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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
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I believe I have found the solution. It seems too easy to be true but It has worked for me through three cold reboots so far.
Set your toolbars up as you like
Right click on the taskbar and click properties
Click on the Toolbars tab.
Uncheck and then recheck the toolbars you use
Click Apply
Click Okay
Reboot and hopefully your toolbars will still be there.
I am also having the same problem and hoping for a solution soon
Right click taskbar and select new toolbar and it automatically chooses the exact same folder location as before.
I just wanted to note that I have had the same experience that CMeadows18 stated here. While whatever toolbars were on before disappear from the taskbar, when you go to the Choose a Folder window, it automatically starts on the last folder that you made into a toolbar. It's as if the toolbar additions are being logged/saved somewhere. I get the feeling that some kind of setting has to be found which makes the OS retain the toolbars rather than take them off.
No dice on the Dism command. I used an admin command prompt, and here are my results:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.16384
Image Version: 6.3.9600.16384
[===========================100.0%===========================]
The restore operation completed successfully. The component store corruption was repaired.
The operation completed successfully.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>
The command didn't fail at least, but I restarted afterwards, then shut down and turned on again (putting back on my toolbars in between those attempts, just as I have done with everything I've tried), but the toolbars just won't stick around.
I will try it with a new user account when I get the opportunity.
Spent fours on the phone with Microsoft. New user account was the first thing we tried. Nevertheless it did not work and they were not able to fix it without doing a re-install of Windows so I am waiting for the disc they are going to send and will weigh my options.
