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PersistentWindows Quick Help

Command Line Options

Command line option Meaning
-gui=0 Do not display the PersistentWindows icon on the System Tray. Effectively runs PersistentWindows as a service
-splash=0 No splash window at PersistentWindows startup
-legacy_icon Switch to the original icon (as of 5.49 release)
-silent No splash window, no balloon tip hint, no event logging
-ignore_process "notepad.exe;foo" Avoid restoring windows for the processes notepad.exe and foo
-debug_process "notepad.exe;foo" Print the window positioning event logs in Event Viewer for the processes notepad.exe and foo
-foreground_background_dual_position=0 Turn off dual position switching
-webpage_commander_window=0 Unregister Alt+W hotkey and turn off the webpage commander feature
-hotkey "Q" register Alt + Q as the hotkey to (de)activate webpage commander window, default hotkey is "W" (Alt + W)
-ctrl_minimize_to_tray=0 Turn off ctrl minimize window to notification tray
-prompt_session_restore Ask the user before restoring the window layout upon resuming the last session. This may help reduce the total restore time for remote desktop sessions on slow internet connections.
-delay_auto_capture 1.0 Adjust the lag between window move event and auto-capture to 1.0 second, the default lag is 3~4 seconds.
-delay_auto_restore 2.5 Adjust the lag between monitor on/off event and auto-restore to 2.5 seconds (the default lag is 1 second). This is in case the restore is incomplete or the monitor fails to go to sleep due to the restore starting too early.
-redraw_desktop Redraw the whole desktop after a restore, in case some window workarea is not refreshed
-fix_zorder=1 Preserve the window Z-order for automatic restores. The Z-order of a window indicates the window's position in a stack of overlapping windows.
-fix_offscreen_window=0 Turn off auto correction of off-screen windows
-fix_unminimized_window=0 Turn off auto restore of unminimized windows. Use this switch to avoid undesirable window shifting during window activation, which comes with Event id 9999 : "restore minimized window ...." in event viewer.
-auto_restore_new_display_session_from_db=0 Disable window restore from DB upon PC startup or switching display for the first time
‑auto_restore_missing_windows=1 When restoring from disk, restore missing windows without prompting the user
‑auto_restore_missing_windows=2 At startup, automatically restore missing windows from disk. The user will be prompted before restoring each missing window
‑auto_restore_missing_windows=3 At startup, automatically restore missing windows from disk without prompting the user
-invoke_multi_window_process_only_once=0 Launch an application multiple times when multiple windows of the same process need to be restored from the database.
-check_upgrade=0 Disable the PersistentWindows upgrade check
-auto_upgrade=1 Upgrade PersistentWindows automatically without user interaction

Shortcuts to capture/restore snapshots

Snapshot command Shortcut
Capture snapshot 0 Double click the PersistentWindows icon
Restore snapshot 0 Click the PersistentWindows icon
Capture snapshot X Double click the PersistentWindows icon, then immediately press key X (X represents a digit [0-9] or a letter [a-z])
Restore snapshot X Click the PersistentWindows icon, then immediately press key X
Undo the last snapshot restore Alt + Click the PersistentWindows icon

Shortcuts for capture/restore windows on disk

  • To save a named capture to disk, Ctrl + Click the "Capture windows to disk" menu option, then enter a name in the pop-up dialog
  • To restore the named capture from disk, Ctrl + Click the "Restore windows from disk" menu option, then enter the name of the previously saved capture in the dialog
  • To restore capture from a different display config, Shift + Click the "Restore windows from disk" menu option.

Shortcuts to manipulate positions of a window

  • Dual Position Switching allows a window to switch between foreground and background mode of different positions and sizes

    • To activate Dual Position Switching:

      • Ctrl + Move or resize the window.

    • Dual Position Switching functionality:

      • Click the desktop window to bring the foreground window to its previous background position and Z-order.
      • Shift + Click the desktop window to bring the foreground window to its second last background position. This is useful if the previous background position is mis-captured due to invoking start menu or other popups.
      • Ctrl + Click the desktop window to bring the foreground window to its previous Z-order while keeping the current location and size.

    • To cancel Dual Position Switching:

      • move or resize the window (without pressing the Ctrl key).

    • To bring a background DPS window to foreground without restoring to the previous foreground position:

      • press any of Ctrl/Shift/Alt key when activating the window

  • To restore a new window to its last closing position:

    • Ctrl + Click the PersistentWindows icon

  • To put the foreground window to the center of main monitor

    • Shift + Click the PersistentWindows icon

  • To put the foreground window behind all other windows (similar to the Alt+Esc shortcut provided by the Windows OS, which, however, does not work for windows inside a remote desktop window):

    • Alt + Click the desktop window to bring foreground window to bottom Z-order.
    • Ctrl + Alt + Click the PersistentWindows icon to bring maximized foreground window to bottom Z-order.

  • To hide a window to the notification area in the taskbar:

    • Ctrl + Click the minimize button

  • To enable/disable auto restore for non-toplevel windows (such as a child or dialog window):

    • To include a child/dialog window for auto capture/restore, move the window once using the mouse
    • To exclude a window from auto capture/restore, Ctrl + Shift + move the window

Webpage commander window

  • A webpage commander window captures command shortcuts (which is carefully designed to be done single handedly) and translates them to the underlying web browser window, maximizing the efficiency of web browsing.
  • Press Alt + W to activate/deactivate the webpage commander window inside any browser window (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi etc)
  • Once activated, a tiny commander window in blue color is displayed in synchronization with the mouse cursor.
    Command shortcut Translation Meaning
    1-8 Ctrl + #n select tab #n
    9 Ctrl + 9 select the right-most tab
    TAB Ctrl + TAB select the next tab to the right
    Q Shift + Ctrl + TAB select the previous tab to the left
    W Ctrl + W close the tab
    T Ctrl + T new tab
    R Ctrl + R Reload the web page
    A Ctrl + L edit the web Address
    S Ctrl + F Search in current page
    X (or /) / search the web
    E Home scroll to page head
    D End scroll to page end
    F Alt + Right go Forward to the next url
    B Alt + Left go Backward to the previous url
    G Ctrl + Shift + A Goto (select) one tab (for Chrome/Edge/Brave only)
    V goto the last Visited tab
    C Copy(duplicate) the current tab
    U (or Shift + T) Ctrl + Shift + T Undo close tab
    N Ctrl + N New browser window
    H Left scroll left
    J Down scroll down
    K Up scroll up
    L Right scroll right
    Space (or left click in the commander window) PgDn page down
    P (or right click in the commander window) PgUp page up
    Z Zoom in/out the commander window
    ~ toggle the color of commander window
    Alt + click commander window send the mouse click to the underlying browser window

Other features

  • To replace the default app icon with your customized one:
    • Rename your .ico (or .png) file as pwIcon.ico (or pwIcon.png) and copy it to the PersistentWindows program folder, or alternatively to C:/Users/<YOUR_ID>/AppData/Local/PersistentWindows/.
    • Copy another icon file to the same directory and rename it to pwIconBusy.*. This icon is displayed when PersistentWindows is busy restoring windows.