Taskbar not wokring

Question

I cannot click on anything in the task bar so i cant get any work done. What do i do?

Answer 1

Hi Joshua Bryant,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum. I understand that you cannot click on anything on the taskbar in Windows 11, which is preventing you from using your computer normally.

Please make sure you already tried the Q&A Assist steps. In addition, please try the following.

To help narrow this down a bit:

1, Does the taskbar respond if you sign in with a different local user account on the same PC?

2, Does the issue still occur after a normal restart, or only after the PC has been running for some time?

In the meantime, you can try these steps:

1, Restart the Start menu and taskbar processes

• Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager
• Locate StartMenuExperienceHost and ShellExperienceHost
• Select each one and choose End task, then wait for them to restart automatically

2, Check if Tablet mode or touch optimization is enabled

• Open Settings
• Go to System
• Select Tablet
• Make sure tablet-optimized taskbar options are turned off

3, Run a system file check

• Open Windows Terminal as administrator
• Run sfc /scannow
• Restart the PC after the scan completes

4, Create a new local user account for testing

• Open Settings
• Go to Accounts
• Select Other users
• Add a new local account and sign in to check if the taskbar works there

5, Check for pending Windows updates

• Open Settings
• Go to Windows Update
• Install all available updates, then restart the device

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Answer 2

If the steps provided by the AI above do not resolve the problem with the Taskbar, 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.

This process should resolve any corruption in the WIndows system and will not affect your files, settings or installed apps.

Answer 3

If your taskbar is not responding and you cannot click on anything, you can try the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Restart Windows Explorer: This can often resolve taskbar issues. To do this:
   • Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
   • Find Windows Explorer in the list, right-click it, and select Restart.
2. Clear the Icon Cache: Sometimes, a corrupted icon cache can cause issues. Follow these steps:
   • Open Task Manager and end the Windows Explorer task.
   • Open a command prompt with administrative privileges and run the following commands:

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

   • Restart Windows Explorer again.
3. Check for Updates: Make sure your Windows is up to date, as updates can fix bugs that may be causing the taskbar to malfunction.
4. Re-register Shell Experience Host: Open PowerShell as an administrator and run the following command:

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

   Restart your computer after this step.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, you may need to consider further troubleshooting or restoring your system to a previous state.

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References:

• Application shortcuts on the desktop, Start menu, and taskbar show blank icons
• Configure the Windows taskbar (windows-10)