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Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/ryzhpolsos/redeye/llms.txt

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RedEye ships as a self-contained executable. The installer script handles shell registration, COM type registration, and the scheduled task needed for the elevated service — all in a single step. This page covers system requirements, the installation walkthrough, building from source, and how to uninstall.

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System requirements

  • OS: Windows 10 or Windows 11 (x64)
  • Runtime: .NET Framework 4.8 — included by default on Windows 10 May 2019 Update and later
  • Architecture: 64-bit only
  • Privileges: Administrator rights are required for the installer and uninstaller
.NET Framework 4.8 is pre-installed on most up-to-date Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems. If you are unsure, open Settings → Apps → Optional features and search for ”.NET Framework”.

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Installing from a release

1

Download the latest release

Go to the RedEye Releases page on GitHub and download the .zip archive from the latest release.
2

Extract the archive

Extract the archive to a permanent folder of your choice — for example, C:\RedEye. The redeye.exe file must be present in the folder before running the installer.
Do not run install.bat directly from within the zip archive. You must extract all files first. The installer checks for redeye.exe in the same directory and will refuse to proceed if it is not found.
3

Run install.bat as administrator

Right-click install.bat and select Run as administrator. The script performs the following actions:
  • Registers redeye.exe as the shell for your user account in the Windows registry
  • Creates a scheduled task named RedEyeElevatedService that starts the elevated service at the highest privilege level
  • Registers COM types using RegAsm.exe from your installed .NET Framework
  • Sets the REDEYE_DIRECTORY system environment variable to the installation folder
Administrator privileges are required. If you run the script without elevation, it will detect the missing privileges and exit immediately with an error message.
You can also run the installer silently (no prompts) by passing the /q flag:
install.bat /q
4

Log off and log back in

Sign out of your Windows session and sign back in. Windows reads the shell registration on login, so RedEye will start in place of Explorer.

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Building from source

Building from source is useful if you want to test unreleased changes, contribute to the project, or run a specific commit. You need the .NET SDK installed (not just the runtime).
git clone https://github.com/ryzhpolsos/redeye
cd redeye
dotnet build -c Release
The output is placed in bin/Release/. From there, follow the same installation steps above using the compiled redeye.exe.

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Uninstalling

To remove RedEye and restore Explorer as your shell, run uninstall.bat as administrator from the RedEye installation folder.
Run uninstall.bat as administrator, not as a standard user. The script requires elevated privileges to remove the registry entry and delete the scheduled task.
The uninstaller reverses every change made during installation:
  • Removes the Shell registry value from your user’s Winlogon key, which causes Windows to fall back to Explorer
  • Deletes the RedEyeElevatedService scheduled task
  • Unregisters COM types using RegAsm.exe /u
  • Clears the REDEYE_DIRECTORY system environment variable (sets it to an empty string)
Log off and back on after running the uninstaller for Explorer to take effect.

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