Custom Start Button (Windhawk Mod)

Replace the Windows Start button with your own custom image or photo on Windows 10 and Windows 11, while preserving 100% of Start Menu functionality.

Author: RobsHs (github.com/robshs)

---

Features

• Custom Image: PNG, JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, or WEBP support.
• 100% Functionality Intact:
  • Left click: opens Start Menu.
  • Right click: opens Win+X Quick Link menu.
  • Windows key and shortcuts (Win+A, Win+S, Win+X) work seamlessly.
• Image Scaling: Contain (Fit), Cover (Fill), Stretch, and Original.
• Border Radius: 0% (square) to 50% (circle) using hardware-accelerated clipping.
• Hover & Pressed Transitions: Hardware-accelerated scale, brightness, and opacity effects (respects Windows animation settings).
• Multi-Monitor: Automatically supports secondary taskbars.
• Safe Fallback: Instantly restores default Windows logo if image path is invalid or missing.
• Dual Architecture:
  • Windows 11: Taskbar XAML Island visual tree hook and DirectComposition.
  • Windows 10: Win32 Shell_TrayWnd child window subclassing with GDI+ double-buffered anti-aliasing.

---

Installation & Usage

1. Install Windhawk.
2. Open Windhawk and create a new local mod or open the mod editor.
3. Paste the contents of mod.wh.cpp.
4. Click Compile (Ctrl+B).
5. Open the mod Settings:
   • Set Custom image path (e.g. %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\my-logo.png).
   • Set Border radius to 50 for a circular button.
   • Configure scaling and hover effects as desired.
6. Click Save: your Start button updates immediately.

---

Project Structure

.
├── mod.wh.cpp             # Complete Windhawk mod file (ready to compile)
├── .gitignore
├── README.md
└── src/
    ├── config.h           # Configuration structure & enums
    ├── config.cpp         # Settings loader
    ├── windows_compat.h   # Windows OS build detection
    ├── windows_compat.cpp # OS version implementation
    ├── image_loader.h     # URI & path helpers
    ├── image_loader.cpp   # File & environment path expansion
    ├── start_button_win11.h # Windows 11 subsystem declarations
    ├── start_button_win10.h # Windows 10 subsystem declarations
    └── main.cpp           # Modular architecture demo

---

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.