Windows 10: Windows 10 Taskbar Disabled

I am getting an intermittent problem with the Windows 10 Taskbar. I will be working normally, browsing and when I left or right click any entry on the taskbar (including Start) nothing happens. The problem will persist until I reboot, which I have to do using Task Manager by Ctrl+Alt+Del.
Task Manager reports "Task Host Window is stopping background tasks" before asking for confirmation to close anyway.
I get this pattern of problems quite frequently. Does anyone know whats going on please?

:)

 

Blinking Win Explorer Icons on Startup

This might be able to do it:

Disable Flashing Taskbar buttons or icons in Windows 10/8/7

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/disable-flashing-...

 

Remove the new Ask me anything logo? It's stopping me from turning laptop off.

Hi Clare,

If you are referring to Cortana in Windows 10, we suggest that you check and follow the steps provided in this article:

How to disable Cortana on the Windows 10 Taskbar.

Let us know how it goes.

Thank you.

 

Hello Hercules, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

As a test, does restarting the explorer process allow the taskbar to work properly afterwards?

*Arrow Restart Explorer Context Menu - Add in Windows 10 Windows 10 Tutorials

 

Hello Brink - Thanks for your response. I haven't tried that, but I will do so next time it occurs, and report back.

 

Hello Again Brink - I'm now in position to report back on your suggestion. I installed the additional option to restart Explorer, and yesterday the taskbar became disabled. I first noticed it after I tried to access the taskbar settings by right click. I used the option to restart Explorer, which worked fine, but the taskbar was still disabled. I used the Task Manager to reboot, and as before it complained about a Host Task Window stopping background tasks together with a message about a plug and play facility needing a reboot ??

 

Getting the "Task Host Window is stopping background tasks" message is normal when you force a reboot like that since you have a hung app. It's just asking for confirmation to force them closed before restarting.

I'm not sure about the "plug and play facility needing a reboot" message.

Have you recently connected any new hardware or devices, or installed drivers for something?

 

Hello and thanks again for your help.
No, I haven't connected new hardware or installed drivers for a long time. I don't know if its relevant, but I have disabled all Add ons in Internet Explorer in an attempt to stop it crashing all the time.

 

If this has just recently started to happen, then you could try doing a system restore using a restore point dated before this started.

 

I did a search for system restore, and this shows only 4 restore points (after I'd asked it to show more). These go back to 29/01/2018 as follows:
15/2/2018 Manual (by me), 13/2/2018 Critical Update (by Windows Update), 07/2/2018 As on 13/2/2018,
29/1/2018 Automatic Restore Point (by System).
I'm surprised that there are not more of them, as I know that I've done others, but I'm not sure how long these are kept for.
I have been trying to resolve this problem for some time, so I don't think going back three weeks would be enough. If I do try it, what happens about the Critical Updates on the 7th and 13th Feb?

 

Since this doesn't happen often enough to try a clean boot for troubleshooting, you could try doing a repair install without losing anything.

*Arrow Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade Windows 10 Tutorials

 

Thanks. I'll try that *Smile

 

Shawn
After reading the caveats in the "Windows repair without losing anything" guidelines about conflicts that could mean nothing is saved, I'm afraid I "chickened out" a bit. The problem isn't serious enough to risk losing everything, especially as there is no certainty that it will fix the anomaly. It seems a pity that programs with a pedigree like Windows don't have the necessary tools to unravel these sort of problems, although that may result in a vast increase in support for live systems. Thanks very much for your assistance. *Tongue

 

No problem. I understand.

If you wanted to try it, you could create an image of your system using Macrium Reflect first to be safe. This way if it goes sideways on you, you could restore the image to be back where you were before.

*Arrow Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect Windows 10 Tutorials

 

Shawn
I "took the plunge" today. *Smile
I did a Macrium backup, followed by Windows Repair/Reinstall. I am pleased to say that it all went well, and so far the Task Bar has not misbehaved. I was hoping that my problems with Internet Explorer 11 might be related to the task bar issue, as they seemed to occur together. However even after the repair, my IE11 issues remain.
I will report back in a few days as to whether the task bar issue is solved, as of course the IE11 problem is not part of this thread.