Windows Getting Started

Install HyperWhisper on Windows and make your first recording.

HyperWhisper on Windows is a .NET 10 WPF app that lives in your system tray and transcribes speech on demand — locally or via cloud providers. It runs on Windows 10 and 11, with native installers for both x64 and ARM64.

Installation

1. Download the installer

   Go to hyperwhisper.com and download the installer for your architecture:

   • HyperWhisper-X.Y.Z-x64-Setup.exe — standard Intel/AMD laptops and desktops
   • HyperWhisper-X.Y.Z-arm64-Setup.exe — Snapdragon X and other ARM64 Windows devices

   Not sure which you need? Open Settings → System → About and look at the System type field.

2. Run the installer

   Double-click the downloaded .exe and follow the setup wizard.

   • If .NET 10 Desktop Runtime is missing, the installer downloads and installs it automatically.
   • The default install location is C:\Program Files\HyperWhisper. The app itself uses about 300 MB of disk space, not counting any local models you download later.
   • The installer offers an optional Create a desktop shortcut task — it is unchecked by default.
3. Launch HyperWhisper

   At the end of the wizard you can tick Launch HyperWhisper to start the app immediately.

First launch

When HyperWhisper starts for the first time it automatically registers itself to start with Windows — you’ll find it in HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. You can turn this off later in Settings → General.

The main window opens on first launch. Closing it sends the app to the system tray (see System tray behavior below) — the app keeps running in the background ready to transcribe.

Your first recording

1. Open the app

   If the main window is not already visible, either:

   • Double-click the HyperWhisper icon in the system tray, or
   • Press the default hotkey Ctrl+Alt from anywhere on your desktop.
2. Choose a transcription mode

   Switch modes via the Modes page in the sidebar, the Ctrl+Shift+. shortcut, or the Select Mode submenu in the tray icon. Modes control which provider, model, and post-processing settings are used for each recording.

3. Start recording

   Press Ctrl+Alt from anywhere to start recording, or right-click the tray icon and choose Start/Stop Recording. A recording overlay appears while audio is being captured.

4. Stop and review

   Press Ctrl+Alt again (or choose Start/Stop Recording from the tray) to stop. Once processing is complete the transcript appears in the History section in the sidebar.

Default keyboard shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Start / stop recording	Ctrl+Alt
Cancel recording	Esc
Change mode	Ctrl+Shift+.

You can customize all shortcuts in Settings → Shortcuts.

System tray behavior

HyperWhisper runs in the background with an icon in the Windows system tray (notification area). Right-clicking the icon opens a context menu with quick access to the most common actions:

Menu item	What it does
Start/Stop Recording	Toggle recording without opening the main window
Microphone	Switch your active input device
Select Mode	Switch the active transcription mode
Transcribe File	Open a file for transcription
History…	Open the main window on the History page
Settings…	Open the main window on the Settings page
Check for Updates	Check for a new release
Quit	Exit HyperWhisper

By default, closing the main window hides it to the tray instead of quitting the app. To exit completely, use Quit from the tray menu.

If you enable Settings → General → Launch Minimized, the app will hide to the tray at startup and show a balloon notification with your recording hotkey as a reminder.

Next steps

Keyboard Shortcuts

Customize hotkeys for recording, cancelling, and switching modes.

Audio Input

Select and test your microphone.

Transcription Modes

Create and configure modes for different tasks.

Choosing a Provider

Compare local and cloud transcription options.