Solved Unable to change size of taskbar and Microsoft Store apps are not visible on the taskbar, but can be clicked in seemingly empty areas of the taskbar.

Recently, I've encountered some frustrating bugs in the taskbar. Initially, I attempted to adjust its height by either increasing or decreasing it. Surprisingly, there was no option in the settings to do so, but I found a registry tweak at Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\TaskbarSi. Modifying this DWORD value to 0, 1, or 2 should change the taskbar's size upon rebooting, yet it had no effect for me.

The primary issue, however, is that some apps pinned to the taskbar are present but not visible. When I hover over a seemingly empty area of the taskbar, the app's name pops up. Moreover, if I choose not to hide the taskbar labels, they appear next to the 'empty' space.

From what I can observe, this disappearing act seems to affect only Microsoft Store apps.

Despite the abundance of advice online, including from this forum, which suggests deleting and recreating the icon and thumbnail caches with various methods, none of these 'fixes' have made any difference.

I have run Dism /online /Cleanup-Image /scanhealth. It reveals no errors.
I also ran sfc /scannow. It DID find an error in the Media Player app (which is one of the invisible apps), and said that it had fixed it, but whatever it did made no difference.

I have tried using apps settings to repair and reset them, to no effect. I have also updated Microsoft Store, but none of the problem apps was updated.

Has anyone any further ideas? I can't think of anything except a 'repair upgrade' opting to keep all my data. I have a highly personalised Start Menu and many third party apps, so I am somewhat reluctant to take this nuclear option.

jameswesthead said:

I have a highly personalised Start Menu and many third party apps, so I am somewhat reluctant to take this nuclear option.

Click to expand...

If those apps you speak of include one or more 3rd party apps that alter the GUI, that may well be the cause of your problem with the disappearing icons. Uninstall or update such app to newer version to see if it fixes the issue. If it doesn't rebuild your icon cache, Rebuild Icon Cache in Windows 11 Tutorial


Regarding taskbar size, that registry tweak you listed worked in earlier versions of 11, but not any more. You can not adjust the size of the taskbar natively or in the registry any longer. 3rd party app ExplorerPatcher says it can but since I don't use anything to alter my GUI I cannot attest to that. There are some users here who use it so maybe they will verify it

jameswesthead said:

I have a highly personalised Start Menu and many third party apps

Click to expand...

Details of these apps?

Try a new user account and see if the taskbar is still not showing the apps.

KB5022913 (Feb 2023) killed off TaskbarSi, to accomodate the "touch optimized" taskbar experience for tablet PC's.

You'll have to go with a 3rd-party UI mod like ExplorerPatcher or WindHawk to adjust the taskbar's height.

Thankyou all for your replies. Firstly, I have only one app that goes anywhere near the GUI and that is called "System Tray Menu" which I downloaded many months ago from here:

GitHub - Hofknecht/SystemTrayMenu: SystemTrayMenu - Browse and open your files easily

SystemTrayMenu - Browse and open your files easily - Hofknecht/SystemTrayMenu

github.com

. It just throws up a list of file and folders in a 'root' folder, which in my case is OneDrive. Secondly, the inability to change the taskbar height was not known to me, so thanks for the info, and I'll stop bothering about it. Thirdly, I have already tried the icon cache rebuild which is the subject of very detailed instructions from this forum, and it made no difference. So, I'm going to uninstall "system tray menu" to see what happens. Incidentally, I see that it is available as a portable function (the one I use) and also as a Microsoft Store function, so uninstalling it will just be a case of finding its files and deleting them. As for giving you a list of all the 3rd party apps I use, I am happy to do so, but it will be a very long list.

Hi, a few suggestions made on another taskbar issue post today.

This is a Microsoft bug that apparently has many reasons and solutions. Here are some solutions that you could try, but there is no guarantee that your problem is one of them :

• Clear File Explorer history​

Has apparently triggered this before.


Check both of these after the above tutorial:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations
%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations

and delete all files from both folders (make a backup just in case).

Reboot and test

• Reset & CLEAR Taskbar Pins​

Read the tutorial before you begin.
You will have to readd the ones missing.

• Alternatively​

As I know I already mentioned.

Create a new user account and check if the issue recurs in it. If it does not occur, it could indicate that your user account is corrupted. Access this link and follow the steps to copy all files from the corrupt user profile to the new one : Fix a corrupted user profile (Last drop down in the list) ensure also that it is an administrator account.

• • I’ve never had to create a new user account and migrate the old one so I cannot advise you. Maybe another member can.

For fixing a corrupt user account, allegedly this tutorial was made for that purpose, I can’t find an equivalent here. Ignore the title. Again, I can not advise.
Read first

Thanks again. I will try the above possibilities. I have added and deleted accounts before, so I know what to do. Before I do these things, though, I got rid of the portable "Systemtraymenu" app (I used the Everything App to find all its files and deleted them). Then I restarted, and it made no difference. I then re-installed it from Microsoft Store, and the app appeared in Start Menu, but was invisible on the taskbar when I pinned it. So I uninstalled it (incl. its registry entries) and re-installed the portable version. This time I was able to see it on the taskbar. So, thanks again, and its a good job I like fiddling with my PC, both with software and hardware.

Hi Everyone,
I have tried everything and I now have only two options: 1) Create a new user account with the same privileges as the one I currently use, and start to use it instead. This will involve me in a lot of work, and the bits I miss will only become apparent as I try to use various apps and discover that they fail. It will definitely solve my problem, because I have already created such an account, and the taskbar works perfectly in it. or 2) use the windows repair facility which uses a current windows 1 1iso to re-install windows whilst leaving data and apps untouched. I migrated from 10 to 11 using this, and it worked pretty well, so perhaps it will be the least problematic. Whichever I choose, it will be reserved for rainy day.

1) is it only Store apps that don’t pin or don’t show when pinned?

2) Do you use Google Drive?

Yes, it is only Store Apps that don't show when pinned. I used Google Drive some time ago, but removed it. I have checked and there is no trace of it on my computer.

I noticed the same issue in windows 10, but I only use 1 app from the store so I was only mildly curious as to why it wouldn't show in the taskbar. However, I was using a standard local account and when I rebooted into my admin ms account, the app would show up on the taskbar. I just attributed it to using a local account versus an ms account.

I haven't noticed the issue with 11 (yet) but I am using the usual admin ms account.

Mine is an admin account. The apps are installed under admin.

jameswesthead said:

Yes, it is only Store Apps that don't show when pinned. I used Google Drive some time ago, but removed it. I have checked and there is no trace of it on my computer.

Click to expand...

@dacrone Good find!

I'd like to thank everyone for their help, even though I was unable to solve the problem, other than by repairing windows in place via a windows 11 iso, or by creating another user. I'm just going sit on the problem for a while, until a cold and miserable day arrives, and then get down to it. I'm going to mark this thread as closed.

24h2 will be released in Oct. which will come to you thru WU as an upgrade rather than an update. (or you can download its iso and upgrade manually if yiou wish) It may well solve your problems. Would be worth the wait and see.