Alternate method for disabling DWM in Windows 8.1
Oct 11, 2016 11:12:25 GMT -8
Post by R.O.B. on Oct 11, 2016 11:12:25 GMT -8
I've been messing with DWM on Windows 8.1 recently, and I have discovered a method for disabling it that I thought would be worth sharing here. This method does not involve using a dummy DWM.exe file, nor does it involve suspending the winlogon.exe process. And DWM will be re-enabled after a system restart. Because of this, it might be considered to be a bit safer than other methods we currently have. It can even be set to run after you log in, meaning you don't have to sacrifice the login screen until after you've already logged on. Also this would theoretically work on Windows RT if anyone would like to try that out.
DISCLAIMER: This method has been tested on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 8.1, but not on Windows 10. While I personally have not experienced any issues with this, it is not guaranteed to work with every system. Please use at your own risk.
All you have to do is run this batch file as Administrator:
KillDWM.bat (651 B)
And that's it! I would recommend checking to make sure the DWM.exe still exists in System32 after you've run this.
So how exactly does this work? Well I discovered that if winlogon fails to re-enable the DWM.exe process after a couple of seconds, it will just give up trying to re-enable it. Here's what the batch file does to take advantage of this:
1.) Kills the explorer.exe process, as that has potential to cause problems if it is running while DWM is being disabled.
2.) Takes ownership of the files DWM.exe and Windows.UI.Search.dll
3.) Renames DWM.exe to DWM.exe.1 and Windows.UI.Search.dll to Windows.UI.Search.dll.BAK
4.) Kills the DWM.exe process that is currently running.
5.) Waits 3 seconds
6.) Renames DWM.exe.1 back to DWM.exe
7.) Starts the explorer.exe process
So it's actually not too complicated if you ask me, and it doesn't even require any 3rd party software to achieve this.
NOTE: If you want to restore the search sidebar, simply run this batch file:
Re-enable_Search_Sidebar.bat (137 B)
Please let me know how this works. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: This method has been tested on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 8.1, but not on Windows 10. While I personally have not experienced any issues with this, it is not guaranteed to work with every system. Please use at your own risk.
All you have to do is run this batch file as Administrator:
KillDWM.bat (651 B)
And that's it! I would recommend checking to make sure the DWM.exe still exists in System32 after you've run this.
So how exactly does this work? Well I discovered that if winlogon fails to re-enable the DWM.exe process after a couple of seconds, it will just give up trying to re-enable it. Here's what the batch file does to take advantage of this:
1.) Kills the explorer.exe process, as that has potential to cause problems if it is running while DWM is being disabled.
2.) Takes ownership of the files DWM.exe and Windows.UI.Search.dll
3.) Renames DWM.exe to DWM.exe.1 and Windows.UI.Search.dll to Windows.UI.Search.dll.BAK
4.) Kills the DWM.exe process that is currently running.
5.) Waits 3 seconds
6.) Renames DWM.exe.1 back to DWM.exe
7.) Starts the explorer.exe process
So it's actually not too complicated if you ask me, and it doesn't even require any 3rd party software to achieve this.
NOTE: If you want to restore the search sidebar, simply run this batch file:
Re-enable_Search_Sidebar.bat (137 B)
Please let me know how this works. Enjoy!
