DeskRealm v0.5.9

DeskRealm v0.5.9

Added

• Added the main DeskRealm window, opened from the tray or tray icon double-click, while keeping the default runtime tray-first.
• Added first-run onboarding inside the main window so fresh installs explain DeskRealm before the first automatic Desktop switch.
• Added a safe first-run choice to associate the original Windows Desktop with one realm without moving files.
• Added a skip path that creates DeskRealm - Original Desktop.lnk shortcuts inside managed realms so the original Desktop remains easy to find.
• Added a modern dark/cyan DeskRealm UI shell with custom navigation, rounded cards, custom buttons, status pills and dark in-app window chrome.
• Added the DeskRealm DR logo as the compiled executable icon, tray notification icon and main window icon.
• Added UI access to the main tray actions: refresh, sync names, save/restore icon layout, restore original Desktop, startup toggle, open realms/config/logs and quit.
• Added capture-based hotkey fields in the Hotkeys tab. Click a field, hold one or two modifiers, then press the main key to record the shortcut.
• Added the dedicated Icon Layout tab with collapsible realm rows and child rows for saved display-topology layout variants.
• Added layout locks, realm locks and variant locks from the UI.
• Added locked-layout autosave merge mode: existing icon positions stay protected, while newly added icons can be captured once.
• Added confirmation-gated manual overwrite for locked layouts.
• Added confirmation-gated Delete for saved layout variants. Deleting a variant removes only DeskRealm layout metadata, never Desktop files or icons.

Changed

• Closing the DeskRealm window with the cross now hides it back to the tray. Quit DeskRealm is the explicit app exit.
• Default desktop hotkeys now avoid common Windows/app conflicts: desktop 1-4 use Win+Shift+X, Win+Shift+C, Win+Shift+B, Win+Shift+N.
• Existing customized hotkeys are preserved during migration; only untouched legacy defaults are replaced.
• enabled is now presented as Enable realm switching automation. When disabled, automatic realm switching and DeskRealm desktop hotkeys are paused without deleting data.
• Hotkey capture now stops immediately on the first non-modifier key. Releasing only modifier keys cancels capture and restores the previous value.
• The Icon Layout tab now shows saved variants from each layout JSON file instead of a single combined layout row.
• Variant rows show each persisted display working area separately using DisplayX.workingWidth / DisplayX.workingHeight, with ✅ marking the primary display.
• Config version is now 10, adding lock dictionaries for layouts, realms and exact layout variants.
• Realm locks are stored by normalized realm path so the lock applies to every desktop/layout assigned to that realm.
• Variant locks are stored as {virtual-desktop-guid}|{display-topology-key}.
• DeskRealm public UI strings remain English.
• The tray icon now loads the embedded application icon from the compiled executable instead of the generic Windows application icon.

Fixed

• Fixed ambiguous pause behavior where DeskRealm desktop hotkeys could still switch realms while DeskRealm was disabled.
• Fixed hotkey capture so later modifier keys cannot be appended after a main key has already been recorded.
• Fixed modifier-only capture attempts so they cancel cleanly when modifiers are released.
• Fixed visual artifacts around custom buttons by replacing native Button rendering with a pure owner-painted control.
• Fixed clipped text, clipped child-row borders and residual WinForms repaint artifacts in the modern UI.
• Fixed the bright native title bar by replacing it with custom dark in-app chrome.
• Fixed nullable WinForms font construction warnings in the Windows release build.

Safety

• The first automatic Desktop switch is delayed until the first-run decision is completed.
• First-run onboarding no longer moves Desktop files. Association points the selected realm to the original Desktop path.
• Shortcut creation failures are explicit and do not silently complete onboarding.
• Locked layouts refuse silent overwrite. Autosave can only merge new icons; full overwrite requires confirmation.
• Locked realms protect all child layout variants assigned to that realm and disable child destructive actions.
• Variant deletion is scoped to DeskRealm metadata and requires confirmation.

Documentation

• Updated README, CHANGELOG, release notes, patch notes, installation, configuration, architecture, safety, smoke test, TODO and technical audit for the full v0.5.8 -> v0.5.9 delta.
• Documented the branded executable/tray icon integration in the release documentation.

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DeskRealm v0.5.8

DeskRealm v0.5.8

Fixed

• Reworked first-run onboarding so DeskRealm no longer moves files from the original Windows Desktop into a managed realm folder.
• The selected virtual desktop realm now points directly to the original Desktop folder, preserving the normal Desktop when DeskRealm is closed or disabled.
• Added absolute-path realm assignments so a realm can safely use an existing external folder such as the original Desktop.
• Prevented duplicate assignment of the original Desktop path to multiple virtual desktops.

Changed

• The first-run wizard now describes the safe association model instead of file migration.
• Config migration v6 disables the legacy initialDesktopImportMoveFiles flag.
• Documentation, installation notes, safety notes and release process now describe the no-move onboarding model.

Safety

• DeskRealm must not silently move user Desktop files during onboarding. Existing files remain in the original Desktop folder.

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DeskRealm v0.5.7

DeskRealm v0.5.7

Added

• Added a first-run Desktop import wizard for new installations.
• The wizard can assign the current Windows Desktop to a chosen virtual desktop realm before the first automatic switch.
• The wizard can optionally move existing Desktop files and shortcuts into the selected realm.
• The wizard can optionally save the currently visible icon positions as that realm's initial layout.
• Added strict conflict checks for initial import: no silent overwrite, no hidden merge, and desktop.ini / DeskRealm's own realms root are skipped.
• Added config version 5 with first-run import settings.

Changed

• Existing upgraded installations are marked as import-completed during migration so the wizard does not unexpectedly interrupt users after an update.
• Documentation, release notes, smoke tests and release checklist now describe the v0.5.7 onboarding flow while retaining the validated v0.5.6 icon layout engine.

Notes

• The icon layout engine remains the v0.5.6-stabilized model: display-topology variants, DPI/scale awareness, delayed/verified restore, and Shell identity fallback for repeated shortcuts.

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DeskRealm v0.5.6

DeskRealm v0.5.6

• Stores Shell display/parsing identity metadata for desktop icons in addition to the PIDL-derived key.
• Restores icons through exact PIDL first, then falls back to secondary Shell identity matching when Explorer exposes the same shortcut with a different PIDL after a realm/display transition.
• Adds explicit fallback-match logs so icons like browser shortcuts can be diagnosed by human-readable names instead of only Desktop item #... placeholders.
• Keeps the existing anti-contamination and verified restore logic from v0.5.4/v0.5.5.

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DeskRealm v0.5.5

DeskRealm v0.5.5

• Applies icon positions in smaller chunks instead of one large Shell batch.
• Verifies actual icon positions after restore and retries only icons that did not move.
• Keeps SVSI_NOTAKEFOCUS during placement to reduce Shell focus side effects.
• Adds logs for unresolved icons after restore verification so persistent identity issues can be diagnosed without silent fallback.

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DeskRealm v0.5.4

DeskRealm v0.5.4

• Deferred icon layout restore after a desktop switch so Explorer has time to finish showing the target realm before DeskRealm moves icons.
• Added a pending-restore save guard that refuses icon saves while a switch restore is waiting, preventing transient previous-realm icons from contaminating the target realm layout.
• Added restore retries after switch to stabilize icons if Explorer reflows shortly after the first placement pass.
• Changed icon restore to position all matching icons in a single batched IFolderView.SelectAndPositionItems call instead of moving icons one by one.
• Added config migration v4 for switch restore delay and retry settings.

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DeskRealm v0.5.3

DeskRealm v0.5.3

• Added display topology variants for icon layouts, keyed by active monitor set, virtual bounds, resolution, orientation and effective DPI / scale.
• Added per-icon screen-relative metadata so best-effort restores can adapt positions when resolution or scale changes.
• Added a display topology save guard that skips saves while monitor/resolution/DPI changes are settling, preventing Windows-compacted positions from contaminating a realm.
• Added automatic restore of the current realm after a display topology change settles.
• Enabled PerMonitorV2 DPI awareness so DeskRealm can see per-monitor scale values for layout keys.

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DeskRealm v0.5.2

DeskRealm v0.5.2

• Prevented icon layout saves when the active Windows virtual desktop does not match the DeskRealm realm currently assigned as the known Desktop folder.
• Fixed cross-desktop icon position contamination when identical icons exist on multiple realms with different positions.
• Kept pre-switch saves for DeskRealm hotkey navigation, where the previous desktop is still active and safe to capture.
• Added explicit refusal for manual icon layout saves when the known Desktop path and current virtual desktop are out of sync.

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DeskRealm v0.5.1

DeskRealm v0.5.1

• Disabled background icon layout autosave by default to avoid periodic cursor busy-state flicker.
• Added config migration from v1 to v2 that disables old periodic autosave settings.
• Preserved automatic layout saving on desktop switch and before exit restore.
• Removed post-restore Shell refresh after icon placement.
• Updated docs to describe the quiet save model.

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DeskRealm v0.5.0

DeskRealm v0.5.0

Initial open-source release.

Highlights

• Per-Windows-virtual-desktop Desktop folders.
• Realm folder names synchronized from Windows Task View names.
• Per-realm Desktop icon layout persistence and autosave.
• Configurable direct hotkeys for virtual desktops 1-6.
• Tray menu with status, sync, logs, restore, startup toggle, and manual icon layout actions.
• Emergency Desktop restore script.
• Apache-2.0 license with NOTICE and CITATION.cff attribution files.

Downloads

• Portable ZIP: extract and run DeskRealm.App.exe.
• Install bundle ZIP: includes transparent PowerShell install/uninstall scripts.

Safety

DeskRealm redirects the current user's Windows Desktop Known Folder while it runs. Read docs/SAFETY_AND_PRIVACY.md before first use.