Build 23516 – Missing Taskbar Bug

Question

Hello Windows Insiders!

Build23516 was released to the Dev Channel this week. in our reviews of incoming feedback, a bug has been logged that we wanted to share insights on. See below for details.

Who: Windows Insiders on Dev Channel Build 23516

What:  Taskbar may be “missing” on boot after installing this build

Why:  (Investigation is underway)

Additional information:

As we have attempted to reproduce this issue, it has proven to be inconsistent.  Many users have not hit this issue, while others have it on some device reboots, but not others.

Workarounds:

There are three possible workarounds possible for this scenario, each detailed below.

1. If your taskbar is missing, allow the computer to sit idle for 5-6 minutes.  Users have reported hearing an audible ding notification after which time the Taskbar reappears.
2. Reboot the device.  This has not proven to be a fully reliable workaround, but it has been noted as successful from some users.
3. Lastly, you may choose to roll back from this build to the prior build.  This bug was not present in the prior Dev Channel build (23511). To roll back your device if the task bar is missing, please follow these steps:
   • Click the lock screen to display the login page.
   • Select the on-screen Power Button in the lower-right corner.
   • Hold the Shift key and **** select Restart.
     • (The device will reboot and enter the Windows Recovery Environment)
   • On the "Choose an option" screen, select Troubleshoot
   • Select Advanced options
   • Select Uninstall updates
   • Select Uninstall latest feature update
     • If your device has BitLocker enabled, you will be prompted for the recovery key. Input the key and click Continue.
   • On the next screen select Uninstall feature update
   • The uninstall process will now begin.

We appreciate your patience as we investigate this issue.  Please share any additional insights you may have either in the Feedback Hub or here in this thread.

Thank you as always,

• The Windows Insider Team

Answer 1

I've found another fix, my desktop is having the same issue.

Basically, every single time I turn on the computer and log in, the problem happens, taskbar doesn't load, and none of my startup apps load. But I have another account with nothing on it and the taskbar opens just fine.

I'm unsure what caused this, but the easiest fix I do every time I turn it on is as follows:

1. I open task manager (opened with both CTRL+ALT+DEL and Win+shift+esc)
2. I click run a new task
3. Type explorer
4. Windows explorer opens, taskbar doesn't,
5. I restart my computer with file explorer open

That seems to fix it for me every time, may want to notify people of this workaround.

I assume that running a new task is pretty much the run box, so just doing Win+R and entering explorer will be much easier than the way I do it.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Same here, core i9-12900K with 128GB of Ram and the task bar loaded after over 5 minutes...

Answer 3

I have the same issue upon reboot. For whatever reason I have found that if I open file explorer (usually by opening trash since that is the only folder on my desktop) then the taskbar appears a few seconds later.

The other solution of waiting also worked for me.

Answer 4

Similar issue found after updating to 23516.1000. In my case, Taskbar gets frozen instead of missing. Clicking on the taskbar still opens apps on their supposed positions, but the visuals do not update. (Edit: clicking the corner overflow doesn't work when taskbar is frozen)

Workaround: restart explore.exe in task manager.

Answer 5

Add this as well.

• Right Click on Desktop > Windows Terminal
• Type in shutdown /r /f /t 0 This will restart the very moment the string is entered in.