GlassBar

Windows 11 Customization Utility — A transparent, color-customizable overlay for the Taskbar and a complete, functional revival of the Windows 7 Start Menu.

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Current Reality

• 22H2 / 23H2: the classic taskbar overlay path remains the stable implementation.
• 24H2 / 25H2+: taskbar rendering is currently experimental and uses an XamlBridge / TAP-based path inside explorer.exe while the Windows 11 XAML taskbar is being investigated.
• The current 25H2+ local build can reach TaskbarBackground and BackgroundFill, but it still does not produce a visible taskbar effect.
• A separate startup/config regression is also open: startup is slow and GlassBar.log may report defaults even when %LOCALAPPDATA%\\GlassBar\\config.json contains persisted values.

This README now reflects the current local state of the project rather than the older fully-external-only taskbar description.

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Features

• Taskbar Overlay — Semi-transparent color overlay over the Windows 11 Taskbar
• Windows 7 Start Menu Revival — A complete, from-scratch reimplementation of the classic Windows 7 Start Menu, replacing the native Windows 11 menu.
  • Two-column layout with pinned/recent programs and system links.
  • Recent programs auto-refresh on every open (Windows UserAssist registry).
  • Right-click pinned items to unpin or pick a custom icon (shell icon picker).
  • Right-click recent items to remove from list (persisted exclusion list).
  • Fully functional "All Programs" tree with folder drill-down.
  • Keyboard navigation, mouse-wheel scroll, and hover-to-open submenus.
  • Dynamic pinned list with right-click context menus to pin/unpin/pin-to-taskbar.
  • Right-column item visibility controlled per-item from the Dashboard.
  • Power/session control submenu (Sleep, Shut down, Restart).
• Theme Presets — One-click Classic Win7 / Aero Glass / Dark themes
• RGB Color Control — Independent R/G/B sliders for background, text, and border color
• Opacity Control — 0–100% adjustable per panel
• Blur / Acrylic effect — Optional acrylic blur behind the overlay (per panel)
• Multi-monitor — Taskbar overlay on all connected displays (all edges supported)
• Run at Startup — Optional auto-start via Windows registry; starts silently in System Tray
• System Tray icon — Minimize to tray; right-click menu (Open / Exit); double-click to restore
• System Theme Support — Follows Windows light/dark theme automatically
• Click-Through — Full Taskbar and Start Menu functionality preserved
• Explorer Restart Recovery — Auto re-detects Taskbar/Start after Explorer crashes
• No system file modifications — current 25H2+ taskbar experiments use Xaml diagnostics/TAP inside explorer.exe, but do not patch system files

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Architecture

graph TD
    subgraph Dashboard [GlassBar.Dashboard.exe — C# .NET 8, WinUI 3]
        A[MainWindow + NavigationView]
    end

    subgraph Core [GlassBar.Core.dll — C++20, Win32]
        G[Start Menu Window]
        H[Taskbar Overlay]
    end

    Dashboard -- P/Invoke (direct DLL calls) --> Core

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GlassBar.Core.dll — Native DLL (C++20)

• Manages the custom Windows 7 Start Menu window (GDI painting, state, navigation).
• Provides the transparent Taskbar overlay and handles low-level hooks.
• Exports a C API (CoreApi.h) consumed by the Dashboard via P/Invoke.

GlassBar.Dashboard.exe — Settings UI (C# .NET 8, WinUI 3)

• Single-window compact settings panel with NavigationView (Taskbar / Start Menu panels).
• Loads GlassBar.Core.dll in-process via P/Invoke — no external process or named pipes.
• Manages Core lifecycle (start/stop toggle) and forwards all settings in real time.

Technology Stack

Layer	Technology
Core engine	C++20, Win32 API, GDI
Dashboard UI	C# .NET 8, WinUI 3, XAML, NavigationView
Core↔Dashboard	P/Invoke (direct DLL calls)
Build	CMake (Core), dotnet CLI / MSBuild (Dashboard)

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Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Windows 11 (22H2 or later recommended)
• Visual Studio 2022 with C++ Desktop workload (for Core)
• .NET 8 SDK
• CMake 3.20+

Build

Core (C++):

cd Core
cmake -B build -A x64
cmake --build build --config Release

Dashboard (C#):

cd Dashboard
dotnet build -r win-x64 --no-self-contained

Run

Dashboard\bin\x64\Release\net8.0-windows10.0.22621.0\win-x64\GlassBar.Dashboard.exe

The Dashboard automatically locates and loads GlassBar.Core.dll from the same directory. Click the Core toggle → ON to start the overlay engine.

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Usage

Header (always visible)

Control	Action
Core status dot	Green = engine running, Gray = stopped
Startup toggle	Enable / disable Windows registry autostart
Core toggle	Start / stop the overlay engine

Taskbar tab

Control	Action
Taskbar Overlay toggle	Enable / disable the Taskbar overlay
Transparency slider	0–100% opacity
Blur (acrylic) toggle	Enable acrylic blur behind the overlay
R / G / B sliders	Background color
Color preview bar	Live preview of the selected color

Start Menu tab

Control	Action
Start Menu toggle	Enable / disable the Start Menu replacement
Keep Open for Preview	Pin the menu open to preview effects in real time
Transparency slider	0–100% opacity
Blur (acrylic) toggle	Enable acrylic blur behind the Start Menu
Background Color sliders	R / G / B for the menu background
Text Color sliders	R / G / B for menu text
Border / Accent Color	R / G / B for the menu border
Right Column Items	Show / hide individual right-column items
Theme Presets	Classic Win7 / Aero Glass / Dark — one-click apply

Start Menu right-click actions

Target	Action
Pinned item	Unpin from Start Menu / Select custom icon
Recent item	Remove from list
All Programs item	Pin to Start Menu / Pin to Taskbar

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Troubleshooting

Overlay doesn't appear after enabling Core

• Wait 1–2 seconds for detection; status indicator turns green when found
• If Taskbar not detected: restart Windows Explorer (Task Manager → Windows Explorer → Restart)
• Logs: %LOCALAPPDATA%\GlassBar\GlassBar.log

Start Menu not appearing

• Ensure the Start Menu toggle is ON in the Start Menu tab
• Click the Windows Start button to trigger the hook

Recent programs list is empty

• Recent items are loaded from the Windows UserAssist registry
• Open a few applications, then re-open the Start Menu — the list refreshes on every open

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Performance

Metric	Target	Measured
CPU (idle)	< 2%	~0.5%
Memory	< 50 MB	~30 MB
Startup	< 2 s	~1 s
Opacity change latency	< 50 ms	~16 ms

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Windows Version Compatibility

GlassBar uses different rendering strategies depending on the Windows build, because Microsoft introduced major architectural changes to Taskbar display rendering in 24H2 and 25H2.

Windows version	Build	Rendering	Transparency	Color tint (RGB)	Blur (Acrylic)	Icon visibility
22H2	< 22631	SetWindowCompositionAttribute (SWCA)	✅ Full control	✅ Full control	✅ Full Acrylic	✅ Icons always fully opaque
23H2	22631	SWCA	✅ Full control	✅ Full control	✅ Full Acrylic	✅ Icons always fully opaque
24H2 / 25H2+	≥ 26000	Experimental XamlBridge / TAP investigation (local branch reality)	⚠️ In progress	⚠️ In progress	⚠️ In progress	⚠️ Under investigation

Notes on 24H2 / 25H2+

On Windows builds ≥ 26000, Microsoft removed support for the older SWCA-based assumptions on the XAML taskbar. The current local project state is no longer "24H2/25H2 solved"; instead:

• the stable 22H2/23H2 path remains intact
• the 24H2/25H2+ path is currently being reworked through an experimental GlassBar.XamlBridge.dll + XAML diagnostics/TAP approach inside explorer.exe
• the latest local investigation can resolve TaskbarBackground and BackgroundFill, but still does not produce a visible taskbar effect
• startup/config behavior on these builds also still needs stabilization

This limitation is not unique to GlassBar. As of testing on Windows 25H2 (build 26000+):

• OpenShell runs as an application but cannot display any transparency effect on either the Taskbar or Start Menu.
• TranslucentTB does not run at all on this build.

On 22H2 and 23H2, GlassBar's SWCA-based rendering works flawlessly: full transparency + RGB color tint + Acrylic blur with the wallpaper clearly visible through the Taskbar, and all icons remaining fully opaque at any transparency level.

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Roadmap

Done

• Taskbar overlay (all edges + auto-hide support)
• Start Menu replacement (Win7 two-column layout, fully functional)
• Per-channel RGB color control (background + text + border/accent per panel)
• Config persistence (JSON in %LOCALAPPDATA%\GlassBar\)
• Explorer restart recovery
• Run at Startup (registry) — starts hidden in System Tray when launched at boot
• System theme (light/dark) support
• System tray icon — minimize to tray; right-click menu (Open / Exit); double-click to restore
• All Programs hierarchical tree with folder drill-down, keyboard nav, mouse-wheel scroll, hover submenus
• Dynamic pinned list — pin/unpin/pin-to-taskbar via right-click; custom icon picker
• Recent programs — auto-refresh on open; right-click "Remove from list"
• Multi-monitor Taskbar overlay
• Blur / Acrylic effect per panel
• Theme presets (Classic Win7 / Aero Glass / Dark)
• Right-column item visibility per-item
• Compact single-window Dashboard with NavigationView (Taskbar / Start Menu panels)

Also done

• Global hotkey — toggle overlays without opening Dashboard (Ctrl+Shift+G default; configurable)
• Auto-update check — notifies when a new GitHub release is available

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Contributing

Contributions welcome via pull requests. Please open an issue first for larger changes.

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License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.

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GlassBar — Made for Windows 11 customization enthusiasts