Windows 10: I recently updated to Windows 11 but now the taskbar is blank and nothing works properly

I recently installed windows 11 and it was working fine and I had no issues but as of this morning when I switched on my laptop, my lockscreen packground was different from normal and when I entered my pin and was waiting for it to open it said 'Preparing Windows' and took way longer than usual to unlock. When it did my desktop background was now one of the default pictures again and the taskbar was completely blank and nothing would open or work correctly. I did the normal thing and hard rebooted my laptop to no avail, no matter how many times I tried it. So the next logical thing was to sear

:)

 

Blank icons in taskbar on Windows 2016

Hello,

For us to better assist you, we'd like to know the following:

• Confirm which build is currently installed on your device. To check, follow the steps below:

• Press Windows key + R, then type in winver.
• Click OK.

• Confirm the said application you're using so we could fully understand the cause of the issue.
• Were there any recent changes made prior to this issue?

Meanwhile, we suggest restarting the Explorer.exe on the Task Manager. This may help resolve the issue with blank icons on the Taskbar. Refer to the steps below:

1. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del, then select Task Manager.

2. On the Task Manager window, click on More Details at the bottom left if it doesn't shows the
Processes tab.

3. Scroll down the list of the Windows processes and locate Windows Explorer and right-click on it and select
Restart.

Note: The desktop icons and the Taskbar will refresh and will be gone for a moment after this process. It should reappear automatically.

We look forward to your response.

Regards.

 

Taskbar not working properly on Windows 10

Hi EdJane,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



I understand your query related to Toolbar on Windows not working properly, and I certainly appreciate your efforts in trying to resolve the issue by performing certain troubleshooting steps.



For further clarity on the issue, please respond to the questions below.

1. Which build version of Windows 10 are you using currently?
   
2. Are you aware of any changes made to the PC prior to which you weren’t facing this issue?
   
3. When you say, “Toolbar”, are you referring to the taskbar on Windows 10?
   

Refer the article Which version of Windows operating system am I running?



Assuming that you are referring to Taskbar on Windows 10, I would suggest you to try creating a new user account, as you have already tried using the PowerShell commands. Refer the article

Create a local user or administrator account in Windows 10 and see if the Taskbar is working fine.



Let us know how it goes.



Regards,

Prakhar Khare

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

MS Excel - most recent files - how can i limit the number of files (*IN TASKBAR RECENT LIST)?

That doesnt change the Excel taskbar list most recent amount. Thanks for trying though.

Question is about the taskbar...not Excel itself really. Used to be able to limit the most recent amount through taskbar properties. The list is wayy too long.

When i right click Excel icon in taskbar... i see a list of most recent files under the pinned files. I want that list reduced. Your suggested adjustments dont do anything to the list i am talking about. Those change the list when u open a new blank excel
file.

Need a way to limit the list of recent files on the icon on the taskbar. Let me know if there is a way. this is unresolved. NOt sure why this is so difficult. Used to be able to do it with Office 2013 on windows 7 machine. Need that recent list limited.