PetalWorks

Download

SakuDesk Free is one file. Download it and double-click it. There's nothing to install.

Download SakuDesk Free

Version 20.9, 78 MB, Windows 10 and 11. No account needed.

From click to running, in about a minute.

  1. Download the file

    Press the button. Your browser saves SakuDesk-Free.exe, usually to Downloads. If it asks whether to keep it, choose Keep.

  2. Move it somewhere it can stay

    A folder such as Documents\Apps works well. That way it isn't cleaned away with your downloads, and start with Windows keeps finding it.

  3. Open it, and get past the warning

    Double-click it. Windows shows a blue box the first time. Choose More info, then Run anyway. Here's why.

Windows will warn you first.

SakuDesk Free isn't code-signed yet. Signing is a paid certificate that tells Windows who made a program. Without it, Windows can't check, so it shows a blue "Windows protected your PC" box for any new unsigned program. It doesn't mean Windows found anything wrong.

  1. Click More info in the blue box.
  2. Check that the app is named SakuDesk-Free.exe and the publisher is Unknown publisher.
  3. Click Run anyway. Windows only asks once for each file.

Your browser or antivirus may also ask whether you want to keep the file. If you'd like to be sure you have the right one, check it as described here before you open it.

Check it's really ours.

Every copy of the file we publish has the same SHA-256 checksum, a long code worked out from every byte in it. If a single byte were different, the code would be completely different too.

  1. Open the folder with the file, click the address bar, type powershell and press Enter.
  2. Run Get-FileHash .\SakuDesk-Free.exe.
  3. Compare the code it prints with the one under SHA-256 below. Upper or lower case doesn't matter.

If they match, the file is exactly the one we published. If they don't, delete it and download it again from this page.

File
SakuDesk-Free.exe
Version
20.9
Size
78 MB
SHA-256
6B97DEA8AE54E4D88F35DA289C42C0243E87B7F1F3F513EC21BA3979275A2B58
Works on
Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. Built and tested on Windows 10
Needs
Nothing else. No Python, no runtime, no account
Settings
%USERPROFILE%\.sakudesk_free
New wallpapers
Pictures\SakuDesk wallpapers
Costs
Nothing. No adverts, no trial, no time limit

The first time you open it.

SakuDesk Free, real footageHome, the first page
  1. The menu

    Every page, down the left side.

  2. Status

    Green means hotkeys, the cycle, music and sound are all working.

  • A three-second opening

    The name flies in over your desktop and a blade cuts through it. Clicks pass straight through, and one switch in Settings turns it off.

  • Home

    What's playing, your volume and sound output, the clock and calendar, and how hard your PC is working, all on one page.

  • Wallpapers

    Drop pictures into Pictures\SakuDesk wallpapers, or find new ones from inside the app. Turn on the cycle and pick how often they change.

  • The tray

    Closing the window can send SakuDesk to the tray, where its hotkeys keep working. Settings lets you choose what the close and minimise buttons do.

If something isn't right.

Nothing happens when I double-click it

It may already be running in the tray. Look for the blossom icon near the clock, opening the hidden icons arrow if needed. If it isn't there, give it a few seconds: the single file unpacks itself the first time, which can take a moment on a slower drive.

There's no "Run anyway" button

Click More info first. The button only appears after that. On PCs run by a school or workplace, the administrator may have turned the option off. In that case it's their decision.

My antivirus removed the file

Some antivirus apps are wary of new unsigned programs packed into a single file. Download it again, check the checksum, and if it matches, restore it or allow it in your antivirus. Only do this for a file whose checksum matches ours.

The hotkeys don't do anything

Check the Hotkeys page shows Active. Another app may already be using Print Screen or F7 to F9, such as a screenshot tool or a game overlay. Closing that app, or changing its keys, frees them up.

More answers on the help page.

If you want to remove it.

  1. Turn off start with Windows

    If you switched it on, switch it off in Settings.

  2. Close it

    From its tray icon.

  3. Delete two things

    SakuDesk-Free.exe, then the .sakudesk_free folder in your user folder.

That's everything. It doesn't install anything into Windows, so there's nothing left in Programs and Features. Your wallpapers in Pictures\SakuDesk wallpapers stay unless you delete them too.

Looking for Hanii?

It's in development, so there's no download yet. It will be offered here once its free edition is ready.

See what it does