Minimizing Application to system tray using WPF ( Not using NotifyIcon )

If you'll reconsider your reluctance to using an external component, I recommend WPF NotifyIcon. I've used it. It's straightforward and works well.

It does not just rely on the corresponding WinForms component, but is a purely independent control which leverages several features of the WPF framework in order to display rich tooltips, popups, context menus, and balloon messages.

I just came across this post today.

For reference, I also solved this some time back. It works very well and the only time I have had a bit of an issue is occasionally on some multi-display set ups.

This was before GITs and NuGets were the in-thing, I will place it in a GIT repo if there is interest.

CodeProject Article Here