(FIX INCLUDED) No Icons on Task Bar on Windows 11

Question

I just got the latest windows insider update and now no icons appear on my task bar. it is just a sold blue bar. What do i need to do to resolve this?

Tried:

• I deleted the iconcache file and rebooted, still no icons.
• restarted windows explorer
• stopping and starting explorer.exe does not work.

HELP PLEASE!!

Answer 1

Hi Susan,

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22000.176 | Windows Insider Blog

UPDATE 7:10PM PDT: Recently, Windows Insiders in both the Dev and Beta Channels began reporting that Start and Taskbar were unresponsive and Settings and other areas of the OS wouldn’t load. We quickly discovered an issue with a server-side deployment that went out to Insiders and canceled that deployment. If you were impacted by this issue, you can use the following steps to get back into a working state on your PC.

• Step 1: Use CTRL-ALT-DEL and choose to open Task Manager.
• Step 2: Choose “More details” at the bottom of Task Manager to expand Task Manager.
• Step 3: Go to “File” and choose “Run new task”.
• Step 4: Type “cmd” in the “Open” field.
• Step 5: Paste the following:

reg delete HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\IrisService /f && shutdown -r -t 0

• Step 6: Hit enter, and then your PC should reboot. After rebooting, everything should be back to normal.

Answer 2

That worked - thank you so much!

Answer 3

Worked 3 out of 3 times for me, thank you!

Answer 4

Thanks very much for the above fix.

However, before I got the above fix, I tried to restore my laptop prior to *Language Pack Removal* (which I installed yesterday - please see the image below) and things are working fine now. Don't know if this is the real issue, nevertheless wanted to posted what worked for me.

Thanks & Regards,

Kiran.

Answer 5

Yes, in a way you removed the offending IrisService causing the issue, using a system restore.