Can I disable Windows 10 desktop manager?

This is broken in Windows version 1703 and later. Do not bother trying this on your host machine as it may freeze your system!

Here's a bunch of batch scripts I quickly created since I couldn't find anything for Windows 10 and I kinda got tired of manually switching the dwm.exe executable with the dummy placeholderbecause of UAC prompts and don't want to have to keep switching UAC off and on. It is based upon other DWM killing related stuff I've seen laying around.

Here's the main parts of what's included:

• Desktop Window Manager - Force Disable.bat - Replaces current dwm.exe with the dummy executable and enables Console Mode and also re-enables the legacy non-Immersive UAC prompt as it doesn't work with DWM off.
  
  
• Desktop Window Manager - Restore DWM.bat - Restores the dwm_original.exe file from the script's DWM directory into the System32 directory.
  
  
• Desktop Window Manager - Test - No DWM for Session.bat - Replaces the dwm executable with the dummy executable and resumes the winlogon process then restores the original dwm executable into the System32 directory after 1 second. Its functionality is similiar to R.O.B's KillDWM.bat[which doesn't even work in Windows 10,and breaks if you use it twice, leaving with a black screen of nothingness], but this is a bit more tedious and more likely to break. Console Mode is left on as it seems more stable than restoring the GUI Logon screen in the Registry, you can edit the script if you want to allow it to set ConsoleMode back to 0. Logging out and logging back in should restore the DWM and its Immersive features.
  
  
• Backup DWM Executable Command.bat - Copies current DWM executable from the System32 into the DWM folder in the script's directory as dwm_original.exe. It also creates a copy in the System32 folder as dwm.exe.BAK as it makes it easier to restore from the Windows Recovery partition if anything breaks. This is also done in the Force Disable and No DWM for Session batch scripts.
  
  
• Registry files: Registry files to restore the GUI Login screen and Immersive UAC Prompt registry values manually.

Okay, this preview and formatting is a bit annoying, RIP.

Edit: So I think I may have triggered Chrome's malware detection feature [possibly due to the batch files and/or dummy dwm?].
Edit 2: Replaced the placeholder file with an executable that just exits itself without outputting any text, saving a few kilobytes rather than that one that prints out text saying it's a dummy file.

Another Edit: The scripts now make a copy of rundll32.exe straight from the System32 directory to use as a placeholder rather than using those converted batch files as a placeholder which can sometimes be detected as a malware by some software [which ends up breaking if you are logged out or reboot when no placeholder file is in place because it got removed]. Thanks6sicsix for pointing out that the rundll32 file can be used instead!

Also, there's some Registry tweaks in there that I added from before to switch off some Immersive features so they work without DWM just to make it less of a pain to search for those Registry tweaks.

Here's the raw texts for them:

• Desktop Window Manager - Force Disable.bat
• Desktop Window Manager - Restore DWM.bat
• Desktop Window Manager - Test - No DWM for Session.bat

These are now useless if attempting to disable DWM in version 1703 and later, these scripts can cause to freeze up your system if you're running recent versions of Windows. Quickly tested Windows version 1803 in a VM and running without DWM seems to work somewhat properly by renaming the C:\Windows\Resources\Themes folder along with replacing dwm.exe with something else. It gives off an unusual unresponsive desktop if I didn't rename the Themes folder.

The ability to use the non-Immersive UAC dialog is now irrelevant since it doesn't even exist anymore so if anyone wants to be serious about this you'll have to run with a broken taskbar while also compromising security by turning off the UAC and it's even way worse now considering how Control Panel items are slowly being moved into the immersive Settings application. The console logon Registry tweak doesn't work but it still exists as a fallback if Windows.UI.Logon.dll is renamed.

Yes, you can disable DWM permanently in Windows 10. I'll post about it when I get the chance.

There is a metod to disable dwm via registry: winclassic.boards.net/post/1497/thread

This is actually more or less the method I was going to post about, but I wanted to add some additional details from my own experiences as well.

There are some major issues that I've seen without DWM. The most obvious of which is the Settings application, which does not work at all. This unfortunately means you will likely have to use what limited functionality deskn.cpl offers, or edit the registry by hand.

Another major problem is Windows seems to lock up/freeze without DWM running. I suspect this is a result of some built-in Windows application or service that's trying to do something, but I'm not entirely sure.


With that being said, may work on a script to easily enable/disable DWM if I ever get around to it.

I pretty much been running permanent DWM-off mode [from boot to desktop] in LTSB 1607 homebrew build with extremely minimal problems. Only thing I see is that the desktop freezes for a few hundred milliseconds or so every half an hour [Only noticable when watching a movie etc] but there is no indication of GPU driver crashes here as any fullscreen game works flawlessly. Sadly running [most] games in full windowed seem to make them behave weird, and often freeze or crash. Kinda looks like GDI output is abruptly lost for a split second. But its more than practical, as I don't lose anything. Full window with DWM always gives input lag no matter what so it has not been an option for me since Win 7 days. Any app that doesn't appear to work or turns black usually can be remedied with HW accel off, or --disable-gpu [Most chromium based apps, also some game launchers can be fixed with this]



What exactly doesnt work in 180x builds? Seems ConsoleUI and explorer work, but sometimes it freezes :C

Heres screeny of my LTSB build, love it.

i.imgur.com/nFDuoha.png

I literally sat down for 2 days looking for options to have my 144hz monitor not stutter while my 60hz capture card is connected. Running in extended mode, while ok for true fullscreen games, does not fix the stutter when playing uwp games. To my limited knowledge this looks to be caused by the desktop composition and I wanna test and see if disabling it will fix my issues.
As soon as I saw this thread I made an account to ask you guys if you can post detailed instructions on how to disable dwm.exe and how to restore it when the need arises, I'm on the 1809 build of win10.
Thanks in advance.

Thanks for saving me the hassle then, I appreciate it, still wish there was some way to get my damn streaming setup running properly.

Np. As for your problem, not really into streaming and capture cards, but DWM applies V-sync so it eliminates tearing, but it can indeed introduce stuttering/frametime pacing issues [Which is different issue then tearing].

Imho the whole DWM thing is flawed by the very fact that it introduces input lag, im sure some clever folks could figure out something better than that. Or at least give us ability to disable V-sync. Id love to see hardware accelerated desktop compositing WITH tearing, and no 1 frame of delay because of inefficient method microsoft uses.

Good luck on your issue.

Sankyu ^^

How did you get that "Basic" taskbar?

Thanks!