Taskbar - Pin Invisible Icon for a Program

How to "Pin to Taskbar" Transparent Invisible Icons for Programs in Windows 7
Published 19 Aug 2011

Published by

Brink

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How to "Pin to Taskbar" Transparent Invisible Icons for Programs in Windows 7

Information

This will show you how to have a transparent invisible icon for any installed program of your choice pinned to the taskbar in Windows 7.

This way you could have hidden pinned programs on your taskbar.

Here's How:

1. Either create a new shortcut or copy a shortcut of the program (ex: CCleaner) that you want to pin to the taskbar to your desktop.
NOTE: If you already have this program pinned to the taskbar, then you will need to unpin it before doing step 2.

2. Right click on the new shortcut (ex: CCleaner) on the desktop, and click on Properties. (see screenshot below)

3. In the Shortcut tab, click on the Change Icon button. (see screenshot below)

4. In the field under "Look for icons in this file", copy and paste the location below and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
%SystemRoot%\System32\imageres.dll

5. Select the blank transparent icon highlighted in blue above and click on OK. (see screenshot above)

6. Click on OK. (see screenshot below)

7. Right click on the shortcut (ex: CCleaner) with the new blank icon on the desktop, and click on Pin to Taskbar. (see screenshot below)

8. Delete the shortcut (ex: CCleaner) on the desktop.

9. The invisible program icon is now pinned to the taskbar. Here is how it will look on your taskbar under the conditions below.
A) Invisible program icon pinned to the taskbar, and not opened or without the mouse pointer hovered on it.

B) Invisible program icon pinned to the taskbar, and not opened with the mouse pointer hovered on it.
NOTE: This is handy to know what program the pinned invisible icon is for.

C) Invisible program icon pinned to the taskbar, and opened with the window active.

D) Invisible program icon pinned to the taskbar, and opened with the window not active.

E) Invisible program icon pinned to the taskbar, and opened with the thumbnail preview displaying on the taskbar.

F) Invisible program icon pinned to the taskbar, and opened without grouping taskbar buttons "Always combine, hide labels" selected.
NOTE: When not opened, it looks the same as in steps 9A and 9B.

That's it,
Shawn

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19 Aug 2011	#1
xxxdannyxxx Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1 3,248 posts England	Nice one Shawn.This has popped up a lot just of late. Danny
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19 Aug 2011	#2
Brink 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 & Windows 8 Enterprise 47,009 posts Texas	Thank you Danny. I'm glad that you like it.
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19 Aug 2011	#3
StalkeR Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64 8,800 posts Macedonia	Interesting .... Nice one Brink.
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03 Sep 2012	#4
JonathanV Windows 7 Home Premium Service Pack 1 32-bit Build 7601 178 posts	Thank you Brink! It worked for me. They think the taskbar has no programs but when he hovered it, he see the button and when he clicks it. It opens a program. Does it work for Windows 8?
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03 Sep 2012	#5
Brink 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 & Windows 8 Enterprise 47,009 posts Texas	You're welcome Jonathan. I haven't tested it yet on Windows 8 yet, but it might since the taskbar still has tranparency in Windows 8.
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Windows 7: Taskbar - Pin Invisible Icon for a Program

Taskbar - Pin Invisible Icon for a Program

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