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Windows 11 multi monitor taskbar not working properly
The Windows 11 multi monitor taskbar is not working properly. The taskbar is visible on the secondary monitors but seems to have little functionality or is "broken". Tested this on multiple systems.
If using: "When using multiple displays, show my taskbar apps on" has no effect with any setting.
This is a "known" issue with the release. It's noted on the release notes.
https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2021/06/28/announcing-the-first-insider-preview-for-windows-11/ (near the bottom of the page).
118 Replies
- Has anyone found a way to move the taskbar to the top across multiple displays? My main display has been moved but I don't see how to carry that over. They appear, they just appear across the bottom rather than the top. Any suggestion appreciated.
abjerke_9850 When I was trying to decide whether or not I wanted to make the change from W10 to W11, I was reading the differences between W10 and W11 and when they are talking about the Taskbar, that is one of the changes that was listed.
- Alignment to the bottom of the screen is the only location allowed.
It also mentions:
- Apps can no longer customize areas of the Taskbar.
You can no longer move the task bar to the sides or top. I rarely used that feature so I figured it was something I could live without but there have already been a few times where I wish I had it. Here is a link to the Windows 11 Specs that shows the changes.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11-specifications
Scroll down to "Feature deprecations and removals" and you will see the Taskbar changes under that heading.
- Since there is no intended way to move it (you have to reg hack it)
i have not seen anyone move the 2nd screen yet
You will probably have to explore the registry and see if you can find any keys related to the second screen, and then you may have to try and construct the entries for the position
- Oh my god, I think it's finally fixed! I just installed the latest KB5008353 Cumulative Update, and now the autohide on the second monitor works without pinning and unpinning.
Holy crap, it's about time…- It gone good for awhile but on occasion it still shows only some of the icons. Only workaround is to hide the taskbar and then show the taskbar again in the setup. Anyway, I'm over it now. Don't bother anymore. After all we're the biggest beta tester in the world
PeteGomersall the workarounds offered here don't work for people using "auto hide".
Auto hide will only work if:- you unpin an application and pin a it back on to the secondary monitor's task bar (but you have to repeat this operation every single time you restart your computer)
- if you push the Windows key AND have your mouth cursor right at the bottom of the screen where your task bar is located.
These are some strange issues and I can't believe Microsoft still hasn't fixed this. Do they not work with multi monitors at Microsoft? These are such an obvious bug and they've been around since the early preview versions.
- That is my experience too. Unpinning and repinning an application to secondary monitor's task bar gives me what I expect to be normal behavior, at least until I reboot.
- After reading all the posts I realized that it's a known bug, I was able to fix the issue for now by myself.
Steps to get the Taskbar working on 2nd display monitor:
1. Go to Taskbar settings.
2. Expand Taskbar behaviors submenu.
3. There will be a checkbox on option- Show my taskbar on all displays with further down menu to select where do you want to show it.
4. Uncheck the checkbox and check it again.
It just removes the taskbar on 1st uncheck and it kind of refreshes the taskbar and all the icons are displayed now.
NOTE: I have not restarted my computer as of now, so I don't know if it will be there after restart or not. But doing it again will not be a hassle.
I hope it helps 🙂@nishant2811. It worked in the current session only. If I restart my laptop, it just show some icon. I can see the taskbar is there when I hoover over it, I can see an outline of the icon and I can click to run the app. Hopefully someone in MS is taking this one in their next patch. It's annoying as I use a big screen switching between 2 laptop and it works perfect on my Win10 laptop.
- On my computer, the taskbar stays as long as the monitors are not unplugged from the laptop. It works alright after restarting the laptop as well.
- this worked perfectly... thanks for posting.
- This worked for me, thank you!
- I am using window 11 build 22000.348 with two displays, using second display for extended screen. When i choose to show taskbar on multiple screen, taskbar showing on primary screen, but on second screen, a section appears in bottom but no icons are showing. To overcome this issue I press 🪟 (winkey) + P (For opening Project Selection) and selecting second screen only option and then switching back to Extended option. This solved the issue of Icons not rendering properly on second screen.
- I am likely to roll back to Windows 10 unless it's fixed PDQ. Although no doubt it'll now be screwed on there too now. No fix has worked and no comms from Microsoft as far as I can tell in this thread.
thanks vivekout its work for me
- As of November 12, 2021 this is still a problem in the official release of Windows 11. My secondary monitor taskbar does not appear at all, and I cannot get it to come up even when in the Taskbar portion of Personalization in Settings I have the box checked stating "Show my taskbar in all displays." However, the taskbar will show on the secondary monitor if I uncheck "Automatically hide the taskbar," but allowing the taskbar to hide reverts to the previous behavior, and the secondary monitor taskbar never appears.
PeteGomersall Going to settings - personalization - taskbar - taskbar behaviour - and turning on and off ''Automatically hide the taskbar" seems to fix the issue (until you turn disconnect the monitor, then it might appear again, in which you need to go through the above process again)
PeteGomersall The problem is in the display settings.. the solution is this way
- Windows 11 upgrade build 22000.282
Taskbar in second and third monitor will all of sudden pop up in the middle of the screens. Task bar was not selected to show on all displays. But after a few hours it will all of sudden show up in the middle of the screen blocking the view of what is displayed on the monitor.- Thank you - let me check if that's the issue.
I have installed KB5006746 this morning and still having the issue where I cannot bring the taskbar up on the second monitor.
- This is the main reason I will not upgrade.
Until the AutoHide feature on multiple displays are not fixed, and small icons on taskbar (I use a 13.3" display at 1920x1080 with 125% size correction and it feels like it takes up a 3rd of the screen) is also a major issue for meHello,
I have the definitive solution to the problem, go to the taskbar, press right> Taskbar settings> Scroll down to the bottom, Taskbar behaviors> disable and Enable the function: Show taskbar in all screens.The problem must be solved directly from windows, this is a temporary solution.
I have already solved the problem by changing the installation iso, but I cannot afford to publish it as I would do an illegal action.
