Taskbar icons not showing

Question

All the icons on my taskbar disappeared yesterday. The arrow for hidden icons is showing and when I click it the hidden icons will show. Everything else is working. How can I fix this problem without resetting my pc?

Answer 1

Hi AnshDhar-

I'm Kevin B. Windows user like you. I do apologize for the inconvenience, let me help you sort things out.

Kindly open task manager.

On the task manager look for Windows Explorer.

Right click and click restart.

Run a system file checker to verify the integrity of windows system files on your computer making sure that there are no corrupted files on your windows.

Perform SFC Scan and Repair Windows Image

-This process will perform scan for any corrupted system files or integrity violation and will attempt to repair it along with the Windows Image.

1. Open command prompt with administrator access
2. Type each command below and wait until scan is completed.

SFC /scannow

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Quick note: While the command is running, it's expected to see the process stuck at 20 or 40 percent. After a few minutes, the process will complete successfully.

Once you complete the steps, the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool will connect to the Windows Update servers to download and replace any damaged files in the local image for Windows 10 as necessary.

3. Close the command prompt and restart your machine.

Please let me know what will happen. Hope this will help and have a blessed day!

Thanks,

Kevin B.

Answer 2

Hello Kevin B.

Thank you very much for your reply. I tried to run the commands as you mentioned but I got error 87.

Here is a screen grab.

The two icons showing at the bottom are from the overflow(?)/hidden icons. When I went to the settings. I toggled these on and these started showing. Can't seem to make any other icons appear.

My name is Pooja and this laptop belongs to my son who has special needs. I will really appreciate your help in solving this problem.

Thank you.

Answer 3

Just an update I figured out that I was missing spaces in my command. I am running the command again and so far no error has been detected. I am about to run the last command.

UPDATE: -- I ran the commands and restarted the pc but nothing happened. There are still no icons showing on the taskbar.

Answer 4

Hi AnshDhar -

Thanks for the response and I do apologize if the method did not fix the issue

If the issue started recently. kindly try to perform a system restore on your windows computer to reverse any changes made on the machine. This will reverse any changes made which triggers the issue on your windows computer.

Perform system restore

-This process will take your computer settings back to an earlier point in time where computer is working fine. If there's any changes made on your computer that removes the service, system restore should be able to fix the issue for you. To perform system restore please follow the steps below:

1. Open the run box by pressing the Windows key + R and type rstrui.exe
2. Once system restore windows open, normally it will suggest a restore point (sometimes it doesn't) if it does, select the 2nd option and hit next
3. Select your desired restore point date and time and hit next and finish.

Windows will going to restart your computer to initiate system restore. System restore might take several minutes to complete depending on the current speed of your computer and the changes it will made. Applications and updates that was installed on the computer prior to the date selected will be removed. It is important that when system restore starts, process must not be interrupted.

DISCLAIMER:

System Restore is a recovery tool for Windows that allows you to reverse certain kinds of changes made to the operating system. System Restore is used to return important Windows files and settings—like drivers, registry keys, system files, installed programs, and more—back to previous versions and settings. Being said all applications and changes made prior to the date selected will be removed and needs to be re-installed if its needed.

Regards,

Kevin B.

Answer 5

Hello Kevin,

I tried system restore but it did not work. There were a couple more updates after the problem and it seems I am only able to restore the system back to the previous update. When I first encountered this problem I did remove the last update at that time but it made no difference.

I must let you know that the laptop does not have a lot of free space and most applications and actions have become very laggy. When I right click on an icon I can easily have to wait up to a minute for the menu to show up.

I also tried to rebuild the icon cache to no effect.

I am trying to delete some things from the laptop but I don't know how much space I can create.

Could this problem have something to do with system buffer? I don't know exactly what it means but it's the term I've heard and was wondering if the buffer doesn't have enough space. Since unlike you I am not an expert this is just a guess.

Kindly advice further.

Thank you,

Pooja