Windows 10: Unresponsive start menu, no taskbar or system tray icons when switching user accounts

I've completely reinstalled Windows 10 twice, but no luck. Here's the problem, described also in https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-taskbar/d188f439-a164-482d-95ca-e15b5fe567b8 but with no resolution.


Steps to reproduce


1. Turn on and log in to any user account

2. From the start menu, do not log out, but switch to any other user account

3. Sign in to the other user account, leaving the first user account logged in


Observed results


Signing in to the second or subsequent user accounts takes up to a minute. When the desktop appears, the start menu does not respond to clicks or pressing the Windows key. There are no icons in the taskbar or system tray. The mouse cursor changes to a loading spinner when hovering over the taskbar. The taskbar appears to flash and reload every 10-15 seconds. Opening a browser from a desktop shortcut works, but no websites load, just an empty browser window with no errors.


Expected results


Switching to a second or any number of user accounts in Windows should not take a minute, and the start menu, taskbar and system icons should all behave normally.


Workarounds


1. Don't switch user accounts. Always sign out before signing in to another user account. Ensure that only one user account is signed in at a time.

2. Ctrl-Alt-Del to sign out if you do log into more than one user account and find that the start menu is broken.

3. Ctrl-Alt-Del to open Task Manager, go to the Users tab, and 'Sign off' any other users. Your start menu, taskbar and system tray icons will return to normal.


For me, this problem has only started in recent weeks, but it seems from the link above that others have been encountering it since December 2020.

:)

 

Start menu freezes and becomes unresponsive when attempting to switch accounts

This is the second of my minor annoyances. In Win8.1 if you were on an account and needed to switch to another account, you could do so without having to logout of your current account. All you had to do was click on that users icon and login, then you could
switch back to your original account where you left off. Under Win10, I am experiencing the following:

• Go to the start menu and on the user icon, select a user you want to switch to without logging out of the current account.
• Upon selecting the other user account, the start menu freezes.
• Clicking outside the start menu makes the menu disappear, but the start icon, windows key, and the entire taskbar become completely unresponsive. Most desktop functions seem to work normally otherwise.
• Right-clicking over the windows icon to get the text administrative menu and logging out and in is the only way to resolve the problem.

Again, this is a small annoyance, but it was a nice feature in Win8.1 to be able to log out of one account without having to close down everything in the other account.

Thanks.

 

Tray icon is blurred when I switch user with different DPI

Hi everyone,

I develop application in windows 10 build 10586(newest version), and I find a problem.

Suppose I have two user accounts:

• session 1 (account user1), DPI: 125%
• session 2 (account user2), DPI: 100%

When I do theses steps, tray icon would be blurred...

• Launch program in user1 session, tray icon looks like clear on the bottom right corner。
• Switch to another user (user2)。
• Stitch back to the user1。
• tray icon is blurred。
• operate the application, tray icon is normal as long as it's updated。

Does anyone encounter this issue? It would be no problem if both DPI are 100%, maybe OS use wrong icon to scale into 125%。

Thanks for your answer.

 

Notification area (system tray) icons missing, Reset did not work

Hi Kevin,

With regard to your query about the system tray, we suggest that you follow the steps below and see if it helps.

• Right-click on an empty space in your desktop taskbar and select Properties.
• In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window, find the selection labeled
  Notification Area and click on Customize.
• Click on Turn system icons on or off.
• If you'd like to always show all icons, turn the slider window to On.
• Reboot the PC for the changes to take effect.

Let us know the result.