Windischgarsten lies in the Traunviertel and is surrounded by mountains: the Haller Mauern in the South, the Sengsengebirge in the North, and the Totes Gebirge in the West.

River system: Dambach, Teichl, Steyr, Enns and Danube Roman Windischgarsten (Gabromagus) lay to the Southwest and was a mansio (a stopping place) on the Norican Main Road (see Tabula Peutingeriana) that existed between the 2nd and 5th centuries.

During the Carolingian dynasty, around the year 800, a command post was likely set up with the name "Waldbergland" where a group of Alpine Slavs were concentrated.

In 1492 the village had: two leather works, one furrier, three smithies, two mills (flour), one tailor, two butchers, one weaver, one locksmith, one rope-maker and one stonemason.

The market town made headlines at the turn of the millennium as the former mayor Franz Hufnagl was sentenced to three years in prison, charged with rape, sexual assault, and abuse of authority.

On 31 January 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed local priest Gerhard Maria Wagner auxiliary bishop of Linz.

He turned down the post fifteen days later amidst controversy over his belief that sin had caused Hurricane Katrina.