Legal notice: By downloading, installing, cloning, or running this project in any form, you agree to the Terms of Service and Disclaimer. Only use this tool on windows and processes you own or have explicit permission to capture. If you do not agree, do not use this software.
Some apps on Windows intentionally block screen recording. You open OBS, try to capture a window, and it just shows up as a black box — even though the app is right there on your screen. This isn't OBS being broken. The app is actively telling Windows "don't let anyone record me."
Capture Bypass removes that block.
Once you run it on a window, OBS, the Snipping Tool, ShareX, and any other capture software can see it normally again.
Common reasons people use this:
- Streaming or recording — you want to share your screen but an app (a media player, a game launcher, a video player) goes black in OBS
- Taking a screenshot — Windows + Shift + S just captures a black rectangle where the app should be
- Screen sharing — you're in a meeting and need to show someone a window that refuses to appear on their end
- Recording a tutorial — you're making a guide for something but the app keeps disappearing from the recording
It works on basically any app. Media players, certain games, some messaging apps, video software — if it's showing up black in OBS, this is probably why, and this fixes it.
This is a tool, not a hack. It works entirely through a documented Windows API. No sketchy stuff, no kernel exploits. The only reason it needs Administrator is because that's what Windows requires to interact with another process.
Pre-built binaries are on the Releases page — no Rust or build tools needed.
| Download | What's inside |
|---|---|
capture-bypass-setup-*.exe |
Windows installer (x64) — picks install path, shortcuts, optional startup entry |
capture-bypass-*-portable-x64.zip |
Portable build for x64 PCs |
capture-bypass-*-portable-arm64.zip |
Portable build for ARM64 (Snapdragon X, Surface) |
The installer adds a desktop shortcut, Start Menu entry, and optionally a Launch at Windows startup entry (UAC prompt will show on each login since the app needs admin rights).
Want a portable layout or a custom build? See the Build section.
Note: Windows Defender or other AV software may flag the payload DLLs because of the DLL injection technique. This is a false positive — see DISCLAIMER.md.
Windows exposes SetWindowDisplayAffinity, which lets a process mark its own windows as protected from screen capture. Protected windows show up as black/blank in OBS and screenshots.
Since the API only lets a process touch its own windows, bypassing it means running code inside the target. This tool does that with DLL injection:
OpenProcess— get a handle to the target with VM + thread access.VirtualAllocEx/WriteProcessMemory— write the payload DLL path into the target's memory.CreateRemoteThread(LoadLibraryA)— spin up a thread in the target that loads the DLL.- The DLL's
DllMaincallsSetWindowDisplayAffinity(hwnd, WDA_NONE)on every window that process owns.
capture-bypass/
├── core/ Shared injection library (inject_dll, inject_dll_stealth, InjectError)
├── cli/ CLI binary
├── gui/ egui GUI
├── payload_dll/ One-shot payload DLL (strips once and exits)
├── payload_dll_persistent/ Persistent payload DLL (hooks SetWindowDisplayAffinity, re-strips every 500 ms)
├── stress_tester/ Stress-test utility with Fight Mode
└── installer/
└── capture-bypass.iss Inno Setup 6 script
| Dependency | Notes |
|---|---|
| Rust + Cargo | Stable toolchain, x86_64-pc-windows-msvc target |
| Windows 10 2004+ | WDA_EXCLUDEFROMCAPTURE needs build 19041+ |
| Administrator rights | OpenProcess on other processes requires it |
git clone https://github.com/Londopy/capture-bypass.git
cd capture-bypass
# Build everything — GUI, CLI, stress tester, both payload DLLs
cargo build --release -p payload_dll -p payload_dll_persistent -p cli -p gui -p stress_testerThe GUI auto-detects 32-bit targets (orange 32 badge) and uses the x86 binaries when they're present. Skip this if you don't need 32-bit support.
rustup target add i686-pc-windows-msvc
cargo build --release --target i686-pc-windows-msvc -p payload_dll -p payload_dll_persistent -p clix86 binaries land in target/i686-pc-windows-msvc/release/. The GUI picks them up automatically.
rustup target add aarch64-pc-windows-msvc
cargo build --release --target aarch64-pc-windows-msvc -p payload_dll -p payload_dll_persistent -p cli -p gui -p stress_testertarget\release\capture_bypass_gui.exe- The app lists all visible, titled windows with their PID, process icon, name, and live protection status (refreshed every 500 ms). Click any column header to sort. The status bar along the bottom shows the current app version, lifetime injection count, and a live tally of visible / protected / 32-bit windows.
- Use the Filter bar to search by process name, window title, or PID. The 🔴 / 🟢 protected indicator on the right side of the filter bar shows at a glance whether any protected windows are currently detected.
- Tick Protected only to hide unprotected windows.
- Click Strip Protection on any row, or ⚡ Strip All Protected to clear everything at once.
- Toggle Mode between One-shot (strips once, fast) and Persistent (re-strips every 500 ms — for apps that keep re-applying protection). If an app re-applies after a one-shot, a popup offers to escalate to persistent automatically.
- Enable 🤖 Auto-inject to run in the background — it scans for newly protected windows and strips them automatically, escalates to persistent mode if a process fights back, and skips anything in the exclusion list or with a Skip per-process rule. Works while minimised to tray.
- Enable 🚀 Start with Windows to add a startup registry entry so the app launches at login.
- Click 📖 Help to open the built-in docs (covers every feature in detail).
- Use Watch mode in the filter bar to monitor a specific process even before it becomes protected.
- The tray icon turns red when protected windows are detected and blue when none are present — a quick check without opening the app. Right-click → Open or Quit.
Open ⚙ Settings in the header to access all configuration options:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Silent startup | Hides the main window on launch — the app starts directly in the system tray |
| Strip on launch | Automatically strips all protected windows once the first scan completes at startup |
| Fast scan | Increases scan frequency from ~500 ms to ~100 ms for faster detection (slight CPU trade-off) |
| Desktop notifications | Windows balloon-tip notifications on injection events; multiple strips within 400 ms are grouped into one "Stripped N windows" toast |
| Global hotkey | A keyboard shortcut (default Ctrl+Shift+B) that triggers Strip All Protected from anywhere, even when minimised |
| Discord Rich Presence | Shows your capture-bypass activity in your Discord status |
| Export / Import config | Save your full settings to a .toml file or restore from a previous export — useful for backups or moving to a new machine |
| Injection log file | Appends every strip attempt (timestamp, PID, process, result, mode) to a persistent log file |
| Per-process rules | Override the global Mode for specific executables: Always One-shot, Always Persistent, or Skip (never inject) |
| Exclusion list | Executables in this list are completely ignored by all injection operations — manual, auto-inject, and Strip All Protected |
| Windows Defender | If Defender flags the payload DLLs as suspicious (false positive from DLL injection), the Settings panel shows the two Add-MpPreference PowerShell commands with a 📋 Copy commands button — paste and run them in an Administrator PowerShell window |
All settings are saved automatically to config.toml alongside the executable.
When a newer release is available, a 🆕 vX.Y.Z available button appears in the header. Clicking it opens a confirmation dialog — no download starts until you confirm. After you click Update now, the installer downloads in the background (progress shown in the header). When finished, the installer runs silently and the app restarts automatically. No second click needed.
Injecting Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, or Thorium automatically covers all child processes too, since the window's renderer lives in a child process rather than the main browser PID.
Use the included Stress Tester to verify injection works. Launch it from the 🔨 Stress Test button in the header, or directly:
target\release\stress_tester.exeThe stress tester marks itself as WDA_EXCLUDEFROMCAPTURE on launch and polls GetWindowDisplayAffinity every 100 ms to show live protection state. Use it to:
- Verify one-shot injection — click Strip Protection; the badge should flip to OK.
- Stress-test persistent mode — enable Fight Mode (adjustable 50–2000 ms re-apply rate) and inject the persistent DLL. The strip counter should keep climbing while the fight counter stays ahead.
See CONTRIBUTING.md.
Personal / open-source use: MIT — see LICENSE.
Commercial use (companies, paid products, enterprise): a separate license is required. Email Londopy@protonmail.com or see LICENSE-COMMERCIAL.md.
See DISCLAIMER.md.