Windows 11 taskbar icons disappear after switching desktop

Question

Windows 11 taskbar icons disappear after switching desktop

Anonymous

I've updated my work laptop to windows 11 recently and i see a very annoying glitch of app icons on taskbar disappearing from time to time (see screenshot).

The issue is reproduced when switching between desktops (Ctrl + Win + Right/Left arrow or trackpad swipe with 4 fingers). The icons disappear and appear randomly after switch. They appear again if you collapse and then expand the window. Seems like something wrong with animation.

System info:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 11 Enterprise

Version 10.0.22631 Build 22631

System Manufacturer HP

System Model HP EliteBook 850 G8 Notebook PC

System Type x64-based PC

***moved from Windows / Windows 11 / Desktop, Start, and personalization / Task Bar***

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question. To protect privacy, user profiles for migrated questions are anonymized.

Accepted answer

8 additional answers

Answer 1

Hello,

This could be a known issue:

Disappearance of Windows 11 Taskbar Icons after Switching Virtual - Microsoft Community

Icons in taskbar went transparent after switching virtual desktops - Microsoft Community

Temporarily disable taskbar animations to see if that resolves the issue.

If you have Windows 11 installed, you can access the Feedback Hub by searching for it in the Start menu. Within the app, search for relevant keywords to see if other users have submitted feedback about the taskbar icons disappearing when switching desktops. You can also submit your own feedback to raise awareness of the issue. This can help Microsoft prioritize fixing the problem.

If the problem is indeed a known issue, Microsoft should eventually release a patch or update to resolve it. Keep your Windows 11 installation up-to-date by checking for updates regularly via Settings > Windows Update.

Regards,

Karlie

Answer 2

Workaround:

Create C:<anylocation>\aaa.bat with this content: @echo off powershell -Command "$shell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application; $shell.MinimizeAll(); Start-Sleep -Seconds 2; $shell.UndoMinimizeAll();" exit
Make shortcut to aaa.bat in C:\Users<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\aaa.lnk
Whenever you face issue with icons in taskbar becoming transparent, press Win key > type in "aaa" > press Enter. Script will minimize all apps to taskbar, icons will become visible, script will restore apps back to their original position.

Answer 3

⬇️⚠️ Here is a workaround, until Microsoft finally decides to fix the issue! ⚠️⬇️

The workaround is to install ExplorerPatcher.

This seems to fix the issue where icons disappear when switching virtual desktops in a multi-monitor environment.

Steps:

Download ExplorerPatcher and install it. This will restart Windows Explorer and change your taskbar to the Windows 10 one.
Once installed, open the start menu and launch Properties (ExplorerPatcher).
On the first settings tab Taskbar, change Taskbar style back to Windows 11 (or keep Windows 10 if you want ^^).

Voilà! After restarting the File Explorer, the icons should stop disappearing when switching virtual desktops!

If this works for you, please share it as largely as possible! The issue has been driving us insane for long enough.

Also consider donating to the ExplorerPatcher project which is Open Source (disclaimer: I'm not affiliated to the project in any way)!

Answer 4

Anonymous

did everything you said, it didn't work...

Answer 5

Anonymous

I've been running ExplorerPatcher for the better part of a year and I've always had this problem when switching desktops, so this isn't a valid workaround for me.

Share via

Windows 11 taskbar icons disappear after switching desktop

8 additional answers