Solved Windows 11 Taskbar Missing - spinning wheel

curto · Aug 12, 2024

Guys - running WIndows 11 23H2 - a while ago i had an issue where the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen disappeared and when i hovered in its location i would just get a spinning wheel - none of the shortcut Windows keys (Windows + R) (Windows + D) etc etc work. When i had that initial issue i was running 22H2 - i was then directed to upgrade to 23H2 - which i did and the problem appeared to be resolved.

For an unknown reason the problem has reappeared. (I have automatic updates enabled (mainstream only) and it may have been tied to this) but i can not be certain of that.

My machine is a Dell 5540 with 64GB RAM and 2TB Samsung SSD.

The first symptom of the problem was a failure to install WIndows Updates - so i did the usual sfc /scannow and then Dism with Restorehealth etc this did not resolve the issue so i decided to run a Windows update using the ISO image method - i downloaded the latest ISO from microsoft as of Yesterday and this ran through and appeared to then enable WIndows updates to again be installed.

However as part of that process my taskbar has once again disappeared and it has taken away all of the Windows Shortcut key combos - except for CTRL ALT DEL

I have tried numerous reboots and shutdowns - but nothing seems to resolve it - if from within Task Manager i run explorer.exe i get an explorer window but still no task bar.

Any hints on what i could try next ?

Craig

curto · Aug 12, 2024

Just as some further info - ran another windows repair reinstall with all updates and this has made no difference. Also nearly all apps are either extremely slow to launch or do not launch at all. Can not get to the settings page when trying to access it through explorer.exe - delivers a file error after a couple of minutes.

No Antivirius installed - previously used AVG Internet

Help !

Craig

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

So where is your image backup? You don’t have one?

Just so you know for the future, there may of been other ways to get Windows Update working again.

Had you updated your Graphics drivers recently?

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

Are you able to press Ctrl+Shift+Esc and bring up Task Manager?

If so:

At the top of Task Manager, click "Run New Task"
Type in devmgmt.msc and click OK. Device Manager should open.
Under Monitors, what display driver does it say you have?

Advised:

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc and bring up Task Manager
At the top of Task Manager, click "Run New Task"
Type in ms-settings:windowsupdate and click OK (if it works)
Windows Update should open. Does it say you have any updates?
Whilst there, go to: Windows Update>Advanced Options>Optional Updates
- Is there a graphics driver in there?

If not, or has no effect (Maybe do this anyway):

At the top of Task Manager, click "Run New Task"
Type in microsoft-edge: and click OK
Navigate to: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-au/product-support/product/precision-15-5540-laptop/drivers
The best method would be to "Let Dell automatically find driver updates for you" click "Check For Updates" and follow the prompts. This way you'll get any missing drivers for your Dell.

Report back.

curto · Aug 12, 2024

antspants said:
So where is your image backup? You don’t have one?

Just so you know for the future, there may of been other ways to get Windows Update working again.

Had you updated your Graphics drivers recently?

Yes i actually do have a Macrium reflect full image from two months ago - but really want to try and get to the bottom of what is going on - otherwise i feel it will just come back again

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

curto said:
Yes i actually do have a Macrium reflect full image from two months ago - but really want to try and get to the bottom of what is going on - otherwise i feel it will just come back again

Give those options a go, I really hope they work for you

curto · Aug 12, 2024

antspants said:
So where is your image backup? You don’t have one?

Just so you know for the future, there may of been other ways to get Windows Update working again.

Had you updated your Graphics drivers recently?

curto said:
Yes i actually do have a Macrium reflect full image from two months ago - but really want to try and get to the bottom of what is going on - otherwise i feel it will just come back again

No i have not updated my graphics drivers - other than anything that may have ben pushed down from Microsoft.

Last night i went into safe mode - and taskbar etc came up all fine. Made no changes - and then rebooted to normal mode and everything seems to be working again - however this is obviously no fix and want to keep attacking this to try and get to the bottom of it. I note that Microsoft Teams is not working - it is in the startup list to run the resident portion to monitor for incoming content - and when i run the full app on the desktop nothing appears to happen. So i do not believe anything has been resolved at this point. Just gone lurking in the background again.

So all ears for steps to take to try and identify what issues i have lurking still

Thanks for your help on this one - much appreciated.

Craig

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

Craig, If you don’t want to run through my suggestions and it is working in safe mode, maybe your user account is messed up? Perhaps create another user account, I have never had to do it so I am not familiar with the process but I have seen @glasskuter make mention of it.

curto said:
no fix and want to keep attacking this to try and get to the bottom of it.

You can try, personally I’d prefer just to fix it with any means possible. This is Windows, there is not always a how or why. Possibly wasting time trying to figure it out as apposed to fixing it, they are not one in the same in my opinion.

Creating a new local account with admin.

glasskuter said:
I think it's related to permissions. Possibly some file corruption in your user account. You can prove it quickly by creating a new local account. Give it administrator privileges. Restart your computer and log in to the new account to see if problem persists.

Here's the step by step if you need it.
Settings>Accounts>Scroll down and click on Other Users.
Select add account>select I don't have this person's signin information

This will let you create a local account

In user name box name the account and assign a password.
Very Important- Make the new user an administrator. Once account is created, to the right of the new user name click down arrow. Select Change account type.
Click arrow to right of standard user and select Administrator.

Restart . On signin screen you will see 2 accounts. Select the NEW LOCAL ACCOUNT name and it will ask you to set up a password and password hints. Also answer all the other setup option questions.
Your new desktop will be created.

If the issue does NOT happen in this new account, it points to corruption in Your account rather than a windows problem. If it DOES happen in this new account , the issue is elsewhere. You can log out of the account, log back into your account, and delete the new account you created.

If the problem is a corrupted user account, report back and we can tell you how to get your files into the new account in the correct way

curto · Aug 12, 2024

antspants said:
Are you able to press Ctrl+Shift+Esc and bring up Task Manager?

If so:

At the top of Task Manager, click "Run New Task"

Type in devmgmt.msc and click OK. Device Manager should open.

Under Monitors, what display driver does it say you have?

Advised:

Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc and bring up Task Manager

At the top of Task Manager, click "Run New Task"

Type in ms-settings:windowsupdate and click OK (if it works)

Windows Update should open. Does it say you have any updates?

Whilst there, go to: Windows Update>Advanced Options>Optional Updates

Is there a graphics driver in there?

If not, or has no effect (Maybe do this anyway):

At the top of Task Manager, click "Run New Task"

Type in microsoft-edge: and click OK

Navigate to: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-au/product-support/product/precision-15-5540-laptop/drivers

The best method would be to "Let Dell automatically find driver updates for you" click "Check For Updates" and follow the prompts. This way you'll get any missing drivers for your Dell.

Report back.

Yesterday when having all the dramas - no - they only thing that would run from within Task Manager was explorer.exe - today yes i can run it - and here are the screenshots - this laptop has both an Nvidia chip on the motherboard and an Intel through the onboard chipset - it is meant to swtich between them when high GPU data is being processed. There is an error on the Nvidia driver which i have just noticed.

Just trying the windows Updates now (did not work yesterday when trying to run it from within Task Manager but is running fine from the search bar now - will report back shortly

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

Right click on the nvidia entry, select disable. Reboot.

This is why I asked about the device manager. I have read instances of this happening and the most common response was to disable the nvidia entry for the time being to see if it is related.

curto · Aug 12, 2024

antspants said:
Craig, If you don’t want to run through my suggestions and it is working in safe mode, maybe your user account is messed up? Perhaps create another user account, I have never had to do it so I am not familiar with the process but I have seen @glasskuter make mention of it.

You can try, personally I’d prefer just to fix it with any means possible. This is Windows, there is not always a how or why. Possibly wasting time trying to figure it out as apposed to fixing it, they are not one in the same in my opinion.

Creating a new local account with admin.

Yes i was pondering creating another local admin account - worse case if it does come back that would let me rule out a corruption issue in my profile.

Just working through your suggestions now and will report back

I hear you about not always possible to get an answer for Windows Issues !! But i have a 2nd laptop here i set up last night and can work on that whilst i let all the time consuming stuff run in the background. So will plod along.

Craig

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

Good job, Craig.

Def disable NVidia in Device manager. Worth a try to help diagnose.

curto · Aug 12, 2024

In for a penny - in for a pound !! WIll do a Restore point and then apply this - once that is done will do the dell suggestion and then onto the Nvidia stuff

Craig

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

Not sure that preview will help.

Hey, I’m just going to throw this out there because I have actually done it myself, I doubt it’s your problem but…

Option 2 (I have actually shrunk my taskbar before, I laughed when I found out why it was missing) just to check.

Restore a Windows taskbar and Start menu that have disappeared | Dell Australia

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

curto said:
will do the dell suggestion and then onto the Nvidia stuff

Disabling nvidia might make the rest easier. I am trying to find the page that had this issue.

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

Also, it’s Patch Tuesday tomorrow. More updates is the prediction.

curto · Aug 12, 2024

antspants said:
Also, it’s Patch Tuesday tomorrow. More updates is the prediction.

It never ends - tried to install that preview update (as i listed above) - it went all the way through and asked for the reboot - which i did - then checked and it has not applied it - definitely something screwy with the update process.

Have just disabled the Nvidia driver - about to use Sledgehammer to see if there are any more updates and batch install those

Plugging along slowly.

Definitely have not inadvertantly done anything to the taskbar (i do network support/Security for a living so know my way around reasonably well !)

Will continue to report back

Thank for hanging in there !

Craig

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

I was hoping disabling the Nvidia driver would bring back the taskbar on reboot.
If not, when you’ve exhausted the rest like the Dell Update page, I would recommend you making a new thread about the “Device Manager conflicts with Intel & Nvidia drives”
I believe this to be the problem with the taskbar (not sure about the rest of the issues.)

antspants · Aug 12, 2024

As for Windows Update

Reset Windows Update in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to completely reset Windows Update components and policies to default in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Windows Update keeps Windows 11 updated by automatically downloading and installing the latest updates, drivers, and hotfixes released by Microsoft. Sometimes you...

www.elevenforum.com

curto · Aug 12, 2024

antspants said:
I was hoping disabling the Nvidia driver would bring back the taskbar on reboot.
If not, when you’ve exhausted the rest like the Dell Update page, I would recommend you making a new thread about the “Device Manager conflicts with Intel & Nvidia drives”
I believe this to be the problem with the taskbar (not sure about the rest of the issues.)

Yeah the taskbar has already come back - this was last night after the reboot to Safe mode and then reboot to normal - so it has been running fine today - but with really no changes by me.

I have now disabled the Nvidia and about to search online on Dell to see if there are any updates for the machine as per your post.

WIll follow through on the Windows updates also and report back

Craig