Windows 10: Failure to restart the taskbar

After major updates, or when I turn off the computer and then restart, the task bar will not activate.

If I hover the mouse over the taskbar I get the new hourglass. If I then press the mouse buttons continuously, left then center then right then right then center then left over and over, eventually the task bar will activate.

Today I have been doing this for 20 minutes without any luck.

The Icons on my desk top will change during this process, sometimes with proper characters, sometimes with just a white generic character.

I have 2 windows 10 computers and this happens to both. The desktop takes the longest, the laptop usually gets running in a couple of minutes. Both computers are HP.


Help

Brian Sullivan

:)

 

taskbar tranparency

Hi Dan,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused. I will surely assist you with this.

I would suggest you to change the desktop themes and check if you are able to see the transparent taskbar.

If that doesn't help I would suggest you to end the explorer.exe and restart it and see if you are able to see the transparent taskbar.

Please follow the steps below to restart explorer.exe:

stop and start Explorer.exe

• • 
    Right click on the taskbar and select task manager.
    
  • 
    In the process Right click on windows explorer and end the task
    
  • 
    Restart the task by clicking on the file and select new task
    
  • 
    Type Explorer.exe and press enter.
    

And see if it helps.

Do let us know the result. We will be glad to help if you need further assistance.

 

random restarts

Hi Lili,

Hardware failure or system instability can cause the computer to
randomly restarts. As our initial troubleshooting step, we suggest you to run the Power troubleshooter on your computer and check if it fixes the issue. Here are the steps:

• Press Windows key.
• Type Troubleshoot.
• Under Find and fix other problems look for
  Power.
• Then Run the troubleshooter.

Update us with the outcome and if you need further assistance.

 

System Icons on taskbar

Hi,

Thank you for posting on Microsoft Communities.

Are you referring to the clock system icon on the taskbar?

If so, I suggest you to follow the steps mentioned below:

• 
  Click on the search bar on the taskbar.
  
• 
  Type system icons.
  
• 
  Under Turn System Icons ON or OFF, turn On the Clock and check with the issue.
  

Hope it helps.