The Taskbar located at the bottom of your screen is one of the most important and useful elements of Windows 10. However, Taskbar is not all that perfect and encounters a fair share of issues from time to time. One such problem is the sudden disappearance of icons. Either system icons or application icons, or sometimes both disappear from the Taskbar. While this issue or Taskbar Right Click Not Working issue would not entirely cripple your PC, it does make it slightly difficult to operate if you are used to the leisure of taking a quick peek at the information displayed on the taskbar, double-clicking on the shortcut icons to launch an application quickly, and so on. Well, do not worry! This guide will help you fix Windows 10 taskbar icons missing issue.
How to Fix Windows 10 Taskbar Icons Missing
- Usually, on the extreme right, Taskbar houses the date & time information, volume & network info, battery percentage in laptops, displays icons of applications running in the background, etc.
- While on the left are the Start menu icon and Cortana search bar to perform broad computer searches.
- In the middle of the Taskbar, we find a bunch of shortcuts of application icons for quick launch along with app icons of the ones that are currently running. This makes it easy to switch between them.
- Taskbar itself can be further customized to our liking on Windows 10 PCs.
But, when you face Windows 10 Taskbar icons missing error, all of these icons disappear.
Why are Windows 10 Taskbar Icons Not Showing?
- Usually, your taskbar icons go on a stroll due to a temporary glitch in the explorer process.
- It could also be because of icon cache or system files getting corrupt.
- Apart from that, sometimes you might have accidentally switched to the tablet mode which does not display app shortcut icons on the Taskbar by default.
Method 1: Enable System Icons
The clock, volume, network, and the other icons present on the right end of your taskbar are known as System icons. Each of these icons can be manually enabled and disabled. So, if you are looking for a specific system icon and are unable to find it in the Taskbar, follow the given steps to enable it:
1. Right-click on an empty area on the Taskbar and click Taskbar settings from the menu.
2. Scroll down to the Notification area and click on Turn system icons on or off.
3. Switch On the toggle for system icons (e.g. Volume) that you would like to see on the Taskbar.
4. Next, go back to the Taskbar Settings and click on Select which icons appear on the taskbar.
5A. Switch On the toggle for Always show all icons in the notification area option.
5B. Alternatively, Select which icons appear on the taskbar individually.
Method 2: Disable Tablet Mode
Touchscreen laptops allow you to switch between two different user interfaces viz the normal desktop UI and the tablet UI. Although, tablet mode is also available in non-touchscreen devices. In tablet mode, a few elements are rearranged/reconfigured for ease of use and a touch-friendly interface. One such reconfiguration is the hiding of application icons from your taskbar. So, to fix Windows 10 taskbar icons missing issue, disable tablet mode as follows:
1. Launch Windows Settings by pressing Windows + I keys simultaneously.
2. Click on System settings, as shown.
3. Click on the Tablet mode menu which is on the left pane.
4. Select Don’t ask me and don’t switch option in When this device automatically switches tablet mode on or off section.
Method 3: Disable Controlled Folder Access
To disable the Controlled Folder Access security feature, follow the below-mentioned steps:
1. Launch Settings as earlier and click on Update & Security, as shown.
2. Go to Windows Security and click on Virus & threat protection.
3. Scroll down and click on Manage ransomware protection, as highlighted.
4. Finally, switch Off the toggle in Controlled folder access to disable this feature.
5. Restart your Windows 10 PC and check if the taskbar icons are visible now If not, try the next fix.
Method 4: Update Display Driver
Often, outdated or bugged display drivers might cause Windows 10 taskbar icons missing problem. So, it is advisable to update display drivers to avoid any and all similar issues.
1. Press the Windows key, type device manager, and click on Open.
2. Double-click on Display adapters to expand it.
3. Then, right-click on your driver (e.g. Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620) and select Update driver, as shown.
4. Then, click on Search automatically for updated driver software to update the driver automatically.
5A. Now, the drivers will update to the latest version, if they are not updated. Restart your PC and check again.
5B. If they are already updated, then you will receive the message: The best drivers for your device are already installed. Click on the Close button to exit the window.
Method 5: Restart Windows Explorer Process
The explorer.exe process is responsible for displaying most of the User Interface including Taskbar. So, if the startup process doesn’t transpire properly, the explorer.exe process may glitch and not display all the desired elements. However, this can be easily resolved by restarting the process manually, as follows:
1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys simultaneously to open Task Manager.
2. In the Processes tab, right-click on Windows Explorer and choose the End task option, as illustrated below.
3. Now, to restart the process, click on File at the top-left corner and choose Run new task.
4. Type explorer.exe and check the box marked Create this task with administrative privileges, shown highlighted.
5. Click on OK to initiate the process.
Method 6: Run SFC & DISM Scans
System files are prone to getting corrupt if the computer is infected with malicious programs and ransomware. A new update containing bugs can also corrupt system files. The SFC and DISM command-line tools help repair system files & images respectively. Therefore, fix a plethora of issues including the taskbar icons missing problem at hand by running DISM & SFC scans.
1. Click on Start and type Command Prompt. Then, click on Run as administrator.
2. Now, type sfc /scannow and press Enter key.
Note: The scanning process will take some time. You can continue working in the meanwhile.
3A. Once the SFC scan is completed, check if your taskbar icons are back. If yes, you do not need to run DISM scan.
3B. If not, execute the following commands and press Enter key after each command.
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /RestoreHealth
Note: You should have a working internet connection in your system to execute these commands.
Method 7: Reset Icon Cache
A copy of all the application and file icons we use on Windows 10 computers are stored in a database file named IconCache.db. Storing all the icon images in a single cache file helps Windows quickly retrieve them, as and when required. It further, prevents the PC from slowing down. If the icon cache database gets corrupt, the Windows 10 taskbar icons will go missing or Taskbar begins showing on fullscreen. or Taskbar begins showing on fullscreen.. Hence, reset Icon Cache from Command Prompt as follows:
1. Open Command Prompt as administrator as shown in Method 6.
2. Type the given command to change your location and hit Enter key.
cd %homepath%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
3. Now, type dir iconcache* and press Enter to retrieve a list of icon cache database files.
Note: Before we delete and reset the icon cache, we will need to temporarily terminate File Explorer process.
4. Hence, type taskkill /f /im explorer.exe & hit Enter.
Note: The Taskbar and Desktop will disappear. But do not panic, as we will get them back after deleting the cache files.
5. Next execute del iconcache* command to delete the existing IconCache.db file, as depicted below.
6. Finally, restart the explorer process by executing explorer.exe command, as shown.
7. Windows OS will automatically create a new database for app icons and bring the Taskbar icons back in place.
Method 8: Reinstall Taskbar
Ultimately, if none of the above solutions brought back the icons on your Taskbar, reinstall this system element altogether. The process is easy as you need to execute only a single command. This will restore the taskbar to its default state and fix taskbar icons missing issue as well.
1. Hit the Windows key and type Windows PowerShell Then, click on Run as Administrator, as shown.
Note: Click on Yes in the User Account Control pop-up, if prompted.
2. Copy & paste the given command in Windows PowerShell window and press Enter key to execute it.
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers| Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}
Pro Tip: Windows Update
Once the taskbar is restored, you can proceed to add system icons and app shortcuts, display CPU and GPU temperatures, and keep track of internet speed. The customization possibilities are endless. If the Taskbar icons continue to be missing or disappear frequently, install new updates available or roll back to the previous one.
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We hope that this guide was helpful and you could fix Windows 10 taskbar icons missing problem. Let us know which method worked for you the best. Also, if you have any queries/suggestions regarding this article, then feel free to drop them in the comments section.