How to fix Windows 11 Taskbar hangs

Question

I'm constantly getting Taskbar hangs on my Windows 11 laptop. I have to double click on an open section on the bottom of the screen in order to get the taskbar to refresh.

What's going on? Is there any way to fix this?

Thanks

Answer 1

1

Open Task Manager.

Select the Processes tab.

Scroll down the list to find Windows Explorer.

Right click Windows Explorer and select Restart, the screen will refresh after a couple of seconds.

2

If that does not resolve the problem, open the Settings App.

Go to System - Recovery.

Click the 'Reinstall Now' button in the 'Fix problems with Windows Updates section, then wait for that process to complete.

Answer 2

To address the issue of the Windows 11 taskbar hanging, you can try the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Clear the Icon Cache: Sometimes, the taskbar hangs due to issues with the icon cache. You can clear it by following these steps:
   • Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc).
   • Find and right-click on Windows Explorer, then select End task.
   • In Task Manager, go to File > Run new task and type cmd.exe to open a command prompt with administrative privileges.
   • Run the following commands:

          CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
          DEL IconCache.db /a
     

   • Restart Windows Explorer by going back to Task Manager, selecting File > Run new task, typing explorer.exe, and pressing Enter.
2. Register Shell Experience Host: If clearing the icon cache does not resolve the issue, you can re-register the Shell Experience Host:
   • Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator.
   • Run the following command:

          Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Where-Object {$_.InstallLocation -like "*ShellExperienceHost*"} | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
     

   • Restart your system to apply the changes.

These steps should help resolve the taskbar hanging issue on your Windows 11 laptop. If the problem persists, consider checking for Windows updates or further troubleshooting system performance issues.

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References:

• Application shortcuts on the desktop, Start menu, and taskbar show blank icons
• Customize the Taskbar