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Move the Windows 11 Taskbar to the top and change the icon size with Taskbar11

Ashwin
Oct 19, 2021
Updated • Oct 22, 2021
Windows 11 Help
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20

The Start Menu and Widgets maybe the most unpopular changes that Microsoft introduced in its new operating system. But, for many people, the lack of an option to move the Windows 11 Taskbar, is just as frustrating.

Unlike its predecessors, Windows 11 does not let you drag the Taskbar to the sides or the top. I think it is a silly change, especially considering how the Redmond company is marketing the OS'personalization features. Fortunately, there are a few third-party tools that can help us overcome such limitations. Martin mentioned StarDock's Start11 as an option. That however is a premium application. Why should I pay for a feature that existed before and was removed needlessly? I hear you loud and clear, and if you want a free way to fix it, Taskbar11 fits the bill.

The application is portable, so all you need to do is download the Taskbar11.exe and run it. The program's interface has some useful options, let's begin with the Taskbar setting. Click the Taskbar Position drop-down menu. Taskbar11 allows you to switch the Windows 11 Taskbar's position to the top. The flyout menus (pop-up right-click menus) drops-down correctly too. It's a shame that we can't move it to the sides, but I think we'll take what we got.

Optionally, you may set the Taskbar size to Small, Medium or Large. Now, these options don't actually change the size of the bar, it just reduces the size of the icons.

The next setting, Taskbar Indentation, lets you move the Taskbar and Start Menu to the left edge of the screen, just like in previous Windows iterations. Don't like the default icons Microsoft has slapped onto the Taskbar? You can use Taskbar11 to disable the Search, Task View, Widgets and Chat buttons. Similarly, you can hide the Pen menu, Touch keyboard and the Virtual Touchpad.

Note: Setting it to the Small Size results in a visual bug, the system tray's clock is sort of hidden partially. The Large Size has a problem too, the icons appear to be blurry when you use the option.

You don't need this tool for toggling the Taskbar icons, or to change its alignment. Windows 11's built-in options allows you to do this too, just open the Settings app, switch to Personalization > Taskbar, and customize it as necessary.

Select the option that you want to change in Taskbar11, and click the Save button at the bottom of the Window. Your Taskbar will disappear briefly, and flash right back into place. Don't worry about it, the program is just restarting the Explorer.exe process to apply the modifications you selected. As mentioned earlier, the program is portable, so it doesn't need to be running in the background, you may close it after making the changes.

Taskbar11 is an open-source program.

There is another open-source software, called Windows11DragAndDropToTaskbarFix, that does a similar job. However, this tool is currently detected as a Trojan by Kaspersky and Zone Alarm (VirusTotal). Windows Defender seems to think it is harmless, so I think it is a false positive, but I'll leave you to be the judge.

Thanks, Joe for the tip!

Most of these UI changes seem to be "optimized" for touch-screen devices. Microsoft needs to stick to its core and stop fixing things that aren't broken. What do you think about it?

Summary
Article Name
How to move the Windows 11 Taskbar to the top
Description
Wondering how to move the Windows 11 Taskbar to the top? Microsoft removed the option from the OS, but this program can help you get it back.
Author
Publisher
Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. ambx]s said on February 15, 2022 at 7:28 am
    Reply

    Not nice shold do without registry

  2. bob said on October 20, 2021 at 7:01 pm
    Reply

    I found another tool that also let me set the taskbar icon size to: small, which allows me to cut further cut the size of the taskbar in half like windows 10 has

    https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher

    screenshot:
    https://imgur.com/KbnkTU2

    1. Ashwin said on October 22, 2021 at 11:04 am
      Reply

      That’s a nice find, Bob. Thank you.

  3. Anonymous said on October 20, 2021 at 3:07 pm
    Reply

    What do I think about it?
    I think I’m sticking to Windows 10 well after its expiration date. Microsoft has gone and made another freaking Win8.

    1. Dumbledalf said on October 21, 2021 at 11:13 am
      Reply

      You can’t move the taskbar? Oh the tragedy, the horror.

  4. John G. said on October 20, 2021 at 1:41 pm
    Reply

    Off-topic, I have the same bug like this user: “I hover over the System Tray icons, I get the normal tooltip. And after that, when I immediately hover on any empty part of the taskbar, I get the tooltip of the System Tray.” https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/report-an-issue/bug-windows-11-tooltip-on-any-empty-part-of-taskbar-after/m-p/2857765 I wrote a comment about this same bug it at Ghacks in the article: https://www.ghacks.net/2021/10/07/amd-says-windows-11-is-slowing-down-its-processors-by-up-to-15/

    1. Ashwin said on October 20, 2021 at 6:50 pm
      Reply

      This happens to me too, sometimes when I right-click an empty are on the Taskbar, but other times it occurs with just a mouse over.

  5. Software tester said on October 20, 2021 at 11:11 am
    Reply

    You don’t need any software , just a script done the job perfectly , Download following script , unzip it , Password : sordum then open “En” folder and use the “Taskbar_top.vbe” . If you want to change the Position to default use “Taskbar_bottom.vbe” thats all , No installation , just a script
    Download:
    https://www.sordum.net/indir/download.php?fname=./download17/Taskbar_top.zip

    1. John G. said on October 20, 2021 at 12:46 pm
      Reply

      Easiest method to put taskbar on top, create a .reg file with this inside:

      Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
      [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3]
      “Settings”=hex:30,00,00,00,fe,ff,ff,ff,7a,f4,00,00,01,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,30,\
      00,00,00,00,00,00,00,08,04,00,00,80,07,00,00,38,04,00,00,60,00,00,00,01,00,\
      00,00

      To set again at bottom, change the content of the .reg file to this:
      Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
      [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3]
      “Settings”=hex:30,00,00,00,fe,ff,ff,ff,7a,f4,00,00,03,00,00,5d,00,00,00,30,00,\
      00,00,00,00,00,00,08,04,00,00,80,07,00,00,38,04,00,00,60,00,00,00,01,00,00,\
      00

      1. Software tester said on October 20, 2021 at 9:00 pm
        Reply

        This done nothing , because you MUST restart Windows explorer , ?f you don’t have enough knowledge please don’t share as if you know

  6. Anonymous said on October 19, 2021 at 10:58 pm
    Reply

    Sad Microsoft won’t give back the features everyone wants. Now we have to rely on 3rd party tools to make Windows productive as it was 20 years ago. Windows 11 is a disaster.

  7. loler said on October 19, 2021 at 9:38 pm
    Reply

    LOL! I love how cute Windows is that you need several other types of 3rd party programs to perform basic tasks that have existed on Linux for YEARS.

    1. Anonymous said on October 20, 2021 at 4:34 am
      Reply

      LOL I love how cute Linux users are where they have to spend hours and hours commenting on online boards trying to get a rise out of windows users to feel superior.

    2. Anonymous said on October 19, 2021 at 11:35 pm
      Reply

      They have also existed in Windows for DECADES, until now.

  8. ULBoom said on October 19, 2021 at 4:57 pm
    Reply

    Or use winearotweaker, free but you can donate. Should satisfy most anyone.

    https://winaero.com/winaero-tweaker-1-30-is-here-allows-you-to-move-windows-11-taskbar-and-more/

    Plus it does about a million other things.

    1. John G. said on October 19, 2021 at 7:53 pm
      Reply

      OMG @ULBoom thank you very much! :]

  9. WorknMan said on October 19, 2021 at 2:58 pm
    Reply

    ‘Why should I pay for a feature that existed before and was removed needlessly?’

    Because somebody else took the time and effort to put it back in, you cheap bastard :P

    1. xMovingTarget said on October 20, 2021 at 11:19 pm
      Reply

      I would not recommend this for a few reasons. Moving the taskbar with this method will result in widgets not showing and task previews will not be visible.
      Also changing to small taskbar crops away parts of the clock date etc area. This is just a tool that changes the registry values.
      8f you want these features work properly, get startallback. With startallback you can move the bar and resize it however you like without these bugs. And may even change how the startmenu looks. If you like the win 7 one better for example. Startisback let’s you do that.

    2. Ashwin said on October 19, 2021 at 4:11 pm
      Reply

      Ha ha, I wrote that from the general user’s perspective. I do own Start 10 from a Humble Bundle, and qualify for a Start11 upgrade discount. But I’m not sure if I will use it.

  10. John G. said on October 19, 2021 at 2:09 pm
    Reply

    An amazing must have software, thank you very much @Ashwin! :]

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