View source for Windows Gadget

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Archiving
|extensions={{ext|gadget}}
|mimetypes={{mimetype|application/x-windows-gadget}}
|developed by=[[Microsoft]]
|released=2007
}}
A '''Windows Gadget''' file, also known as a '''Windows Sidebar Gadget''', is the format used to distribute gadgets used by the [[Windows Sidebar]], available in [[Windows Vista]], then renamed [[Windows Gadget Platform]] in [[Windows 7]] and [[Windows Server 2008]].

It is either a [[ZIP]] or [[CAB]] archive which always contains a manifest describing the gadget, named <code>gadget.xml</code>. The archive also contains [[HTML]], [[CSS]], [[JavaScript]] files that power the gadget, as it is not much more than a web page with some extra [[ActiveX]] APIs.

Gadgets are installed (extracted) under two directories:

* <code>%SYSTEMROOT%\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets</code> (all users)
* <code>%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets</code> (only this user)

Because the APIs allow, among many other things, arbitrary command execution through [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/sidebar/system-shell-execute <code>System.Shell.execute</code>], Microsoft published [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/SecurityAdvisories/2013/2719662 a security advisory] in 2012 that recommends disabling gadgets entirely.

== Links ==
* [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/gadgetplatform/windows-gadget-platform-portal Windows Gadget Platform documentation]
* [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/sidebar/-sidebar-entry Windows Sidebar documentation]