Aero Transparency for the Command Prompt

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If you are using Windows Vista or 7 and your graphics card supports Aero, then you must be enjoying the transparent windows having glass in their borders. The one and only thing which doesn’t match with the new Aero interface is “Command Prompt” window.


Microsoft has not changed anything in the Command Prompt window. Its same since ages. Many people use Command Prompt regularly. Wouldn’t it be great if we can somehow make the Command Prompt window transparent and have glass in it?

Tiny application Glass CMD for Vista and Seven forces command prompt windows to use Aero’s glass transparency effect.

Once you’ve downloaded and launched the no-install-required application, simply open a new command prompt window and the transparency effects should be immediately enabled. The application lives in the system tray, but takes up less than 1MB of RAM on our test system so it’s unlikely to drain your resources.

Glass CMD for Vista and Seven is free and open source, works on Windows 7 or Vista. The application is written in the AutoIT scripting language, but an enterprising reader could convert it to AutoHotkey or simply include the source in an existing script.

Download: Glass CMD for Vista [365Kb]