Windows 10: Unable to unpin a particular item from taskbar in Windows 10 ver 1607

I just upgraded to the anniversary edition of Windows 10 (ver 1607).

I pinned Google Chrome to the task bar but then have decided I'd like to unpin it. However, right-clicking the Chrome icon on the taskbar does nothing. I think once I saw the mouse cursor flash an hourglass briefly. But outside of that, nothing happens. All of the other program icons on the taskbar are well-behaved, as right-clicking them immediately gives a pop-up menu where there's an unpin option. Only the Google Chrome icon is not showing any pop-up at all.

I've tried rebooting my system, but it hasn't fixed the issue.

Any ideas why this is happening, and more importantly, how do I fix it? I'd like to find a way to unpin Google Chrome from the taskbar.

:)

 

task bar

Hi Larry, right click the item and choose 'Unpin from Taskbar'

 

unpinning from taskbar

I've read that right clicking on an icon then choosing unpin can unpin items from the taskbar, but I can't right click. what else can I do?

 

Hello,

Can you try it from the start menu itself, right click on the chrome icon > more > unpin from taskbar.

 

Just tried that and same result: Chrome doesn't give a popup menu, but all the other program icons do.

 

Hmm, try to delete Google Chrome and re-install it?

 

Taskbar Pinned Apps - Reset and Clear in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

Thanks, this is handy. But now I've discovered that the real issue is the Chrome icon won't give me a right-click context menu even in the start menu, not just the task bar. So this doesn't address the root cause.

 

Seems Chrome is corrupted or something, try to re-install it, best to uninstall with Revo Uninstaller first.

 

I'll try that. I don't think Chrome is corrupted. The context menu is the responsibility of Windows, not Chrome, so it's probably at least one registry entry that's gotten munged. Revo will indeed probably be necessary to correct it. I may try a simple uninstall first...

 

Tried uninstalling Chrome with a couple of different uninstaller apps and cleaning associated registry entries, but that didn't fix the issue.

What I tried, which fixed it, was to remove the folders under C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\ but keep bookmarks and all the other files directly under that folder. There was probably one wayward user configuration files in there somewhere, but this was a sufficient solution.