Fix Taskbar Icons Lost in Windows 11 – 6 Best Solutions

When you upgrade to Windows 11 or hibernate the system, you may find that taskbar icons disappear.

If its a recurring problem, it can be irritating.

There may be 2 types of graphic drivers that come with each laptop.

One belongs to the motherboard and another external.

For example, Intel and NVIDIA are the two GPU units that exist with each system.

Update both the drivers to see if the problem is solved.

reset the Icons on the Taskbar and Recreate again.

Sometimes corrupt shortcuts to unknown programs can cause the issue.

In such cases delete those third-party program icons.

Also attempt to delete Microsoft installed icons like Store, Meetings etc.

Then cycle your system.

This will force Windows to rebuild the icon database, and the icons shouldreappear on your taskbar.

Windows components is another way to restore missing taskbar items.

This can be done by forcing Windows to reload some related processes running in the background.

To do this, fire up the Task Manager by pressingCtrl+Shift+Esc.

In the Task Manager window, press the Details tab.

Scroll down and find the process named ShellExperienceHost.exe.

Right-hit this process and select Restart.

This will force Windows to reload theShellExperienceHostprocess, which is responsible for the taskbar and other user interface elements.

Once the process has restarted, check to see if the missing taskbar items are back.

If they are not, you may need to cycle your rig.

One fix is to use this setting.

Taskbar > TaskbarSettings > Taskbar behaviors > Show My Taskbar on all Displays.

Another solution is to change the refresh rate if it’s possible for you to.

Source:answers.microsoft.com

The best solution that works in 2023 according to forums is toreset the Taskbar.

This can be done by following these steps:

After resetting theTaskbar, icons should start appearing again.

If they do not, you might try the other solutions listed above.

Go to the Processes tab, find explorer.exe, right click it and select Restart.

This will restart the file explorer and desktop icons.

1.spin up the System File Checker: Open an admin Command Prompt and run sfc /scannow.

This scans Windows files for errors and replaces corrupted files.

1.Update graphics drivers: Outdated GPU drivers can cause icon issues.

Check for graphics driver updates from your manufacturer.

1.Create a new user profile: Icons may disappear due to corrupted user profile configs.

Create a new user account and copy data over to see if it fixes the issue.

ensure to backup data first if resetting Windows.