How to maximize all your vscode windows on startup despite whatever stupid mitigations (?) Windows 10 is applying to prevent too many windows from starting maximized at the same time

README.md

This is for people who find that

"window.newWindowDimensions": "maximized",

does not actually work on Windows. Symptoms: some or all vscode windows are not maximized on startup.

The first thing you'll want is

"window.restoreWindows": "preserve",

in your vscode JSON preferences. This will always open the projects you had open last time, even when you start Code to open a single file.

Next you'll need to install AutoHotkey. It is available in Chocolatey.

Write these contents to a file somewhere, e.g. C:\opt\maximize_vscode_windows.ahk:

#NoTrayIcon

WinGet, winList, List, ahk_exe Code.exe
Loop %winList%
{
	item := winList%A_Index%
	WinMaximize, ahk_id %item%
}

Next, in some folder that you have vscode always open on startup, add a .vscode/tasks.json with

{
    // See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=733558
    // for the documentation about the tasks.json format
    "version": "2.0.0",
    "tasks": [
        {
            "label": "Maximize all vscode windows",
            "type": "shell",
            "command": "C:\\Program Files\\AutoHotkey\\AutoHotkey.exe",
            "args": ["C:\\opt\\maximize_vscode_windows.ahk"],
            "group": "none",
            "presentation": {
                "reveal": "never",
                "panel": "shared"
            },
            "runOptions": {
                "runOn": "folderOpen"
            },
            "problemMatcher": []
        }
    ]
}

You can test this task with the Tasks: Run Task command.

Finally, run the Tasks: Manage Automatic Tasks in Folder command and Allow tasks to run automatically.

You should now be able to experience MAXIMIZED VSCODE WINDOWS ON STARTUP.