The Windows 10 Taskbar is an old concept that has grown to become an important utility. After the Windows 10 release, the taskbar received new functionalities that turned it into a feature-rich application. One of the most significant improvements was the introduction of Cortana and an inbuilt search box. In addition to that, you can also effortlessly launch apps on your PC using the Taskbar. Unfortunately, with all these great improvements came certain problems that can render the Taskbar unusable.
Given the significance of the Taskbar, you’ll not want to encounter problems like the Taskbar being unresponsive, frozen, or not working at all. Therefore, we have compiled a few fixes to help you fix your Taskbar when it stops working as expected.
1. Restart Windows Explorer
Whenever you have issues with your Taskbar, the first step is to restart Windows Explorer. It controls the Windows shell, including the File Explorer app, the taskbar, and the Start menu.
Therefore, you can restart it to fix a few glitches affecting your Taskbar’s functionality. You can restart Windows explorer by:
Step 1: Press Ctrl + Shift +Esc to open Task Manager
Step 2: Under Processes look for Windows Explorer
Step 3: Right-click on it and select Restart
2. Check third-party apps and bad explorer add-ons
If your Windows 10 Taskbar is not working, you can disable all non-Microsoft services to know whether a File Explorer addon interferes with the explorer.exe. To do this:
Step 1: Press Windows + R to launch the Run dialog
Step 2: Type in msconfig and press Enter
Step 3: On the Services tab, select Hide all Microsoft services and click on Apply
Step 4: Select Disable all
Step 5: Click on Apply, then select Ok
You can then restart your computer and check whether your Taskbar is functional again. If it is, you should find the application causing the error and uninstall it. Alternatively, you can get rid of any apps that you recently installed.
3. Re-register the Taskbar
You could be facing issues because your Taskbar was deregistered from your system. Therefore, re-registering it will help solve the problem of the Taskbar not working. To re-register the Taskbar, you’ll need to use PowerShell with admin privileges. PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management framework with a command-line shell and associated scripting language. You can use PowerShell to re-register the Taskbar on Windows 10 by:
Step 1: Press the Windows key and search for Windows PowerShell
Step 2: Click on Run as Administrator
Step 3: You can now paste the following command in Windows PowerShell and press Enter.
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml”}
Step 1: Wait until the Windows apps are reinstalled
Step 2: You can now close PowerShell and navigate to C:/Users/{Your_Name}/AppData/Local
Step 3: Locate and delete the folder named TileDataLayer
You can then restart your PC and see if your Taskbar is not working problem is solved.
4. Run DISM and SFC Utility
Corrupted, broken, and errors in your system files will prevent your Taskbar from working as expected. Therefore, you can check for corrupted systems files using the DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) and SFC (System File Checker). SFC is a built-in tool in Windows OS that scans the machine, finds errors, and fixes them automatically. To check for any corrupted system files:
Step 1: Press the Windows icon and type Command Prompt in the search bar
Step 2: Click on Run as Administrator
Step 3: In the Command Prompt window, paste in DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth. This will repair the system image.
Step 4: After it has completed the scanning process, type in sfc /scannow and press Enter. This will run the System file checker utility.
After it has finished the scanning process, you can restart Windows and check if your problem is gone.
5. Create a new user account
Sometimes your system files may get corrupted or unintentionally deleted. This also happens when unintentional tasks end up damaging the core features of your system. When you have a corrupted user profile, your Taskbar will not work as expected.
Therefore, you should check whether the taskbar works on another user account. You can do this by taking the following steps to create a new user account on your computer:
Step 1: Press Win + I to open Settings
Step 2: Select Accounts from the Settings menu
Step 3: From the list, select Family & Other People
Step 4: Click on Add someone else to this PC
Step 5: Then selects I don’t have this person’s sign-in information
Step 6: On the next screen, click on Add a user without a Microsoft account
Step 7: Then click on the Add user option
Step 8: You can then create the user and click on Next
Step 9: Change the account type from the new account to the Administrator account and click Ok to confirm.
After that, you can now sign out of your accounts by pressing Windows Key, selecting your profile icon, then clicking on Sign Out. You can then log in with your new account and see whether this solves your problem. If it does, you can transfer your data to the new user account.
6. Update Windows and device drivers
If you’re running an older version of Windows 10, you could have corrupt system files that prevent the Taskbar from working. You’ll also have outdated drivers that will cause more problems on your PC. It is advisable to ensure that you are always running the latest version of Windows 10.
Microsoft releases regular updates to patch security issues and solve many problems on your PC. You can check for Windows 10 updates by:
Step 1: Press Win + I to open the settings
Step 2: Click on Update & Security
Step 3: Then select Check for Updates
Windows will check for any available updates, including driver updates, and install them on your PC.
7. Rollback to a System Restore Point
Even though updating your Windows OS can solve many issues, it could also cause some problems. Therefore, if you have issues with the Taskbar after updating your Windows, you can roll back to a system restore point. It helps you undo the significant changes made on your PC causing issues. You’ll take your PC back to when everything was working as expected. You should keep in mind that restoring will not affect your files but will uninstall apps and remove any updates installed.
Step 1: Select the Start button and type in Control Panel
Step 2: In the Control Panel window, search for Recovery
Step 3: Select Recovery
Step 4: Click on Open System Restore, then select Next.
Step 5: Choose a Restore point, then select Next
Step 6: Click on Finish to restore your PC
After performing a system restore, your PC will restart. This should fix your Taskbar not working problem.
8. Use the Troubleshooter
Windows has the troubleshooting feature to help you diagnose and fix issues with your PC. Therefore, you can run the troubleshooter to fix Taskbar not working problem:
Step 1: Go to Settings and select Update & security
Step 2: Click on Troubleshoot from the left menu
Step 3: Select Windows Store Apps
Step 4: Click on Run the troubleshooter and see if it fixes your problem.
Conclusion
With the help of the above troubleshooting tips, you should fix many taskbar-related issues. If your problem persists, you can choose to reinstall your Windows 10 OS. However, the above fixes should be enough to get rid of your taskbar not working issue.
