Enable Minimize Windows with Title Bar Shake in Windows 11 (Aero Shake)

Windows 11 allows you to minimize other windows when you shake the title bar of the current one. This feature is known as Aero Shake. It exists since Windows 7. But in Windows 11, it is disabled by default. Here are the methods to enable Aero Shake in Windows 11.

The Aero Shake feature in Windows provides efficient window management by allowing you to minimize all open windows except the one you want to keep active. This is done by simply "shaking" the desired application, which will remain visible on the desktop while all other windows are minimized to the taskbar.

ℹ️ Originally part of the Windows Aero interface, Aero Shake was one of two new features introduced in Windows 7. The other being Aero Snap, which resizes and arranges windows to the left, top, or right of the screen.

If you used to shake the active window to minimize the other apps, you may find it disappointing that the feature is disabled by default. Microsoft keeps it off out of the box to save you from an accidental move that makes others windows minimized. Luckily, it is easy to change the defaults.

💡There are several methods that you can use to enable the shake titlebar feature. Let's review them carefully.

Enable Shake Title bar to minimize windows

1. Open the Settings app, e.g. by pressing the Win + I shortcut keys.
2. Navigate to System > Multitasking.
3. On the next page that opens, turn on the Title bar window shake toggle option.
4. The Aero Shake feature is now enabled. You can grab a window by its title bar and shake it, so the rest apps will be minimized.

Enable Aero Shake in the Registry

1. Type regedit in search, and click Registry Editor to open the app.
2. Browse the left pane to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced key.
3. Right-click the Advanced subkey, and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value from the menu.
4. Name the new value DisallowShaking. Double-click it and set its value data as follows: 1 = Disable Aero Shake, 0 =  Enable Aero Shake.
5. You can now close the Registry Editor app.

You are done!

Ready-to-use Registry files

To save your time, I have create two REG files that will allow you to turn on or off Aero Shake in Windows 11 without modifying the Registry manually. Point your web browser to the following link to download them.

Download Registry Files

Extract the downloaded files to any folder of your choice. You will get the following two files.

• Enable Aero Shake For Current User.reg - use this file to enable the shake to minimize feature.
• Disable Aero Shake For Current User.reg - this one will undo the change.

Using Winaero Tweaker

Finally, the Winaero Tweaker app includes an option to manage the Aero Shake. Run the app and go to Behavior \ Disable Aero Shake in the left pane. Remove the checkmark in the right pane, and voila - Aero Shake now works for you.

Finally, the alternative to everything above is Group Policy and its Registry options.

Enable or Disable Minimize with Title Bar Shake with Group Policy

In Windows 11 editions that comes with the gpedit.msc tool, you can use it to enable or disable the Aero Shake feature. The Local Group Policy Editor app comes with a dedicated option for managing its status. But keep in mind that only Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise editions include the gpedit.msc tool. If you have Windows 11 Home, the tool will be missing. But you can apply a Registry tweak to activate the feature. We will start reviewing this method with a Local Group Policy Editor app. The mentioned tweak will be discussed in the next chapter below.

Using the "Turn off Aero Shake window minimizing mouse gesture" Policy

1. In search, type gpedit and select Edit Group Policy to open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2. Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop on the left.
3. On the right, find the policy setting Turn off Aero Shake window minimizing mouse gesture.
4. Double-click on it and set the policy as follows.
   1. Setting the policy to Disabled will enable Aero Shake.
   2. Setting the policy to Enabled to disable the Aero Shake feature.
   3. Choose Not configured to use system defaults.
5. You can now close the Local Group Policy Editor app.

Alternatively, you can configure the reviewed policy by the direct Registry modification. As mentioned earlier, this works in all editions of Windows 11.

The Registry tweak for the Aero Shake Group Policy

1. Download these REG files in a ZIP archive.
2. Extract them to any folder of your choice, e.g. right to the Desktop.
3. Open the file Enable Aero Shake with Group Policy.reg file to force-enable Aero Shake, and confirm the User Account Control and Registry Editor prompts by clicking Yes in both dialogs.
4. To disable Aero Shake, the ZIP archive includes the Disable Aero Shake with Group Policy.reg file.
5. Finally, to restore defaults, use the Reset Aero Shake to Defaults.reg tweak.
6. Sign out and sign in to your user account, or restart the Explorer shell.

You are done!

How it works

The Registry files above modify the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer Registry branch.

They  change the NoWindowMinimizingShortcuts DWORD value. It accepts the following data.

• 0 = Enable
• 1 = Disable

That's it.

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