Microsoft KB Archive/205158

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HOWTO: Prevent a Window from Appearing on the Taskbar

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Q205158

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK), on platform(s):
 * Microsoft Windows 95
 * Microsoft Windows 98
 * the operating system: Microsoft Windows NT
 * the operating system: Microsoft Windows 2000

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SUMMARY
Sometimes, it might be necessary for an application to prevent its main window from appearing on the taskbar. This article describes two ways that this can be accomplished.

MORE INFORMATION
There are two ways to prevent a window from appearing on the shell's taskbar and in the task list window that appears when you press ALT+TAB.


 * Give the window the WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW extended style, and remove the WS_EX_APPWINDOW style. As a side effect, the window will have a smaller caption than a normal window.
 * Give the window the WS_POPUP style and make it owned by a hidden window.

If a window is created or shown such that it appears in the taskbar, then the window should be in the same state when it is destroyed or hidden. If the visibility on the taskbar is not synchronized, then the taskbar may end up with a blank button where it thinks the window should still appear.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbOSWinNT400 kbOSWin2000 kbSDKPlatform kbGrpDSUser kbOSWin95 kbOSWin98 kbWndwProp kbDSupport

Issue type : kbhowto

Technology : kbWin32SDKSearch kbAudDeveloper kbSDKSearch kbWin32sSearch