Lost The ICONS on Your Taskbar? Revive Them with These 4 Secrets for Windows 11 Users

Can’t find taskbar icons on your Windows desktop? That could be super frustrating. But don’t worry. Certainly you’re not the only one. Luckily, we’ve found the answer for you. Read on and see how to solve yourmissing taskbar or missing taskbar icons issue.

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links

If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Try these fixes

1. Unhide the taskbar on your desktop
2. Repopulate the taskbar on your desktop
3. Restart Windows Explorer in Task Manager
4. Update your available drivers

Note: The screenshots below are from Windows 10, but the solutions are also available for other Windows versions.

Solution 1: Unhide the taskbar on your desktop

If you don’t see the taskbar on your desktop, probably it’s hide. Follow to unhide your taskbar:

1. On your keyboard, hold down theWindows logo key , then pressR to bring up the Run box.
2. Typecontrol and pressEnter .
   
3. ClickTaskbar and Navigation whenView by Large icons selected. (If you’re using Windows 7, select Taskbar and Start Menu .)

4. Toggle offAutomatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode andAutomatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode . (If you’re using Windows 7 or 8.1, toggle offAuto-hide the taskbar .)

On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and D together to display your desktop and check if you can see the taskbar.

Solution 2: Repopulate the taskbar on your desktop

Your missing taskbar issue could be also caused by thecorrupted Windows image . You can fix it easily using theDISM command to perform a automatic repair.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. On your keyboard, press theWindows logo key to bring up the Start menu.
2. Typecmd , then right-click onCommand Prompt from the pop-up result. SelectRun as administrator .
   
3. Type the following command and pressEnter .

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Once it completes, close the Command Prompt window. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and D together to display your desktop and check if you can see the taskbar.

Solution 3: Restart Windows Explorer in Task Manager

Windows Explorer is responsible for controlling your desktop and taskbar. When your taskbar or taskbar icons is missing, you can restart Windows Explorer in Task Manager.

See how to do it:

1. On your keyboard, hold downShift andCtrl keys together, then pressEsc to bring up Task Manager.
2. Under theProcesses tab, right-click onWindows Explorer to selectRestart .

Note: If you’re using Windows 7, right-click explorer.exe to select End process, then click File > New task(Run…). Type explorer.exe and press Enter.

On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and D together to display your desktop and check if you can see the taskbar.

Solution 4: Update your available drivers

Updating drivers should always be your go-to option when something goes wrong with your computer or system. Whether you choose to update the device drivers manually, using Windows Update, or you use a trusted third party product, it’s essential that you have thelatest correct device drivers for your operating system at all times.

If you’re not comfortable playing with device drivers, we recommend using Driver Easy . It’s a tool that detects, downloads and (if yougo Pro ) installs any driver updates your computer needs.

To update your drivers with Driver Easy, just click theScan Now button, then when it lists the drivers you need to update, click Update. The correct drivers will be downloaded, and you can install them – either manually through Windows or all automatically with Driver Easy Pro .

Hopefully this article helps. Feel free to comment below with your own experiences.

• Windows

Also read: