VirtualDesktopIndicator

Shows the current Windows virtual desktop number in a small overlay. Includes a system tray icon with a menu item to exit the application.

License

MIT

Release Notes

1.0.0 - Initial release

• Shows the current Windows virtual desktop number in a small overlay
• Supports a transparent click-through display
• Includes a system tray icon with an Exit option
• Can be packaged as a standalone Windows EXE with PyInstaller

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• Python 3.12+
• tkinter (included with the standard Windows Python installer)
• pystray (required for the system tray icon)
• pillow (required by pystray for tray icon image creation)

Install runtime dependencies

Choose one of these approaches:

Option A: install for the current user only This avoids writing to the global Python installation and is often the safest choice on managed or locked-down machines.

py -3.12 -m pip install --user pystray pillow

Option B: install globally This makes the packages available to all users of this Python installation. Depending on how Python was installed, you may need to run PowerShell as Administrator.

py -3.12 -m pip install pystray pillow

Optional: install PyInstaller for EXE builds

User-only install:

py -3.12 -m pip install --user pyinstaller

Global install:

py -3.12 -m pip install pyinstaller

Run from source

From PowerShell in the folder containing this file:

py -3.12 .\\VirtualDesktopIndicator.py

Build a single EXE with PyInstaller

If PyInstaller was installed for the current user only, or if you want the most reliable invocation, run it as a Python module:

py -3.12 -m PyInstaller --onefile --windowed --name VirtualDesktopIndicator .\\VirtualDesktopIndicator.py

If PyInstaller was installed globally and its command is on PATH, this also works:

pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --name VirtualDesktopIndicator .\\VirtualDesktopIndicator.py

Build output

The EXE will be created here:

.\\dist\\VirtualDesktopIndicator.exe

Notes

• --onefile creates a single EXE.

• --windowed prevents a console window from opening.

• The target machine does not need Python installed.

• If Windows Defender or startup speed gets grumpy, build without --onefile:

  py -3.12 -m PyInstaller --windowed --name VirtualDesktopIndicator .\VirtualDesktopIndicator.py

  That creates a folder-based app under:

  .\dist\VirtualDesktopIndicator\

If pip install fails globally

Fallback to user-profile installs and run tools as Python modules:

py -3.12 -m pip install --user pystray pillow pyinstaller
py -3.12 -m PyInstaller --onefile --windowed --name VirtualDesktopIndicator .\\VirtualDesktopIndicator.py