Yep. 100% legit. One thing to note is that I had to do an a Windows 11 place update yesterday for some other problems. Not sure but the problem might have started with the in place update. I usually don't look at these particular settings because while not selectable they are set the way I want them.
Oh yeah I forgot. I was using StartAllBack and after the inplace update the same issue was there. Again I don't know if it was there before the update. I uninstalled SAB but that didn't help with my problem. Now using the Windows 11 Start Menu.
Just went back to SAB becuase the Windows Start Menu is not as usable as SAB. Still have the same issue though. I have to disable the SAB option " Use enhanced classic taskbar" otherwise I can't get autohide to work at all because it's still grayed out. It's possible SAB modified something that still remained after I uninstalled it before.
Some of these 3rd party programs change things ( like they are suppose to ) but if you uninstall them the changes do not revert back. It may be worth checking what SAB has changed
I realize it's a little late to resolve this issue but once you get your system straightened out, back it up. It's a good idea to do so regularly. That way when something goes awry or quits working, you can get back to a clean state in less than 15 minutes. Your system specs are not filled in so I don't know what version of 11 you are running. If it's Pro, something may have changed in group policy to cause these options to be grayed. If you are running Home, you do not have group poilcy.
Remove SAB and doing an inplace upgrade should solve this issue if group policy settings are not involved. Tutorial Here.
After performing the in-place upgrade successfully reclaim your disk space by removing windows.old
In search box type 'disk cleanup". In search results right click on 'disk cleanup app' and run as administrator.
Select your C: drive
Disk cleanup will present you with a list of files that can be deleted. Scroll down the list and select "previous windows installations"
It will take a while for it to complete. When it does the disk cleanup window will close.