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The case:
My wife and I share the same home PC for work, that we use independently throughout the day. We would like to be able to switch between our users without having to log out and close/reopen our respective documents and apps. Kinda like how it works on a Mac when you switch between multiple active user login sessions.
The Problem:
Whenever we try to use the "Switch User" functionality, the taskbar freezes (doesn't load) on whichever user you switch to. The only way to unfreeze the taskbar is to log out completely on one user (and subsequently close all apps/documents), and then login to the other user afterwards.
What I have tried:
Extra info:
Both users have Admin account type and our Windows 10 is updated to the latest version.
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.
It is very discomforting to see that relatively simple and ubiquitous peripherals like mice and keyboards can interfere with the OS so badly. Disabling HID devices is a poor workaround for something that MS should fix in the OS or the OEM manufacturers like RAZER should comply with MS specs. But then you have a MS intellimouse freezing the taskbar on an MS OS, it seems that MS itself has an internal interoperability problem.
The thread below covers a frozen Taskbar, with a workaround (perhaps a bit quicker) and a couple of settings to check.
Windows 10, Taskbar frozen - Microsoft Community
Personally, I wouldn't recommend Method 1: PowerShell, as changing registry values can make things worse.
However, Methods 2 and 3 are relatively benign, and simple to set back if they don't fix the problem.
Hope one of them helps.
Sadly, this does not work for me. Mine was already set never to sleep.
Until a proven solution comes along, for the previous posters, what I wrote before should work for others as well.
Once you are on user #1, sign in to user #2, then immediately switch back to user #1; no need to wait. Come back to user #2 a bit later and you should find that it unfroze on its own in the background.
Hibernate your PC instead of shutting it down and both accounts can switch back and forth without issues until the next shutdown or reboot.
In checking around the internet, there seem to be many threads indicating that Sleep Mode may cause the Taskbar to freeze. As a quick check, you can go to your Power Settings in both logins and set the Plugged In option to Never (never go to sleep when the computer is plugged in). Then see if the problem goes away when the computer is plugged in.
Power settings can be found at:
Start/Settings/System/Power & Sleep
I am also having the same problem.
More specifically when shutting down the pc and starting it later, it will silently log in the last account, and if u log into another account the taskbar will be broken the same way. I Have to log out of the previous account to fix the taskbar but this is even more annoying if the other account is an administrator.
Feel like my problem could be fixed if it just didnt log in the last user automatically but as I've read the thread this wont fix the entire problem.
Haven't found a way to fix the auto login either tho.
