"Show taskbar buttons on: All Taskbars" setting keeps resetting on sleep

+1, also having this issue

i think at this point with the fact that turning on news and interests fixes this issue as well all the testimonies given on this thread that this is a microsoft issue and not related to any outside software or hardware

I have this issue. It is clearly a bug since adjusting the taskbar settings to show taskbar buttons on All taskbars (the option I already have selected) fixes the issue until the next time I restart or put my computer to sleep.

So your options for a fix are to right click the task bar and reset the settings (edit: or enable the news widget I guess, that's a no from me), or do what I do and use a .bat script to restart explorer.exe:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe

start explorer.exe
exit

Put that code into a text file, change the file extension to .bat and you can run it and it temporarily fixes the issue, with some obviously bad side effects, primarily being that any open file explorer windows will be closed. For my purposes, it fixes the issue quickly, without needing to go into the settings menu.

Hey Kyo,

I have never messed with my startup or power settings, so I don't think that is the cause. I can test booting up in safe mode to see if it reproduces the bug or not.

My best guess is that this is being caused by a recent update. I ruled out file corruption because SFC /scannow did not resolve the issue, leading me to believe it was some sort of update from MSFT that caused it (BIOS, firmware, etc). I did not note a specific update or point in time where the issue began, though it was sometime in the last 3-4 weeks.

I can confirm this is not specific to NVidia drivers or AMD processors. This has been happening on my desktop and laptop for the last few months and it's been a huge pain to open to Taskbar settings and toggle this on and off several times per day.

System Info:

Laptop:

• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home, 10.0.19045 Build 19045
• CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz, 1992 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
• GPU1: Radeon 500 Series
• GPU2: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620

Desktop:

• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, 10.0.19045 Build 19045
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor, 3701 Mhz, 12 Core(s), 24 Logical Processor(s)
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT

I have mostly the same Taskbar Settings on both. Italicized options aren't selectable but I figure I should mention them:

• Lock Taskbar: ON
• Auto-hide Desktop/Tablet: Both OFF
• Small Buttons: ON
• Peek: OFF
• Replace CMD with PS: OFF desktop, ON laptop
• [Badges: Off]
• Location: Bottom
• Combine: Always, hide labels
• Show on all displays: ON
• Taskbar buttons: All taskbars
• Combine buttons on other taskbars: Always, hide labels
• Show news: Off
• [News = Icon and text, Hover news OFF, Reduce updates OFF]

Description of problem:

Whenever a new display is connected (in my case, laptop is plugged into second monitor, or desktop's DisplayPort monitor is turned on) Windows behaves as though I have "Multiple Displays > Show taskbar buttons on" set to "Main taskbar and taskbar where window is open" instead of my actual selection of "All taskbars".

It seems to specifically be when a display is attached, and doesn't make this change when it's detached.

The selected option in Taskbar Settings doesn't change.

Contrary to someone else's suggestion, activating "Show news and interests on the taskbar" did not affect this for me.

These are the only options I've found that can temporarily correct it, no other Taskbar Settings seemed to make a difference:

• Toggling "Show taskbar on all displays" off and on
• Switching the selection under "Multiple Displays > Show taskbar buttons on" and switching it back
• Restarting Windows Explorer (or restarting the computer, which would also do this)

Each of these will bring icons back to all my displays, but then if a display is connected, it resets and hides my task icons again on secondary displays.

Please let me know if anything else would be useful to know.

Still broken as of KB5045594 on 10/22/24.

Can consistently replicate issue by disconnecting displayport monitor and plugging it back in.