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

163 answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-01-04T17:26:39+00:00

    damn, I was so optimistic for this work around, but no go on my end.

    For me only the MS Window icons like Calculator, Notepad, Settings (when active), Snipping Tool, and HP Smart are invisible or ghost imaged.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2024-01-04T17:20:30+00:00

    I'm of the opinion on these bugs the word Micro & Soft apply to their level of intellect to fix this.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-01-04T15:30:46+00:00

    A workaround I have found is to temporarily change the refresh rate of the display and then revert to its earlier rate.

    This takes only a few seconds:

    1. When you see your taskbar has no icons, for example after waking from sleep, then right-click it or click the desktop.
    2. From the pop-up which appears, select Display Settings.
    3. Click on Advanced Display.
    4. Choose a different refresh rate.
    5. Click the Revert button.

    There you go, the icons will (should?) all be back.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2024-01-04T11:47:23+00:00

    I have exactly the same symptoms :-

    • icons disappear after Windows comes back from "sleep" mode
    • sometimes all icons disappear, sometimes only a few of them
    • not consistent - I have had runs of weeks when all is OK, and other times it happens a lot
    • Items will re-appear if empty icon space is clicked; if Windows Explorer is re-started in Task Manager or if the PC itself is restarted.
    • It has only happened to me in WIndows 11, never in windows 10 before
    • Windows 11 Home edition (up-to-date)
    • My hardware is Intel i7 -9700 with a GTX 1669Ti

    The consistent thread of everyone who has posted over the year that this has been happening is that the icons disappoear when coming out of Sleep mode. You would hope that there's someone with enough brains at Microsoft to work it out........

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2024-01-03T23:13:31+00:00

    Commenting to keep attention on this issue.

    I'm not sure if any of this is relevant but:

    • yes, drivers are kept up to date. Most are set to automatic updates.
    • icons disappear after Windows turns the screen off (due to the power settings)
    • yes, clicking the icon brings it back (individually) and a restart also restores them all.
    • Samsung 4k monitor
    • Windows 11
    • AMD Ryzen 9 Processor, 4070 graphics, 32MB RAM
    • disappearing is not always consistent, sometimes it's OK for a week and then it happens several times in a row.
    • icons don't come back when the labels are also showing (for example, clicking the empty spot for the Slack icon opened up the label and showed my badge with unread messages but did not show the icon).

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments