Taskbar SEARCH

For SEARCH in taskbar settings there are three options. The BOX choice simply displays the icon. Win 11 Pro 24H2.

This was once also the case with 23H2, but that was corrected. Now the behavior has reverted.

Is there a setting or registry entry to overcome this?

borgus said:

For SEARCH in taskbar settings there are three options. The BOX choice simply displays the icon. Win 11 Pro 24H2.

This was once also the case with 23H2, but that was corrected. Now the behavior has reverted.

Is there a setting or registry entry to overcome this?

Click to expand...

What would you "like" to see on the Taskbar, for... Search?

Do you not have these settings?

Precisely, 'antspants.' The Search Box choice results in the icon only, while the BOX option is checked, as you have shown...

borgus said:

Precisely, 'antspants.' The Search Box choice results in the icon only, while the BOX option is checked, as you have shown...

View attachment 114093

Click to expand...

All three of the search box choices in Settings, work for me. Instantly.

borgus said:

Precisely, 'antspants.' The Search Box choice results in the icon only, while the BOX option is checked, as you have shown...

View attachment 114093

Click to expand...

Try restarting explorer.exe

Have you rebooted since you first found this? And which Windows Update have you recently applied before this started?

Many reboots and Explorer restarts. This behavior commenced with the upgrade to 24H2.

As noted, 23H2 did the same early on - but later began to display the search box if that option was chosen.

borgus said:

Many reboots and Explorer restarts. This behavior commenced with the upgrade to 24H2.

As noted, 23H2 did the same early on - but later began to display the search box if that option was chosen.

Click to expand...

Right.

Are you using any taskbar/start menu changes like Start11 or StartIsBack etc?

borgus said:

Many reboots and Explorer restarts. This behavior commenced with the upgrade to 24H2.

As noted, 23H2 did the same early on - but later began to display the search box if that option was chosen.

Click to expand...

I can't tell what hardware you have, but you might want to consider an In-Place Upgrade (repair install).

An In-Place Upgrade "compares" what is installed on the computer, with the Windows ISO image.
Then, it overwrites any corrupted Windows files, with clean copies from the ISO image.
This is how it "repairs" Windows while allowing you to keep your programs and personal files.

Here is the short version of the In-place upgrade tutorial...

DISABLE non-Microsoft:
a) antivirus software
b) firewall software
c) drive encryption software


Make a full OS backup with a program like Macrium Reflect or AOMEI Backupper Standard
Making a backup is optional, but always a smart move.
Macrium Reflect
AOMEI Backupper Standard (free)
Hasleo Backup Suite (free)



Get the Windows 11 ISO (Option #2), and save it to your desktop...


Right click the ISO image and choose: MOUNT
Open File Explorer and you will see a new drive letter. It will "look" like a DVD optical drive.
Double click the new drive letter to open it.
Find setup.exe and double click it to start the in-place upgrade.

Choose the Keep personal files and apps option.

After it's all done... to UNmount the ISO image, right click the new drive letter and choose: EJECT.

The ONLY thing you might lose is some of your personalizations.
Your drivers, programs and data will be intact.

Do NOT start an In-Place upgrade until we know what hardware you have.

The free version of SPECCY, will tell us what important hardware you have.
Just run the program and post a screenshot of the first page.

Mine looks like this...

To post a screenshot on this forum...​

1. Take the screenshot, (or camera pic), edit it as desired, save to your desktop as .png or .jpg (max. size = 2MB)
2. Left click in your post, where you want to place the screenshot.
3. Click the Attach Files button at lower left, browse to your image and select it.
4. Then click Insert, I usually choose the Thumbnail (smaller) option, or there is a Full Image (larger) option.

If the "new" PrtSc key function is not to your liking... here is how to set it back to it's classic function...

borgus said:

but later began to display the search box if that option was chosen

Click to expand...

Do you have Hide Taskbar selected?

Open regestry editor

Navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search

Check for for "SearchboxTaskbarMode" key.

What is the option/value set as?

• “Search icon only” is 1
• “Search box” is 2,”
• “Search button” is 3

Search icon only is 1
Search box (large) is 2
Search icon and label (smaller) is 3

24H2 was installed via the ISO. SFC/scannow shows no errors. The registry entry is shown as "2." There have been no hardware changes.

Taskbar has always been hidden in the past, but UNhiding it now brings up the search box. So the behavior has changed.

borgus said:

24H2 was installed via the ISO. SFC/scannow shows no errors. The registry entry is shown as "2." There have been no hardware changes.

Taskbar has always been hidden in the past, but UNhiding it now brings up the search box. So the behavior has changed.

Click to expand...

You can change the registry entry to whichever type of Search box you want.

Search icon only is 1
Search box (large) is 2
Search icon and label (smaller) is 3



More tweaks...






_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here's some other things that you may find useful...

borgus said:

Taskbar has always been hidden in the past, but UNhiding it now brings up the search box. So the behavior has changed.

Click to expand...

Auto hide taskbar, It’s a bug that affects search icon which is why I asked. It appears to affect random users. No rhyme or reason.

antspants said:

It appears to affect random users. No rhyme or reason.

Click to expand...

Apparently so. Not a crucial issue. Thanks to all for the feedback.

For comparison, the most recent 23H2 Windows image was restored. The Search BOX appears on the taskbar even when checked as "hide."

A feedback item has been submitted. Perhaps others might do the same.

With the 11/21/24 Windows update, this has been fixed. Search now appears in the taskbar even when the TB is hidden.