Finestray

Finestray 0.5

Minimize windows to the system tray (notification) area

  • By Benbuck
  • Open Source
  • Updated Aug 18, 2026
Download for Windows

About Finestray

Minimize windows to the system tray (notification) area

What's new in 0.5

Finestray-0.5-win64.exe is the installer.

Finestray.exe is the standalone portable executable.

Add more script calls to UpdateVersion.ps1
Remove documented apis from WindowsUndocumented.h
ContextMenu visible windows current desktop check
Remove win10 shortcut TODO item
Don't run clang analyze builds
Add zed config files
Use explicit c++ 23 standard
Fix launch failure with clang build
Update cJSON to v1.7.19
Add .codebook.toml for spell checking
Split cppcheck-all.bat from analyze-all.bat
Fix clang-tidy issues
Add clang-tidy scripts
Minor build script improvements
Minor cmake improvements
Add --parallel to all cmake builds
Minor markdown file formatting fixes
Fix icons for UWP and packaged apps
Add error handling to WindowsTracker start()
Support tray minimize for UWP windows
Add .cache dir to .gitignore
Fix some clang analyzer issues
Add .editorconfig
Improve stealth window detection
Restore polling
Fix noexcept issues
Fix const-ness issues
Add analyze-all.bat
Fix missing debug print newlines
Improve minimize event debug logging
Fix buffer allocation logic in Log.cpp
Add clang crash and settings window TODO items
Minor debug print improvements
Better window tracking for add/change events
Improve last error handling
Move getWindowGext() helper to WindowInfo::getTitle()
Minor debug print improvements
Remove auto-update from TODO list
Minor debug print adjustments
Remove winget github workflow, update release checklist
Link to correct version of README for help
Split app data from Finestray.rc to AppInfo.h

Full Changelog: https://github.com/benbuck/finestray/compare/v0.4...v0.5

Full release notes »

Technical details

PublisherBenbuck
Version0.5
Release date2026-08-18
LicenseApache-2.0
Installer typenullsoft
Architecturex64
Package IDBenbuck.Finestray
Install scopeCurrent user

Install Finestray from the command line

Install with Windows Package Manager
winget install --id=Benbuck.Finestray -e
Update to the latest version
winget upgrade --id=Benbuck.Finestray -e
Uninstall
winget uninstall --id=Benbuck.Finestray -e
Silent install with the offline installer
"Finestray-0.5-win64.exe" /S

minimizetraywindows

Finestray version history

0.4 May 22, 2025

Finestray-0.4-win64.exe is the installer.
Finestray.exe is the standalone portable executable.
- Remove poll interval setting
- Remove show windows in menu setting
- Add minimize persistence auto-tray setting
- Add event type auto-tray setting
- Improve method for spy window selection
- Better regular expression checking
- Add version to settings file
- Don't assert in Log::printf if file handle closed
- Add sha256 artifacts of portable and installer
- Avoid using strncpy_s in two cases, and fix third
- Change writeable dir search order
- Improve context menu icon creation
- Refactor and simplify Hotkey parsing and handling
- More debug print logging
- Handle long strings in debug log printf
- Fix icon background color for github builds
- Various internal improvements
Full Changelog: v0.3...v0.4

0.3.0.0 Mar 13, 2025
0.2.0.0 Mar 1, 2025

Frequently asked questions

Is Finestray free?

Yes. Finestray is free and open-source software released under the Apache-2.0 license.

What is the latest version of Finestray?

The latest version is 0.5, released on Aug 18, 2026.

Is it safe to download Finestray?

The download button links to the official installer published on github.com, the same file Windows Package Manager installs. You can verify the downloaded file by comparing its SHA-256 checksum with a23c1e2e5c5319015dc467e302c066c673d242733916f2841cd9ae8b026a0ed3.

Which Windows versions does Finestray support?

Finestray runs on Windows and is available for 64-bit (x64) systems.

How do I install Finestray silently?

Run the offline installer with "Finestray-0.5-win64.exe" /S, or install it with Windows Package Manager: winget install --id=Benbuck.Finestray -e --silent.

How do I uninstall Finestray?

Open Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Finestray and select Uninstall. From the command line, run winget uninstall --id=Benbuck.Finestray -e.