Public static extern IntPtr FindWindowEx(IntPtr parentHandle, IntPtr childAfter, string className, string windowTitle) SendMessage(GetDesktopSHELLDLL_DefView(), WM_COMMAND, toggleDesktopCommand, IntPtr.Zero) Īnd add a GetDesktopSHELLDLL_DefView function:

(see WinApi - How to obtain SHELLDLL_DefView and Windows Desktop ListView Handle.īased on those and building upon Ondrej Balas's earlier answer change the ToggleDesktopIcons function to be : static void ToggleDesktopIcons() In both of these cases the SHELLDLL_DefView window, which is the recipient of the toggleDesktopCommand in the ToggleDesktopIcons function, is not a child of the 'Program manager' window but of a 'WorkerW' window. The windows API code along with more information about the window styles can be found here: Įven though this is quite old when I tried Ondrej Balas's answer, one problem I found with this solution is that it does not work if the ToggleDesktop command is used to show the desktop ( also if wallpaper rotation is enabled ). Info.cbSize = (uint)Marshal.SizeOf(info) IntPtr hWnd = GetWindow(GetWindow(FindWindow('Progman', 'Program Manager'), GetWindow_Cmd.GW_CHILD), GetWindow_Cmd.GW_CHILD) Here is a function that calls the above code and returns true if the window is visible, false if not. : this() // Allows automatic initialization of 'cbSize' with 'new WINDOWINFO(null/true/false)'.ĬbSize = (UInt32)(Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(WINDOWINFO))) Private static extern bool GetWindowInfo(IntPtr hwnd, ref WINDOWINFO pwi) To test to see if icons are visible or not, you can query for the WS_VISIBLE style by using the GetWindowInfo function, shown below: 'FolderView' is the actual window that contains the icons. This sends a message to the SHELLDLL_DefView child window of Progman, which tells it to toggle visibility (by adding or removing the WS_VISIBLE style) of it's only child, 'FolderView'. SendMessage(hWnd, WM_COMMAND, toggleDesktopCommand, IntPtr.Zero) IntPtr hWnd = GetWindow(FindWindow('Progman', 'Program Manager'), GetWindow_Cmd.GW_CHILD) Var toggleDesktopCommand = new IntPtr(0x7402) static extern IntPtr SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, UInt32 Msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam) static extern IntPtr GetWindow(IntPtr hWnd, GetWindow_Cmd uCmd) static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName)

Here is sample code in C# that will toggle desktop icons.

Remove checkbox from icons windows 10