Original Article: https://www.minitool.com/news/windows-11-taskbar-not-working.html


How to Fix Taskbar Not Working in Windows 11

Restart Your PC

Most of the time, some problems can be solved via a simple restart. To fix the issue of Windows 11 Taskbar unresponsive or not working, you can also reboot your PC by following one way in this post - How to Shut down or Restart Your Windows 11 Computer.

If the Taskbar is not visible, power off the PC by clicking the Power button and then restart it by clicking the same button.

Restart Services

If Windows 11 Taskbar is stuck loading or unresponsive, you can press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to launch Task Manager. Under the Processes tab, right-click on Windows Explorer and choose Restart.

how to open task manager in windows 11 thumbnail
 

In this post, we will show you some easy guides on how to open Task Manager on your Windows 11 computer.

Then, go to Details, find the listed services below, right-click on each item and choose End task.

  • SearchIndexer.exe
  • SearchHost.exe
  • ShellExperienceHost.exe
  • RuntimeBroker.exe

Run a Command via Command Prompt (CMD)

When encountering Windows 11 Taskbar not working after update, you can fix this issue by running a command in the CMD window.

Step 1: Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.

Step 2: Click File > Run new task.

Step 3: In the Open field, type cmd, check the box of Create this task with administrative privileges and click OK to open Command Prompt.

Step 4: Type this command - reg delete HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\IrisService /f && shutdown -r -t 0 and press Enter. After the PC reboots, the Taskbar can work as normal.

fix Windows 11 Taskbar not working via Command Prompt

Reinstall UWP

To fix Windows 11 Taskbar not loading/responding or Windows 11 Taskbar crashing, you can try reinstalling the basic UWP (Universal Windows Program) via Windows PowerShell.

Step 1: Press Win + X to open the context menu and choose Windows PowerShell (Admin).

Step 2: Type this command - Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$ ($ _. InstallLocation) \ AppXManifest.xml”} and press Enter.

Edit the XMAL File

Is Windows 11 Taskbar not working? You can fix this issue by editing the XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) file in Registry Editor. Here is what you should do:

Step 1: Press Win + R, type regedit and click OK to open Registry Editor.

Step 2: Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced.

Step 3: Right-click on the Advanced folder and click New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it EnableXamlStartMenu.

Step 4: Double-click on it to change the value data to 0.

Uninstall an Update

If you run into the issue of Windows 11 Taskbar not working after update, you can get rid of the trouble by uninstalling the recent update you have installed.

Step 1: To uninstall an update in Windows 11, you can go to the Settings app by pressing Win + I.

Step 2: Go to Windows Update > Update history.

Step 3: Click Uninstall update, choose the target update and click Uninstall to remove the update from your PC.

uninstall Windows 11 updates

Tip: In addition to uninstalling updates via Settings, you can do this task in other ways and refer to this post - How to Uninstall Windows 11 Update – 5 Ways to learn more.