ExplorerCanvas is an experimental Windows 11 File Explorer customizer. It can render an image behind folder views and configure selected command-bar, navigation, address/search, and tab XAML elements.
The project uses a registered Browser Helper Object to enter explorer.exe.
It does not use remote-thread injection. Unsupported or low-confidence XAML
targets are ignored, and all XAML property changes are captured for restoration.
Run from a Visual Studio developer-capable PowerShell:
.\build.ps1 -Configuration Release -Target RebuildOutputs are written to build\x64\Release. See docs/BUILD.md.
ExplorerCanvas modifies the Explorer process and is not guaranteed to survive
Windows internal UI changes. Keep the recovery steps in
docs/RECOVERY.md available before installing the hook.
Holding Escape while Explorer starts, or creating disable-hook.flag in the
ExplorerCanvas data directory, prevents hook activation.
MIT. Third-party components and research references are listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.