Cairo Desktop 0.4.80

Cairo requires Windows 7 or later, including Windows 10, and .NET 4.7.1 or later (already included with Windows 10 1709 and newer)

Click "Assets" below to find the installer download. After downloading, Windows Defender will likely require you to choose "more info," then "run anyway."

Changes since 0.4.76

• Fixed an error when right-clicking the task list
• Fixed icons appearing pixelated on high-resolution displays
• Fixed some cases of incorrect categorization in the taskbar

Cairo Desktop 0.4.76

Cairo requires Windows 7 or later, including Windows 10, and .NET 4.7.1 or later (already included with Windows 10 1709 and newer)

Click "Assets" below to find the installer download. After downloading, Windows Defender will likely require you to choose "more info," then "run anyway."

Changes since M3.7174

We've re-written significant portions of Cairo to resolve bugs, improve compatibility, enhance extensibility, and to make it easier for us to add new functionality going forward.

• Extensions built for Milestone 3 builds of Cairo will need to be updated before they will work in newer versions. See cairoshell/CairoExtensionSamples for sample extensions that have been updated.
• Command-line arguments have changed in this version. If you're using these, see the wiki for updated arguments.

Folder browsing improvements:

• Re-implemented folder views to more closely resemble Windows Explorer directory listing results
• Improved performance of loading folders
• File and folder icons now match what is shown by Windows Explorer
• File and folder context menus now appear in dark mode on Windows 10 version 1903 through 20H2 when specified by the selected Cairo theme
• Special shell folders, such as This PC and Control Panel, can now be opened on the dynamic desktop and added as stacks
• ZIP files can now be browsed into on the dynamic desktop or added to stacks (you can even add folders within a ZIP as stacks--neat!)
• Fixed file rename not selecting the last character

Dynamic desktop improvements:

• The desktop now includes items from the common desktop folder, like the Explorer desktop
• The desktop toolbar history menu now shows tool tips with the path of each item
• Improved desktop overlay hiding after selecting an option from the context menu
• Improved desktop toolbar current folder tool tip
• Fixed desktop not getting mouse capture after closing a stack
• Fixed display of folders with an underscore in their name in the desktop toolbar history menu
• Fixed errant drag-drop operations occurring on the desktop

Stacks improvements:

• The shell context menu is now used in stacks (#496)
• Fixed stacks 'open' button always opening in a new window regardless of desktop settings
• Fixed stacks staying open after choosing an icon

Notification area improvements:

• Fixed some icons not appearing (such as OBS and Spotify)
• Fixed some icons not responding to clicks (such as Origin, #517)
• Fixed some icon updates causing a crash on 32-bit systems
• Fixed some menus flashing or not appearing at all (such as EarTrumpet and Steam, #498)

Taskbar improvements:

• Added ability to hide taskbar labels (#510, thanks @Cereal-Killa!)
• Setting to enable/disable the taskbar no longer requires a restart

Search improvements:

• Improved responsiveness
• Improved search results

App Grabber improvements:

• Improved performance
• Fixed App Grabber not getting focus when opening from the Programs menu
• Fixed error on Server Core 2012 (#508)

General improvements:

• Blur behind the menu bar is now enabled by default on supported systems
• Setting to show menu bars or taskbars on all monitors no longer requires a restart
• Updated Russian localization (#530, thanks @curoviyxru!)
• Themes are now stored in a 'Themes' sub-directory
• Themes can now be stored per user in %localappdata%\Cairo_Development_Team\Themes
• Fixed file extensions showing in the Themes drop down
• Fixed Cairo Settings sometimes not correctly showing whether Cairo is set as the shell or not
• Fixed issue with Cairo covering full-screen apps with multiple monitors

Cairo Desktop M3.7174

Cairo requires Windows 7 or later, including Windows 10, and .NET 4.7.1 or later (already included with Windows 10 1709 and newer)

Click "Assets" below to find the installer download.

Changes since M3.7147

• Added support for hiding the volume icon via Group Policy (#484)
• Fixed a crash on startup when using the overlapping taskbar setting (#504)
• Fixed a potential error when right-clicking folders in the desktop folder chooser (#483)
• Fixed blur not being applied to the full-width taskbar after restarting Cairo (#485)
• Fixed desktop icons not moving when changing the overlapping taskbar position (#504)
• Fixed issues with some apps that have multiple notification icons (like Open Hardware Monitor) (#481)
• Fixed some notification area icons missing in the Windows taskbar after exiting Cairo (#481)
• Fixed the Action Center menu extra setting being available while Cairo is running as shell (#500)
• Improved the ease of changing fonts with themes (#450)

Cairo Desktop M3.7147

Cairo requires Windows 7 or later, including Windows 10, and .NET 4.7.1 or later (already included with Windows 10 1709 and newer)

Click "Assets" below to find the installer download.

Changes since M3.7108

• Added new higher-quality icons to dialog messages
• Added option to reset the desktop toolbar position to the toolbar context menu (#470)
• Added support for the native Windows volume icon in the notification area when running alongside Explorer (#466)
• Added support for theming Cairo dialog message windows
• Added support for changing the following Cairo settings without a restart: (#476)
  • Enable menu bar shadow
  • Programs menu layout
  • Show hibernate option in Cairo menu
  • Show notification area icons
  • Taskbar display mode
• Improved reliability of the update process (#453)
• Improved startup performance with large folders in stacks (#451)
• Fixed a settings window crash that could occur with certain security software (#457)
• Fixed an error that could occur when holding down the desktop overlay hotkey (Win-Shift-D by default) (#458)
• Fixed Cairo alert messages causing the rest of Cairo to become unresponsive
• Fixed Cairo displaying on top of Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers in full-screen mode (#468)
• Fixed issues clicking some notification area icons, such as Avast utilities, and the Network icon on older Windows versions (#351)
• Fixed Pantherbar and other apps using the Hardcodet.NotifyIcon library not appearing in the notification area (#265)
• Fixed some Metro shell flyouts showing in the taskbar on Windows 8 (#467)
• Fixed some programs that start before Cairo not appearing in the Cairo notification area (#465)
• Fixed the language selector on the welcome tour
• Fixed the taskbar list appearing in the middle of the screen when using a tablet in right-handed mode (#469)
• Fixed Windows taskbar auto-hide settings changing after using Cairo (#320)

Cairo Desktop M3.7108

Cairo requires Windows 7 or later, including Windows 10, and .NET 4.7.1 or later (already included with Windows 10 1709 and newer)

Click "Assets" below to find the installer download.

Changes since M3.7086

• Added common keyboard shortcuts to selected desktop icon (#435)
• Added shift + middle-click taskbar button shortcut to perform the opposite of the configured middle-click action (#446)
• Fixed blur showing with auto-hide taskbar (#431)
• Fixed Cairo displaying above full-screen windows which moved to another display (#403)
• Fixed desktop not respecting DPI change (#447)
• Fixed misplaced menu bar shadows with per-monitor DPI (#447)
• Fixed misplaced taskbar with auto-hide and per-monitor DPI (#429)
• Fixed some memory leaks (#439)
• Fixed windows not reacting to workarea changes when Cairo is set as shell (#445)
• Improved the efficiency of the notification area (#440, #449)

Cairo Desktop M3.7086

Cairo requires Windows 7 or later, including Windows 10, and .NET 4.7.1 or later (already included with Windows 10 1709 and newer)

Click "Assets" below to find the installer download.

Changes since M3.7028

• Taskbar improvements:
  • Added a close button to taskbar thumbnails (#400)
  • Added blur behind the full-width taskbar when "blur behind the menu bar" is enabled (#404)
  • Fixed incorrect aspect ratio on taskbar thumbnails (#420)
  • Fixed not indicating the active window when Cairo is launched (#411)
  • Fixed not properly adjusting size in response to display changes
  • Fixed not responding to DPI changes when "show taskbar on multiple monitors" is enabled, but "show menu bar on multiple monitors" is disabled
  • Fixed some windows not appearing in the taskbar (#396)
• Desktop improvements:
  • Added ability to immediately rename when creating a new file or folder via the 'New' menu
  • Added support for showing wallpaper on all displays when Cairo is running as shell
  • Added support to automatically start the system shell when Cairo closes unexpectedly while running as shell
  • Cairo now automatically starts in shell mode if no other shell is running (to disable this, start Cairo with the /noshell command line argument) (#387)
  • Fixed bottom-most windows opening underneath the wallpaper when Cairo is running as shell
  • Fixed Cairo exiting when swapping displays if the desktop is disabled (#422)
  • Fixed sometimes appearing above other windows unintentionally on Windows 8 and 10
  • Fixed sometimes being sized incorrectly after a display change
  • Fixed Win + D hotkey hiding desktop icons on Windows 8 and 10 (#254)
  • Fixed incorrect click and drag behavior when renaming files and folders
  • Fixed icon tooltips flickering
  • Fixed the desktop overlay removing the wallpaper when Cairo is running as shell
  • Fixed toolbar position resetting when screen size changes (#422)
  • Fixed wallpaper disappearing when disabling the desktop while Cairo is running as shell (#408)
  • Improved handling when the current wallpaper file is not found
• Fixed welcome tour appearing on wrong monitor (#417)
• Settings improvements:
  • Restarting Cairo is no longer required to change the following settings: "Enable desktop", "Desktop overlay hotkey", "Enable dynamic desktop navigation toolbar", "Cairo menu hotkey", "Blur behind the menu bar"
  • Fixed hotkey setting dropdowns not taking effect when changing via keyboard
  • Fixed the settings window not reflecting wallpaper changes from other apps (#411)
  • Removed option to hide sub-directories (#416)

Cairo Desktop M3.7028

Cairo requires Windows 7 or later, including Windows 10, and .NET 4.7.1 or later (already included with Windows 10 1709 and newer)

Click "Assets" below to find the installer download.

Changes since M3.7023

• Improved appearance of full-width taskbar
• Improved taskbar sizing with large number of taskbar buttons
• Fixed empty language selection in welcome window
• Fixed startup apps from certain locations not running (#376)
• Fixed welcome tour not showing on first run

Cairo Desktop M3.7023

Cairo requires Windows 7 or later, including Windows 10, and .NET 4.7.1 or later (already included with Windows 10 1709 and newer)

Click "Assets" below to find the installer download.

Changes since M3.7015

• Added ability to lock the screen from the Cairo menu
• Added support for Polish (#383, thanks @dekiertanna!)
• Updated the flat theme to have a flat desktop toolbar style
• Fixed the autohide taskbar not showing when dragging files onto taskbar buttons
• Fixed the Windows taskbar being hidden when the Cairo taskbar is disabled (#377)

Cairo Desktop M3.7015

Cairo requires Windows 7 or later, including Windows 10, and .NET 4.7.1 or later (already included with Windows 10 1709 and newer)

Click "Assets" below to find the installer download.

Changes since M3.6984

• Taskbar improvements galore!
  • Added live thumbnail previews and Aero Peek support to the taskbar, with option to disable (#52)
  • Added Run and Task Manager to the taskbar context menu
  • Added animations to taskbar autohide
  • Added shift-click shortcut to taskbar buttons to open a new instance regardless of middle-click setting
  • Added support for changing taskbar size, taskbar position, and full-width taskbar settings without restarting Cairo
  • Improved taskbar autohide to show the taskbar when the mouse is over the menu bar, if the taskbar and menu bar are on the same screen edge (#356)
  • Improved the appearance of progress bars in the task list
  • Fixed taskbar autohide activating when dragging quick launch icons or opening context menus (#114)
  • Fixed some apps not being added to quick launch when adding via drag or taskbar menu
  • Fixed some cases where the Windows taskbar could re-appear
• Added settings to hide the volume icon, action center icon, clock, and search icon (#180)
• Added support for more hotkeys when Cairo is set as shell: Ctrl+Esc, Win+Comma, Win+S, Win+Alt+D
• Added support for menu bar extensions and removed the old plugin system
• Added the ability to open the logs folder from Cairo settings
• Fixed notification area popups, such as Network, being misplaced (#151, #158, #366)
• Fixed hotkeys not working after connecting to a machine via Remote Desktop
• Fixed the desktop context menu not appearing when right-clicking in the left margin
• Fixed the "not available" cursor showing when renaming a file
• Fixed the settings window showing options not available on the current Windows version

Cairo Desktop M3.6984

Cairo requires Windows 7 or later, including Windows 10, and .NET 4.7.1 or later (already included with Windows 10 1709 and newer)

Click "Assets" below to find the installer download.

Changes since M3.6971

• Improved navigation speed on the dynamic desktop, especially with large folders
• Fixed memory leaks and reduced resource usage
• Fixed taskbar app categories not updating when making changes in the App Grabber (#356)
• Fixed the desktop overlay sometimes not becoming the topmost window
• Fixed the taskbar sometimes appearing incorrectly when configured to be at the top of the screen
• Fixed issues when changing the primary display to one with a different DPI setting
• Fixed crashes (#363, #364)