Toolbars I put on the Task Bar disappear with each restart

Anonymous
2013-10-30T18:34:15+00:00

I just recently installed Windows 8.1, and as soon as I finished the upgrade, and ever since, I have had this problem. Any custom toolbars I put on the Task Bar disappear whenever I restart. For quite some time now (since Win ME, I think), I have used custom toolbars for My Computer (now called This PC in 8.1) and my Favorites, or Links within my user profile (not to be confused with my Internet favorites). Having those has been extremely handy as it allows me to view and access any of my drives quickly, and open folders I frequently access with one click. I think it was starting in Vista that toolbars had to be located on the Task Bar rather than being on some other side of the screen (I put my custom toolbars on the left side, and appropriately called it my sidebar). Having those toolbars limited to the Task Bar was no real problem, I just had to get used to my Task Bar being larger.

My current computer has had Win 8 installed from the beginning (I installed it myself using a clean install, not an upgrade). When I upgraded to 8.1, I was able to add those toolbars to my Task Bar no problem (right-click Task Bar >Toolbars >New Toolbar... and I select the folder I want to use for the toolbar), but every time I restart or shut down/turn on my computer, the custom toolbars disappear, leaving only the regular Task Bar and the Language Bar (I customarily keep the Language Bar on to be able to switch between typing English and Japanese, so I'm quite glad that at least it doesn't disappear). If I enable any of the toolbars already on the list in the Toolbars menu, they also disappear with each restart (such as Address and Bing Desktop; not that I use them, I'm just saying this to make diagnosis easier).

Granted, this is not a seriously harmful issue, as I am always able to put the toolbars back on again after each restart, and I don't restart ALL the time. But it's a major annoyance and it hurts productivity. Is there some way I can fix this problem? Or is there some update I can apply to do so?

Ethan Hayes

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-07-18T08:22:04+00:00

    I am experiencing the same.

    I originally had the Recycle Bin shortcut on my taskbar and it remained for weeks.

    And now, on restart, it disappears.

    I since added the desktop toolbar and no matter what, it disappears.

    I thought back to what I'd changed and the only thing that I had changed was adding the language bar.

    I removed the language bar, restarted and now the desktop toolbar remains.

    I clicked on my keyboard button on the taskbar (that brings up the virtual touch keyboard) and I have a languages toggle button. I can change languages on keyboard by:

    clicking the taskbar keyboard button

    clicking the language button on the screen keypad (mouse or touch) and then minimizing the screen keypad

    And by doing this, I'm not missing the language toolbar.

    I've restarted my computer 7 times and the desktop toolbar remains.

    Hope this will help some that have similar problems.

    Comment to Microsoft:  Why do you always change/remove the good features with each update.

    LEAVE ALONE the toolbars, the start buttons and everything else that we like. It is almost as if Microsoft doesn't field test any of these new products with actual customers before they field...

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-07-18T20:47:22+00:00

    Yeah! ScottAnderson_WWS, I think you did it! I tried disabling the Language Bar, and now my toolbars stay put through restarts and shutdowns. So at least it works for my situation. Although it seems we have had a couple different variations of the same issue reported here, so I'd be very interested to see whether it does the trick for someone else.

    Here are the steps I took:

    1. Open Control Panel.
    2. Choose Language (Unless you have the Category-style, in which case you choose "Change input methods").
    3. Click Advanced Settings, on the left.
    4. Around the middle of the settings, uncheck "Use the desktop language bar when it's available".
    5. Click the Save button.

    I don't know if I said this before, but I type in Japanese sometimes, so I used the language bar too. ScottAnderson_WWS's suggestion is valid, using the touch keyboard. But in my Windows 8.1, at least, I actually have a built in little button to the left of the clock on my taskbar, now that the language bar is gone, that allows me to switch language inputs. And I can also use WindowsKey+Spacebar to switch languages, and Shift+CapsLock when I'm in Japanese to switch between Romaji and Hiragana, and the button on my task bar tells me what input I'm on any which way, like a language bar replacement almost. But I never knew it existed until I turned the Language Bar off. And as I said before, my toolbars are staying put, which is the goal.

    Ethan Hayes

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-07-23T14:45:37+00:00

    Just to clarify, for me (and I think most users) It's not a language bar issue

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-08-16T16:08:06+00:00

    lololol

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