1

How do I change Windows 11 dwm?

This question is not about CPU/RAM consumption issues with that dwm.exe but just how to change it (if any alternatives are available). Although I've had other issues with the dwm like taskbar suddenly disappearing, all the windows freezing, annoying popups on the taskbar when mouse hovers over the emtpy area, the windows menu itself, etc...

Any method to just break some processes of Windows 11 and just load another dwm.

I don't care about deleting some "crucial" windows files which it won't let me delete as I have a persistent linux installation in an USB. I've already yeeted the antimalware service executable using that installation when windows was turned off. (And windows didn't redownload/fix it[thats really good btw...])

My research:

  • googling "change windows desktop manager":

yielded in nothing as every (most of them) website was about CPU/RAM/Other issues. (Yes nothing from the first to that 10th 'O')

  • also used bing & ddg but resulted in nothing

Therefore, it this thing even feasible? If so then how? AND if possible what are the alternatives I can use?

Someone
  • 11
  • 2
  • 1
    unlike Linux, where there are many options for gui shells, and their component chain, windows is generally considered monolithic. I won't say categorically that there isn't a third party replacement for the DWM out there under some rock, but I would be very surprised if there was one. – Frank Thomas Mar 02 '22 at 18:46

1 Answers1

0

There used to be a more vibrant "Windows Shell Customization scene" back in the Windows XP days up to Windows 7 and 8. Windows 10 and 11 saw the stall or discontinuity of a couple projects/products - this can all be seen at the Wikipedia's List of Alternative Shells for Windows

From that list, it seems that only Blackbox (actually xoblite) and Cairo Shell (Github) are still active and support Windows 11.

From this other question and it's only answer, where I found that Wikipedia list, they mention that the main problem/difficulty is that, unlike Linux-based distributions, Windows' desktop window manager is more deeply tied to the actual OS, which makes replaceing the UI harder.

(edit)

Just tested Cairo - while it's a nice new taskbar, it's NOT a dwm replacement. Killing dwm will still make everything vanish (and I do mean EVERYTHING, not only "explorer.exe" stuff), before Windows 11 restarts dwm by itself.

João Ciocca
  • 154
  • 9