I find Microsoft’s lack of faith in Windows 11’s virtual desktops disturbing, but this small app makes the experience a little better.
Microsoft introduced virtual desktops over ten years ago with the release of Windows 10, but after all these years, the feature remains somewhat stagnant with little to no development. As a big fan of virtual desktops, I find Microsoft’s lack of faith in this feature disturbing, but fortunately, third-party developers always come to the rescue.
Scott Hanselman, Vice President of Developer Community at Microsoft, developed a small app for Windows that mimics certain macOS behavior when it comes to virtual desktops. Unlike Windows 11, macOS has a much better virtual desktop implementation, and Microsoft can really learn a thing or two. With the app called MaximizeToVirtualDesktop (MTVD), which is not a very creative name, if you ask me, Scott made it possible to quickly move a window to a new desktop.
MTVD lets you press a shortcut (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + X) to create a new desktop, move your current window to it, and maximize it. When you close the window, the app also closes its virtual desktop, keeping everything clean and tidy. If the keyboard shortcut is too long, you can also hold the Shift button and press “Maximize” to get the same result. Additionally, you can use the Ctrl + Shift + Alt + P shortcut to pin a window so that you can have it across all virtual desktops.
Virtual Desktops on Windows aren’t used enough. Mac has the “maximize to Virtual Desktop” button so I did a similar for Windows. Please test it+file issues.
SHIFT-CLICK the Maximize button will maximize a window to a new Virtual Desktop. Also a hotkey. https://t.co/x8etLgTbKB
— Scott Hanselman 🌮 (@shanselman) February 8, 2026
The MaximizeToVirtualDesktop app feels like something that belongs to PowerToys, and I really wish we could get more tools from Microsoft to supercharge the default and frankly lackluster virtual desktop in Windows 11. Until then, we can use apps like MTVD or Power Virtual Desktop to make things more convenient and powerful.
You can download MaximizeToVirtualDesktop for free from GitHub using this link.
