The VideoLAN Forums

This is a two part question:-

First, is there a way to run VLC solely from the systray without showing it on the taskbar? We have disabled the "Show VLC on the taskbar" option but this does not appear to have any effect even after closing/restarting.

Second, is there a way to minimise VLC to systray by using the window X button?

Platform is Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

Thanks.

If you click on the systray, it should.

And no, this is not possible.

We use a couple of pieces of software that work this way:-

GUI Ping Monitor: https://sourceforge.net/projects/gui-ping-monitor
MyPhoneExplorer: https://www.fjsoft.at

The first one is open source so may provide some pointers for inclusion with VLC.

We would find this capability very helpful, in particular when running VLC on a netbook with a small display.

Please would this be considered. Thank you.

It's possible with the windows compositor to hide it from the taskbar, but I don't think it really has any interest at all, it doesn't match what this feature is designed for.

Thanks for looking over this.

Hopefully somebody in the future would find it useful too and worthy of the effort.

Regarding the first part of the OP's question, at least when using a skin, there is an option to do this under Advanced Preferences -> Interface -> Main Interfaces -> Skins, where you can uncheck "Show VLC on the taskbar".

Unfortunately, I don't currently see a way of achieving this same result in Qt -- that is, when not using a skin -- unless you install some third party tool to do it. That would be a useful option to have.

...there is an option to do this under Advanced Preferences -> Interface -> Main Interfaces ->...

Thanks - these options work really well, with a skin or without. It's only the 'minimise to tray' operation that would complement the feature.

It would make it easier for us to use both with mouse and keyboard and help prevent us from accidentally closing VLC.

Unfortunately, I don't currently see a way of achieving this same result in Qt...

Perhaps the following open source project could shed some light on this?
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gui-ping-monitor

As we're not a coder we can only guess but this seems to be developed for Qt and provides the 'click X to minimise to tray' capability. Perhaps this might provide some inspiration?

Either way, thanks for your interest.