How to reset taskbar in Windows 10 to default settings

In Windows 10 when you start the system, taskbar is the place where you actually start using your system. The taskbar may contain Windows Start button, search or Cortana icon and some programs tray notification icons, pinned apps along with News and Interests, default system icons. Taskbar helps you to stay updated with the programs you are working on. There might be some situations when the taskbar may not working as expected. Under these conditions, you might be looking forward to reset taskbar to default settings in Windows 10. In this article, we’ll see how you can do that.

How to reset taskbar in Windows 10 to default settings

When the taskbar is corrupted, you might observe either of these symptoms:

You can no longer pin or unpin apps to taskbar
Taskbar pinned programs/apps may not respond
You can’t auto-hide taskbar
You can’t change height of taskbar
You can’t move taskbar pinned items
You can’t see taskbar thumbnail preview
System icons missing from taskbar

Not all of the above symptoms will appear on same system. In most of these cases, you can restart Windows Explorer process in Task Manager and that would help a lot. If it doesn’t, here is how you can fix these problems by resetting taskbar.

How to reset taskbar in Windows 10 to default settings

1. Update your display drivers to latest version.

2. Open administrative Windows PowerShell and execute this command:

Get-appxpackage -all *shellexperience* -packagetype bundle |% {add-appxpackage -register -disabledevelopmentmode ($_.installlocation + “\appxmetadata\appxbundlemanifest.xml”)}

Let this command complete.

How to reset taskbar in Windows 10 to default settings

3. Open Notepad and paste this code:

@echo off

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe

taskkill /f /im shellexperiencehost.exe

timeout /t 3 /NOBREAK > nul

del %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\TempState\* /q

timeout /t 2 /NOBREAK > nul

start explorer

@echo on

4. Save the file as ClearTileCache.bat and choose Save as type of All files (*.*). Click Save.

5. Now run the ClearTileCache.bat and let the command execution complete. You’ll see Windows Explorer being restarted while this happens.

6. Additionally, follow this fix, if system icons are not working or missing on taskbar.

7. Additionally, follow this fix, if taskbar thumbnail preview is not working.

8. Finally, if any of system or app icons are still not showing correctly, reset icon cache.

In this way, your taskbar should be reset to default settings.

That’s it!