take effect. The icons for the application are based on system icons.

Download Latest Release

Installation

1. Download the latest ToggleTaskbarAutohide.exe from the releases page There are 2 versions. 1 version directly toggles the shortcut, and the 2nd provides a persistent system tray shortcut.
2. Place the executable in any location you prefer.
3. Run the application directly - no installation needed.

Support

Tested on: Windows 8, 10, and 11.

License

This project is released under Public Domain.

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