Tkinter buttons appear outside window when using PyInstaller's --uac-uiaccess flag with topmost=True

I'm developing an accessibility application using Python and Tkinter where I need to use PyInstaller's --uac-uiaccess flag to ensure proper access to UI automation features.

The Problem

When I compile my application with PyInstaller using the --uac-uiaccess flag AND set my Tkinter window to be always-on-top (topmost=True), all my UI elements (buttons) appear misplaced at the top-left corner of the screen instead of within my application window.

If I keep decorations enabled but use topmost, I can see that the UI elements are being rendered completely outside the root window's bounds.

Minimal Reproducible Example

import tkinter as tk
# Create the main window
root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Simple Buttons")
root.attributes('-topmost', True)  # Keep the window on top
# Create a frame to hold the buttons
button_frame = tk.Frame(root)
button_frame.pack(padx=10, pady=10)
# Create 8 buttons
button_texts = ["ON/OFF", "LEFT", "DOUBLE", "DRAG", "RIGHT", "SETUP", "MOVE", "EXIT"]
buttons = []
for text in button_texts:
    button = tk.Button(button_frame, text=text, width=8, height=2)
    button.pack(side=tk.LEFT, padx=2)
    buttons.append(button)
# Start the main loop
root.mainloop()

My build process includes:

1. Creating a self-signed certificate
2. Building with PyInstaller using --uac-uiaccess
3. Signing the executable
4. Installing to Program Files

When running the compiled executable, all buttons appear at the top-left of the screen instead of in the window.

What I've Tried

• Adding explicit root.update() calls
• Using update_idletasks()
• Adding frames as containers
• Different window configurations
• Testing without topmost (works correctly)
• Testing with overrideredirect(True) (same issue)

Environment

• Windows 11 24H2
• Python 3.13.3
• PyInstaller 6.13
• Tkinter (built-in)

This issue is critical for my accessibility application as I need both the elevated UAC access and the ability to create always-on-top windows.

UPDATE - RESOLVED

Switching to Qt6 (PySide6/PyQt6) resolved this issue completely.

The same always-on-top functionality works perfectly with Qt6 when using PyInstaller's --uac-uiaccess flag, without any UI element positioning problems. This appears to be a specific incompatibility between Tkinter's topmost attribute and PyInstaller's UAC access functionality.

For anyone experiencing similar issues, consider migrating from Tkinter to Qt6 for applications requiring UAC elevation and always-on-top windows.