microsoft/Terminal

Consolidate Tray Icons OR (alternatively) Distinguish between Elevated and Unelevated Instances

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#18,046 opened on Oct 14, 2024

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Area-UserInterfaceHelp WantedIssue-FeatureProduct-Terminal

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Description

Description of the new feature/enhancement

Currently, if we have two instances of Terminal running (one elevated and one not), we get two identical icons in the task bar. This can be a slight inconvenience when Terminal is set to minimize to tray, as often, it requires that we activate both windows to determine which is the one with which we actually want to interact:

Image

An improvement could be as simple as a change of color, or a small shield badge to differentiate the two icons. Or even better, (if it's even possible) consolidate the icons into one, and allow the user to select the desired window from a context menu.

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate Windows taskbar icon management for elevated vs unelevated processes. Look into ITaskbarList3 interfaces, setting overlay icons, or using different AppUserModelIDs to group icons under one window. Consider alternative approach: modify Terminal's window class to show a shield overlay when elevated.
Tech stack
cpp
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
C++Windows APIGit
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
50