Windows 10: Prevent active window minimizing when it is clicked in the taskbar

I know that the default behavior is to MINIMISE the active window when it is clicked on in the taskbar.Is there a way to disable this behavior? I would like the behavior to instead be the same as clicking in the taskbar on a non-active window. i.e. give it the focus, but since it already has the focus, this would therefore do nothing.The you would know with CERTAINTY that the window you click on in the taskbar, is the window you see on-screen.It can be very confusing if you have multiple windows of the same application say multiple excel spreadsheets - you click on the icon but actually it

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Stop minimizing when clicking on taskbar

This does suggest it's the result of a recent change or tweak... as suggested above- a System Restore point created before this started would be useful. Otherwise - you do use 3rd party disk imaging regularly- as is endlessly recommended here.. I hope.. Do you?

Thank you for your reply. The difference in YOUR experience is the icon disappearing. Try this: Create a new user for test purposes. Log in as that user. Do you see the same thing happening? You can delete that user afterwards. You can also see what this free program shows by way of comparison:

 

Minimize Chrome to taskbar with click

I have always been able to minimize applications to the taskbar when clicking on that icon on the taskbar but lately Google Chrome wouldn't (every thing else minimizes when clicking on it)

I can click on the Chrome icon on the taskbar to open the browser but when I click on the Chrome icon again, the browser will not minimize down (every thing else does though)...could it be something in Windows Settings?

IF YOU HAVE THIS ISSUE AS WELL, RESET CHROME!!

 

Clicking taskbar icon does not minimize app

I have the same problem on Windows 11 when a number of windows are running for the same application. In this case, hovering or clicking on the app icon in the taskbar just shows a list of window thumbnails to select from. Hovering on a thumbnail shows the close option "X", but no minimize option either. Also, the context menu (right clicking on the icon) no longer shows the minimize and move options that were in Windows 10. Apart from restoring a window, the only useful option remaining is to close all windows.

Minimization from the taskbar seems to work only when an application has a single window running. In this case, clicking on the app icon in the taskbar works as expected but, here too, the context menu no longer shows the minimize and move options.

While there are workarounds for the absence of the minimize option from the taskbar, the absence of the "move" option is a serious regression, as it is a life saver when a window is lost because the last time it ran was on an extended display that has been disconnected. In this case the move option can be used to drag the window from the non-existing display to the built-in display.

Restarting Windows explorer did not make a difference.

Note: The workaround I use to minimize a number of windows is to press Win+D to minimize all windows, then restore whatever window is needed.