// the find
rossy/borderless-window
A minimal borderless window with the Windows API
A single-file C demo of a borderless application window on Windows. It creates a regular overlapped window and removes the frame by expanding the client area, instead of using WS_POPUP, so snapping, the window menu and Aero Flip 3D keep working. Aimed at native Win32 developers who want to copy the approach into a main window.
- Takes the overlapped-window route rather than WS_POPUP, which is the correct choice for a main window. Snapping, Alt+Space and minimize-all behave as users expect.
- Explicitly works around the known side effects of hidden borders: visual corruption on activation, on title changes and when the window menu opens. These are the bugs most hand-rolled versions ship with.
- Small enough to read in one sitting, and public domain (CC0), so the code can be lifted without a licensing conversation.
- Last push was October 2023 and the README does not say which Windows 10 or 11 builds were tested. Given how often DWM frame behaviour has shifted, check the workarounds on your target OS before trusting them.
- The README does not mention DPI scaling or multi-monitor behaviour, which are the usual places a borderless window breaks in practice.
- It is a demonstration, not a library. There are no tests, no CI, and the build story is a mingw-w64 Makefile plus a note about VS2015, so you will be adapting it yourself.