Icons Keep Disappearing From Taskbar - Windows 11

Anonymous
2022-09-07T13:59:50+00:00

I upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 a few months ago, and ever since I've been having a problem where the icons disappear from the taskbar. It happens while I'm using the laptop as well as when it comes out of hibernation.

I know this can be fixed temporarily by restarting Windows Explorer in the task manager, but this is happening several times a day and it's getting annoying. Is there a permenant fix yet?

I'm using Windows 11 Home version 21H2 build 22000.856 on a HP laptop with an Intel i5 1035G1 processor and 8GB of RAM. The problem didn't exist when I was running Windows 10.

Thanks.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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.

0 comments No comments

163 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2023-11-19T15:52:51+00:00

    I have the same exact issue, it is incredibly annoying. And today it just got worse! I used to at least be able to unpin the item from the taskbar and then pin it again for each of them. Right now that is not even working and this time the icons were fine when I started my PC, they got messed up at some point afterward.

    But before today ever since installing Windows 11, almost every time I start my PC the icons are broken and I could either unpin and re-pin them all like I described above or I could run the following command and then restart my PC to hopefully fix them for that one restart...
    sfc /scannow

    DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

    DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

    DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

    I never had this issue with Windows 10 and I have reformatted back to a fresh install of Windows 11 two different times now and both times I had the same exact issue basically from the git go.

    I always install Norton 360 first thing in case that has anything to do with it but I already tried adding %systemroot%\system32\imageres.dll as an exclusion in the anti-virus settings everywhere it let me and it made no difference.
    https://answers-afd.microsoft.com/static/images/image-not-found.jpgScreenshot of what they broken icons look like... https://imgsh.net/a/K8W7mGI.png

    And I know a lot of people said that restarting Windows Explorer from the task manager fixes it for them temporarily but it does not fix the icons for me.

    Has anyone found a permanent solution for this? I am starting to lose hope.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2023-11-13T09:23:47+00:00

    Yes, thats how it behaves for me as well on my RDP Machine.

    Restarting "Windows Explorer" through TaskManager works as well, but its annoying as hell.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2023-10-23T20:52:53+00:00

    In the past, I would reboot my PC to fix the missing icons from my taskbar, Pain in the a**.  However, this time I fixed it without rebooting.  (Although, I’m not sure the issue will not return again in the future. Time will tell.)

    (This is in Windows 11)

    Right click open desktop space, and select;

    • PERSONALIZATION,
    • TASKBAR,
    • TASKBAR BEHAVIORS, Then toggle either,
    • SHOW MY TASKBAR ON ALL DISPLAYS, or,
    • SHARE ANY WINDOW FROM MY TASKBAR (I toggled both, but don’t remember which one actually fixed it.)

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2023-08-25T15:33:42+00:00

    Really hope this is an attempt at a joke. A class action lawsuit over icons would be hilarious.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2023-08-25T10:34:26+00:00

    There seems to be more than enough here for a class actions against Microfrost.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments