WinHider™ - Rust Based App Hiding Solution

Release Type	Link
Winget	winget install winhider
Github Release	Installer Link • Zip Bundle Link
Microsoft Store	Store Link

OLD Win-32 Version : Release | Repo

WinHider™ (short for Window Hider) is Rust based WinAPI application that allows you to hide user defined windows from screensharing (zoom, ms-teams, gmeet etc.) and also from taskbar / taskswitcher (Alt-Tab).

Docs & landing page Website: astro-site

Features

• Hide from Screenshare/Taskbar/Taskswitcher
• Auto-Hide List Feature
• Comes in both GUI and Headless/CLI variants
• Hotkeys, Multi App Actions, Auto-Updates and much more

App Screenshots

What does WinHider™ do exactly?

It is an aplication to hide/unhide app windows from screenshare and taskbar/taskswitcher while still be able to use and interact with the applciation in your system.

Below is an explainer video:

The above GIF illustrates how I used WinHider to hide the Notepad window from my screenshare and taskbar/taskswitcher while still being able to see it on my end. This is useful when you want to share your screen but don't want the other participants to see the Screensharing window itself.

What goes under the hood?

The tool performs dll injection with dlls containg targets for :

• SetWindowDisplayAffinity to WDA_EXCLUDEFROMCAPTURE. (For hiding from screenshare)
• Modifying the window’s extended styles (For hiding from taskbar & taskswitcher) :
  1. It removes the WS_EX_APPWINDOW style, which normally causes a window to appear in the taskbar and Alt-Tab.
  2. It adds the WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW style, which hides the window from the taskbar and Alt-Tab.

📦 Directory Structure

• app – Core App + Integrated Injector
• payload – DLL Creation
• Misc – Miscellaneous files (icons, images, etc.)
• build.ps1 – PowerShell script to build the project with MSBUILD`
• update-winget.cmd – Batch script to update winget package manifests
• sign.cmd – Command-line script to sign the release binaries and installer

How do I install it?

To use this application, you can either use the installer or the portable version.

Use the binary installer (recommended)

• Download and run WinhiderInstaller.exe.
• Once the installation is complete, you will be able to run Winhider from the Start Menu.

Download the portable zip with prebuilt binaries

• Download and extract the generated zip bundle named Winhider.zip.
• Run Winhider.exe.

Build The Project

• Download and extract the source from here.

  git clone https://github.com/aamitn/winhider
  cd Winhider

• Build using CLI , Open Admin command Prompt / Terminal

cargo build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
cd target\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\release
cargo run 

after build stage, ifcargo run gives, permission error, run the CLI as admin and rerun command.

• Alternatively you can run build.ps1 --run in powershell to buiild from CLI without IDE

To build without IDE form CLI using powershell script,navigate to target\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\release and run winhider.exe

Update winget Package Manifest

Update Manifest

Specify URL

wingetcreate update Bitmutex.WinHider --version x.x.x --urls "https://github.com/aamitn/winhider/releases/download/vx.x.x/WinhiderInstaller.exe" 

Specify Arch

wingetcreate update Bitmutex.WinHider --version x.x.x --urls "https://github.com/aamitn/winhider/releases/download/vx.x.x/WinhiderInstaller.exe|x64"

Interactive Mode

wingetcreate update Bitmutex.WinHider --version 1.0.6 --interactive

Submit Manifest

wingetcreate submit ".\manifests\b\Bitmutex\Winhider\x.x.x" --token <GITHUB_TOKEN>

Alternatively, Use the provided poweershell script to update the winget package manifest:

.\publish-winget.ps1 -Version "1.0.7" -Token "GITHUB_TOKEN"

Or run without arguments to be prompted for the version:

.\publish-winget.ps1

The script will:

• Download and setup wingetcreate
• Generate the manifest for the specified version
• Provide instructions for manual submission to winget-pkgs

Manual Submission to winget-pkgs

After running the script, follow these steps to submit the manifest:

1. Fork the microsoft/winget-pkgs repository
2. Copy the generated manifest files from ./manifests/b/Bitmutex/Winhider/x.x.x/ to your fork
3. Create a pull request from your fork to microsoft/winget-pkgs

Sign Release Binaries

• Use sign.cmd to sign the release binaries and installer. This is optional but recommended for distribution. This script signs .exe and .dll files using signtool.exe and a .pfx certificate.

• Our provided signing certificate is in .pfx format is at ./Misc/WinHider.pfx.

• 🔐 Default Behavior: Running without arguments signs all .exe and .dll files in Build\bin\Release using the default password

• ⚙️ Arguments

  Argument	Description
  --pass "<password>" -p "<password>"	Use custom password for signing (quotes required)
  --signinstaller -i	Sign only installer .exe files in Misc\output
  --signall -a	Sign both main binaries and installer files
  --help -h	Show help message

   Example : `sign.cmd -a -p "mypass"`

• 🔗 Timestamp Server: http://timestamp.comodoca.com/authenticode (Uses Comodo’s timestamp server)

⚠️ Important: Password must be enclosed in quotes. Avoid hardcoding passwords—pass them securely using environment variables or CI/CD secrets.

Inno Setup Switches

Inno Installer Silent Switches : /VERYSILENT , /CURRENTUSER [Required for winget/ms store publishing]

• Silent Install Command:

   WinhiderInstaller.exe /VERYSILENT /CURRENTUSER

Landing Page and Docs Site

Astro and Astro-Starlight website located at ./site directory

❓ FAQs

⚠️Getting Error for missing MSVCP140.dll , VCRUNTIME140.dll or VCRUNTIME140_1.dll , what to do?

These errors mean the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable is not installed. Please Download and install the redistributables for your system , restart your PC and try again:

• Visual C++ Redistributable x86 (32-bit)
• Visual C++ Redistributable x64 (64-bit)

💻 What OSes are supported?

Microsoft Windows 10 v2004 or above. On previous versions of windows, a black screen shows up instead of hiding the window.

🕝Do future instances of the application get automatically hidden?

No

👀 Is it possible to see a preview of the screen on my side?

• You can simply use OBS Studio with Windowed Projectors.
• Open OBS and do first-time setup.
• Then Right-Click under Sources-> Add-> Display Capture->OK-> Select Monitor under Display Dropdown-> OK. Now you will see infinity mirror if you have single diplay.
• Right click on the newly creted display under sources -> Click Windowed Projector.
• Minimize OBS and check for window hide status in projector window
• Multi-Monitor Systems will not require additional projector

Expand for Screenshot

Tip: you can hide the Projector window from view too.

▶️ Could I automatically hide windows using a hotkey?

Yes! From GUI, just click the Activate Hotkeys to activate hotkeys, activated by default.

Hotkey Legend
Ctrl+S -> Toggle Hide/Unhide from Screenshare
Ctrl+T -> Toggle Hide/Unhide from Screenshare

Contribution Guideline

Feel free to open an Issue / PR if you find a bug or would like to contribute!