PersistentWindows/Help.md

PersistentWindows Quick Help

Command Line Options

Command line option	Meaning
-delay_start 10	Delay the application startup by 10 seconds. Useful if PersistentWindows autostart fails to show the icon because of Windows Update.
-redirect_appdata	Use the current directory instead of the User AppData directory to store the database file. This option is also useful for launching multiple PersistentWindows instances.
-gui=0	Do not display the PersistentWindows icon on the System Tray. Effectively runs PersistentWindows as a service
-splash=0	No splash window at PersistentWindows startup
-notification=1	Turn on balloon tip and sound notification when restoring windows
-silent	No splash window, no balloon tip hint, no event logging
-ignore_process "notepad.exe;foo"	Avoid restoring windows for the processes notepad.exe and foo
-debug_process "notepad.exe;foo"	Print window positioning event logs for the processes notepad.exe and foo in event viewer
-prompt_session_restore	Upon resuming the last session, ask the user before restoring the window layout. This may help reduce the total restore time for remote desktop sessions on slow internet connections.
-delay_auto_capture 1.0	Delay the auto-capture by 1.0 second (default latency is 3~4 seconds) to adjust the latency between window move and auto-capture
-delay_auto_restore 2.5	Delay the auto-restore by 2.5 seconds (default latency is 1 second), in case the monitor fails to go to sleep (due to auto-restore starts too early)
-slow_restore	Slow down the auto-restore progress to avoid incomplete restore (due to adversarial moves by Windows OS)
-redraw_desktop	Redraw the whole desktop after a restore in case some window workarea is not refreshed
-fix_zorder=1	Preserve window Z-order for automatic restore. The Z-order of a window indicates the window's position in a stack of overlapping windows
-fix_offscreen_window=0	Turn off auto correction of off-screen windows
-fix_unminimized_window=0	Turn off auto restore of unminimized windows. Use this switch to avoid undesirable window shifting during window activation, which comes with Event id 9999 : "restore minimized window ...." in event viewer.
‑auto_restore_missing_windows=1	When restoring from disk, restore missing windows without prompting the user
‑auto_restore_missing_windows=2	At startup, automatically restore missing windows from disk. The user will be prompted before restoring each missing window
‑auto_restore_missing_windows=3	At startup, automatically restore missing windows from disk without prompting the user
-invoke_multi_window_process_only_once=0	Launch an application multiple times when multiple windows of the same process need to be restored from the database.
-check_upgrade=0	Disable the PersistentWindows upgrade check
-auto_upgrade=1	Upgrade PersistentWindows automatically without user interaction

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Shortcuts To Capture/Restore Snapshots

Snapshot command	Shortcut
Capture snapshot 0	Double click the PersistentWindows icon
Restore snapshot 0	Click the PersistentWindows icon
Capture snapshot X	Double click the PersistentWindows icon, then immediately press key X (X represents a digit [0-9] or a letter [a-z])
Restore snapshot X	Click the PersistentWindows icon, then immediately press key X
Undo the last snapshot restore	Alt + click the PersistentWindows icon

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Other Features

• Save a named capture to disk:

  • Ctrl click the "Capture windows to disk" menu option, then enter a name in the pop-up dialog

• Restore a named capture from disk:

  • Ctrl click the "Restore windows from disk" menu option, then enter the saved name in the dialog

• Run PersistentWindows with custom icons:

  • Save your icon file as pwIcon.ico and copy it to C:/Users/\<YOUR_ID>/AppData/Local/PersistentWindows/, or copy it to the current directory if running PersistentWindows with the -redirect_appdata command line option.
  • Save the second icon file as pwIconBusy.ico. This icon is displayed when PersistentWindows is busy restoring windows.

• Manipulate the window z-order:

  • Bring a window to the top of the z-order by clearing the topmost flag of an obstructive window:
    • Click on the other window first to de-focus, then Ctrl click the window that you want to bring to the top (or the corresponding icon on the taskbar).
  • Send a remote desktop or vncviewer window to the bottom of the z-order (because the Alt+Esc hotkey may not work for them on Windows 7 or old Windows 10 versions):
    • De-focus the rdp window first, then hold Ctrl+Win and click on the rdp window

• Enable/Disable auto restore for any (child or dialog) window:

  • To add a window for auto capture/restore, move the window using the mouse
  • To remove a window from auto capture/restore, hold Ctrl+Shift then move the window