• Per-user mod configuration. A mod can now have a separate configuration for the current Windows user, turned on from the mod's Advanced tab. While it's on, the mod's settings, enabled state, and advanced options apply only to that user, including system processes in their session such as dwm.exe. Not available in the portable version.
• Added a "Trending" sort order when browsing for mods.
• The mod author filter now ranks authors by the total number of users of their mods, and can be switched to alphabetical order.
• Added a button to copy a mod's source code.
• Mod development: Added the Wh_SetDynamicSelectOption, Wh_DeleteDynamicSelectOption, and Wh_ClearDynamicSelectOptions APIs for $dynamicSelect settings.
• Mod development: colorRgb and colorArgb setting values are now saved with a leading #.
• Command-line interface improvements: Added mod user-config commands for per-user mod configuration, mod settings write for replacing all of a mod's settings, and mod settings defaults for printing a mod's default settings.
• Fixed a leftover windhawk-ui.exe process when launching Windhawk while it's already running, which could cause the next launch to fail. This was a regression introduced in Windhawk 2.0 alpha 6.
• Fixed the main window occasionally becoming blank and unresponsive at startup.
• Other minor improvements and bug fixes.

Notes:

• Upgrading from version 1.x preserves all of your settings and mods.
• To run the legacy VSCodium-based UI once, shift+right-click the Windhawk icon in the system tray and choose to run the legacy UI. To always use the old UI, set the environment variable WINDHAWK_USE_VSCODIUM_UI=1; a reboot might be required after changing it. This variable will be removed in a future version.

• Mod reviews. Mods can now be reviewed. Reviews can be viewed while browsing for mods, replied to, and voted on. This should help bridge the gap between a mod's star rating and the actual user experience, giving users a fuller picture before installing a mod.
• Mod settings annotations. Mod authors now have more control over how their settings are presented to users and can describe settings beyond their plain YAML type. The following annotations were added in this release:
  • $format: colorRgb / colorArgb - a color picker.
  • $format: filePath / folderPath - a text field with a Browse button that opens a file or folder dialog.
  • $format: fontFamily - a text field with autocompletion for the installed font families.
  • $format: hotkey - a badge that records a keyboard shortcut.
  • $format: slider together with $min / $max - a slider over the declared range.
  • $float: true - a number that can have a fractional part.
  • $dynamicSelect: true - a dropdown whose options the mod supplies at runtime.
  • $min / $max - bounds on a number, enforced by the editor.
  • $showIf / $hideIf - show or hide a setting depending on the value of another setting. A group whose settings are all hidden is hidden as well.
  • Annotations placed after a #! marker are treated as comments by Windhawk 1.x, so a mod can use them and still install on older versions, where they are ignored.
  • For details, please refer to the documentation.
• windhawk:// links. The installer registers the windhawk:// URL scheme (non-portable version only), and opening a windhawk://mods/<id> link shows the mod's page in Windhawk, launching Windhawk if it isn't already running. The Windhawk website will be updated to use these links for mod pages after more users have updated to Windhawk 2.0.
• A repository mod's header now has buttons to open its windhawk.net page in the browser and to share it.
• Links to other mods in a mod's description now open the linked mod in Windhawk.
• Added dark mode for the native dialogs: the toolkit dialog, the loaded mods and tasks dialog, and the exit dialog now follow the system theme on Windows 11 24H2 build 26100.6899 and later. Set the WINDHAWK_DISABLE_DARK_MODE=1 environment variable to disable it.
• Fixed the donate button on the mod details page doing nothing.
• Settings editor: Collapsed settings groups are now remembered per mod.
• Fixed Windhawk skipping some processes it should load into. This was a regression introduced in Windhawk 2.0 alpha 4.

Notes:

• Upgrading from version 1.x preserves all of your settings and mods.
• To run the legacy VSCodium-based UI once, shift+right-click the Windhawk icon in the system tray and choose to run the legacy UI. To always use the old UI, set the environment variable WINDHAWK_USE_VSCODIUM_UI=1; a reboot might be required after changing it. This variable will be removed in a future version.

A hotfix release.

• Fixed tool mods that target windhawk.exe being terminated whenever any mod's settings were changed.
• Fixed files that mods create in their storage folder (Wh_GetModStoragePath) being marked with an Untrusted integrity label, which could cause issues such as the shell showing a generic icon for shortcuts pointing at such files.
• Fixed several deadlocks that could freeze a program or leave mods running after Windhawk was closed.

Notes:

• Upgrading from version 1.x preserves all of your settings and mods.
• To run the legacy VSCodium-based UI once, shift+right-click the Windhawk icon in the system tray and choose to run the legacy UI. To always use the old UI, set the environment variable WINDHAWK_USE_VSCODIUM_UI=1; a reboot might be required after changing it. This variable will be removed in a future version.

• Tool mods. Tool mods now run in a dedicated windhawk-mod.exe process, and can also require running in an elevated or UIAccess process. For more details about this and other improvements to tool mods, see Mods as tools: Running mods in a dedicated process.
• Multi-select and groups for installed mods. Select several installed mods at once, act on them together from a selection bar, and organize them into groups.
• Per-mod update suppression. An available update for a mod can be dismissed so that it's no longer offered, either for a specific mod version or for all versions until it's re-enabled manually.
• New "Disable toolkit hotkey" setting that turns off the Ctrl+Win+W toolkit hotkey.
• Update a mod directly from the changelog modal in which its update is shown.
• Added a button to the editor sidebar for removing the mod.
• Other minor improvements and bug fixes.

Notes:

• Upgrading from version 1.x preserves all of your settings and mods.
• To run the legacy VSCodium-based UI once, shift+right-click the Windhawk icon in the system tray and choose to run the legacy UI. To always use the old UI, set the environment variable WINDHAWK_USE_VSCODIUM_UI=1; a reboot might be required after changing it. This variable will be removed in a future version.

• Update all mods at once. The home screen now shows how many installed mods have an update waiting and lets you update multiple mods at once. Previously, mods could only be updated one at a time from each mod's details page.
• Mod settings improvements.
  • Defaults and unsaved edits are marked. A setting that holds something other than the mod's default is marked in the row's gutter and offers a revert to that default. Unsaved edits are marked in a distinct color. A "revert everything" button was added as well.
  • Folding. Arrays and grouped settings can be folded away to their name and description, so a mod with many settings can be read as an outline.
  • Compact density. The visual mode can be made more compact with tighter gaps, smaller controls, and descriptions moved behind a hover badge.
  • Array rows can be reordered by dragging. A row of an array can be dragged to another place in the array by a grip. The row menu also offers Move up, Move down, and a button to remove all array items.
  • Textual mode improvements. Booleans are rendered as true/false (instead of 1/0), and a word-wrap toggle was added.
• Startup and window improvements. The window now opens immediately instead of staying hidden until the UI is fully loaded. Error handling was improved, and errors are now reported instead of the process silently hanging or exiting.
• The Windhawk window no longer runs elevated. The privileged work is done by a separate elevated helper process.
• Installing or updating a mod can now be cancelled.
• Added a Bangla translation.
• Other minor improvements and bug fixes.

Notes:

• Upgrading from version 1.x will preserve all of your settings and mods.
• You can set the environment variable WINDHAWK_USE_VSCODIUM_UI=1 to temporarily revert to the old VSCodium-based UI. This variable will be removed in the future. After changing it, a reboot might be required.

• Backup & restore. This has probably been the most requested Windhawk feature for a long time. You can now easily back up your Windhawk mods and settings, and restore them later. This is especially useful if you want to transfer your mods to another computer or if you need to reinstall Windhawk.
• Light theme. Since the first public release, Windhawk has only had a dark theme. A light theme is now available for users who prefer a brighter interface. In the settings, you can switch between the dark and light themes, or have Windhawk follow your system theme.
• Mod settings expand/collapse. The mod settings tab now has an expand button that expands the settings to fill the window. This provides more room for mods with many settings, and makes them easier to read and edit.
• Textual settings formatting is preserved. Formatting such as comments and blank lines is now preserved in the textual settings editor.
• Ctrl+S on the Advanced tab saves the focused field. Applies to mod settings, custom process inclusion, and custom process exclusion.
• The mod list refreshes when the main window regains focus. This is especially useful when a new mod is compiled in the development environment. Previously, you had to manually refresh the mod list to see the new mod.
• Tray notification icon for mod updates. The tray icon now shows a badge when mod updates are available.
• The Windhawk service is now a 64-bit process. Windhawk no longer supports 32-bit Windows, so the service is built as a 64-bit process. In practice, nothing changes aside from the architecture shown in Task Manager. Windhawk is still compatible with 32-bit processes.
• Command-line interface improvements. Added backup and restore commands (data export, data inspect, data import). mod settings set now takes one or more key=value pairs, replacing the old mod settings set <id> <key> <value> form. Other minor improvements.
• Added a Norwegian translation.
• Other minor improvements and bug fixes.

Notes:

• Upgrading from version 1.x will preserve all of your settings and mods.
• You can set the environment variable WINDHAWK_USE_VSCODIUM_UI=1 to temporarily revert to the old VSCodium-based UI. This variable will be removed in the future. After changing it, a reboot might be required.

This is the first alpha release of Windhawk 2.0. Please help test it and report any issues you encounter. More features are planned for the final 2.0 release.

Main changes:

• Optional Development Tools: Development tools are now excluded by default. With this change, a fresh Windhawk installation takes up only around 40 MB instead of 820 MB. Development tools can still be added during or after installation for compiling mods locally.

• New Lightweight UI: The main UI no longer relies on VSCodium, resulting in faster startup times and lower resource usage. Additionally, the development environment (if installed) now opens in a separate window and is no longer limited to a single instance, allowing multiple mods to be developed simultaneously.

• Command-Line Interface: Windhawk now includes windhawk-cli.exe, which allows you to control Windhawk via the command line. You can install, update, remove, enable, and disable mods, query the online mod repository, view and change global or per-mod settings, compile local mod source files, and check for or install Windhawk updates.

• Support for Older Windows versions: Starting with version 2.0, Windhawk is dropping support for older Windows versions and 32-bit operating systems. Windhawk now exclusively supports Windows 10 and newer (64-bit x64 and ARM64).

Notes:

• Upgrading from version 1.x will preserve all of your settings and mods.
• You can set the environment variable WINDHAWK_USE_VSCODIUM_UI=1 to temporarily revert to the old VSCodium-based UI. This variable will be removed in the future. After changing it, a reboot might be required.

• Fixed Windhawk loading and then unloading right away for sandboxed processes. This was fixed in v1.7.1, but became broken again in v1.7.2 due to the excessive CPU usage fix.

• Fixed excessive CPU usage in some processes when Windhawk is running.
• Improved handling for a profile.json file which is corrupted or out of sync, which could break update checking.

• Fixed Windhawk loading and then unloading right away for sandboxed processes. This usually had no visible impact, but could cause a crash with the "Dark mode context menus" mod due to the way it's being unloaded.
• Fixed a possible crash for mods which hook multiple functions using the same original pointer address.
• Fixed mod description images loading for mods which are edited locally.
• Minor UI bug fixes.