Windows 10: Taskbar will not work

Good morning from Peterborough ON Canada

On Sunday night my computer did a major windows update. I had been given notice about 10 day ago that it was going to do it automatically but I kept postponing it to a more convenient time. Finally it did it on its own and installed what I am assuming but cannot verify that it was the 1903 update that everyone has been describing on this forum.

Now my problem. My Taskbar will not restore and all of my shortcuts there on have disappeared. The round blue thinking icon is rotating when I hover my mouse over it like it is loading but never does. I have access to the task manager and have restarted windows explorer numerous times over the past 2 days but and my desktop disappears then restores but there is no change on the taskbar.

Here is what I can see on my taskbar at the moment. The Start menu icon and the taskview icon right beside it on the far left...blank space where my programs and apps shortcuts use to be(now blank space)..at the far right my time/date info and next to it the notifications balloon. When i hover my mouse over the bar the spinning blue orb appears. Other than these 4 there is nothing. On my desktop are all of my program/apps shortcuts and a number of folders that I have on there but I cannot open any of them.

All of this started on Sunday night/ Monday morning after the update. I cannot even get to the restore option or any of the control panel options to try and fix. In the past whenever the taskbar has given me problems I have used the restart windows explorer trick from the task manager and it has always worked. This time it has not

I have spoken to my computer guy here locally and his advise is to "back up everything and reload windows" um..there has to be a resolution. I least would hope there is. I have researched on the internet and found and tried a couple of solutions including make sure the taskbar is not auto hiding(its not) and the restart explorer from the task manager which i have tried on numerous occasions

I hope that I have been specific enough to warrant replies and theories. I am pretty much stumped at the moment. I cannot give you any information regarding my desktop specs other than it is a dell desktop that is about 3 years old running windows 10. I beIieve its has 8gb of RAM frankly it has not given me very much trouble at all up until now and I have not really looked. I cant give you any other info than that because I cannot get to anything to check. Other than the task manager I cannot access much of anything.

I use this computer for a server of sorts for a local network that shares files, an internet connection and a printer scanner. The network shares located on this desktop are visible and accessible from other workstations so somethings are working.

Sorry for being such a pain on my first post on the forum but help...

Any help/ advise/ questions would be appreciated

Thank you in advance

Don Archer

:)

 

Windows 10 Taskbar is not working and "fixes" don't fix it.

Hi Carole,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community and being a part of Windows 10.

I understand your concern about accessing Taskbar on Windows 10. We will help you with resolving the issue.

Provide us the additional information to understand the issue and assist you better:

• What exactly happens when you press Alt+Tab keys from the keyboard to switch between the apps?
• Have you made any changes to the operating system prior to this issue?
• What are the troubleshooting steps you have tried to resolve the issue?

As you said Taskbar is not working, and you will minimize all the opened apps to access the one you wish to from Taskbar. Be clear with how exactly you are trying to accessing the apps from Taskbar.

Step 1: I suggest you to check if you have enabled the Auto-hide option for Taskbar, if so try to disable and check if it helps.

Steps to enable auto-hide Taskbar:

• Right click in the empty space on the Taskbar, click on
  Properties,
• Under Taskbar tab, uncheck the Auto-hide the Taskbar option, click on
  Apply and Ok.

Step 2: I suggest you to install all the pending updates on your device.

• Connect to the internet.
• Press Windows key and type
  updates.
• Click on Check for updates.
• Under Windows Updates, click on
  Check for updates.
• Try to install the updates being shown.

Hope it helps. Get back to us with an updated status of this issue and brief description for further assistance.

 

Taskbar not working

Hi Frank,

In addition to Sumit Dhiman suggestion I suggest you to follow the link below and follow the troubleshooting steps

suggested.

Troubleshoot problems opening the Start menu or Cortana

The troubleshooting steps suggested in the link above applies to Taskbar too.

Do let us know if you are able to use Taskbar. Thank you.

 

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.