Fix: Auto Hide Taskbar Not Working in Windows

Do you ever wish to have more screen space for your work? If so, you’re not alone. Many people find that the taskbar takes up valuable space on their screen, especially when working on full-screen applications. That’s why so many people choose to auto-hide their taskbar. However, sometimes the auto-hide taskbar feature can stop working. If this happens to you, don’t worry – there’s an easy fix. In this blog post, we’ll show you how to fix the auto-hide taskbar not working in Windows.

Reasons behind Auto Hide Taskbar Not Working

There can be many reasons for the Auto-hide feature not working in Windows, but some, in particular, have been frequently found to be causing this issue. These are:

  • Auto Hide Feature Not Turned On: The auto-hide feature is not turned on by default and needs to be manually turned on by the user. It is also possible for the feature to have been turned off if you’ve recently installed a Windows update or made other changes to your PC. You can turn the feature on from the Windows settings.
  • Active App Needing Attention: If any active apps need your attention to a prompt or some important notification in the app, this can keep the taskbar from automatically hiding.
  • Corrupt System Files: System files are essential for every feature to work correctly in Windows, and so is for the taskbar auto-hide feature in Windows. If files related to a particular feature are corrupted or deleted, the feature may not work as expected.

Fix Auto Hide Taskbar Not Working In Windows

Fix: Auto Hide Taskbar Not Working In Windows

In this section, we’ll look at six fixes for the auto-hide taskbar not working in Windows. Here’s all that’s covered:

  1. Turn On The Auto Hide Taskbar Feature
  2. Disable Show Hidden Icons In App Tray
  3. Check On Recent App Install That Overlays
  4. Restart Windows Explorer, and then The PC
  5. Disable Taskbar On All Displays
  6. Re-register Taskbar Using Windows Powershell

Let’s now have a detailed look at each of these fixes.

1] Turn On The Auto Hide Taskbar Feature

The auto-hide taskbar feature is not turned on by default in Windows. It may have also been turned off accidentally if you have recently installed a Windows update or made other changes to the settings. Here’s how to turn on the auto-hide taskbar feature:

  • Open Windows settings by pressing Windows+I Keys on your keyboard.
  • Head to the Personalization tab from the left pane in the Windows settings.
  • In the Personalization tab, open Taskbar options, then expand Taskbar behaviors options from the menu.
  • Now, click the checkbox beside the Automatically hide the taskbar option. This will enable it. Turning on automatically hide taskbar in Windows

2] Disable Show Hidden Icons In System Tray

The hidden system tray icons can prevent the taskbar from auto-hiding when the Auto-hide taskbar setting is enabled. As many users encountered the same issue, disabling the hidden icon menu fixed the issue. Here’s how to do it:

  • Open Windows settings by pressing the Windows+I keys on your keyboard.
  • Now, head over to the Personalization section from the left pane and open Taskbar.
  • In Taskbar settings, Find the other system tray icons option, expand it and then toggle the Hidden icon menu off. Disabling Hidden Icon Menu In Windows Taskbar

3] Check on Recent App Install that Overlays

Several users reported that applications that overlay windows over other applications prevent Taskbar from auto-hiding. If you have recently installed any such application, consider disabling the overlay feature and check if the Taskbar now auto hides. Users were seen facing issues with the in-game overlays of the Nvidia Geforce application. Disabling that solved the issue.

4] Restart Windows Explorer And Then The PC

The Windows Explorer is the base of all your PC’s interface and foreground functions. Many times, Windows Explorer can malfunction. Restarting Windows Explorer can solve several issues, including the Taskbar not auto-hiding in Windows. Here’s how to restart Windows Explorer:

  • Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc on your keyboard to open the Task Manager.
  • In the Processes tab of Task Manager, look for Windows Explorer and then right-click it.
  • From the context menu, click on Restart. Now, it will take a few seconds for Windows Explorer to restart. Don’t attempt to use any application at that time. Restarting Windows Explorer In Task Manager
  • Once Windows Explorer is restarted, you can also restart your PC. Once restarted, check if the Auto-hide taskbar feature works.

5] Disable Taskbar On All Displays

If you have multiple displays in your setup, the auto-hide taskbar feature may not work on other displays, creating confusion for the user. You can disable the show taskbar on all displays option to prevent this from happening. Here’s how to do it:

  • Open Windows settings by pressing the Windows+I keys on your keyboard.
  • In settings, head over to the Personalization tab from the left pane.  In the Personalisation tab, open Taskbar.
  • In Taskbar settings, expand the taskbar behaviors option and then uncheck the Show taskbar on all displays option. Disabling show taskbar on all displays In Windows

6] Re-Register Taskbar Using Windows Powershell

If the problem persists, you can try re-registering the taskbar to clean bugs and issues with the utility. Here’s how to re-register Taskbar using Windows Powershell:

  • In Windows search, look for Windows PowerShell. Right-click it, and select Run as administrator.
  • Once in the elevated PowerShell window. Paste the following command and hit enter:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
  • Once the command is executed, try restarting your PC to see if the feature works.

If none of the abovementioned methods works for you, you can opt for the System File Checker, which checks for corrupt system files and replaces them with the non-corrupt cached versions of the files. You can also use DISM, which fixes issues with the Windows image. At last, if the auto-hide taskbar feature was working before a certain point, you can do a system restore to revert to that version of your system to fix the issue.

Conclusion: 

This article reviewed a few ways to fix Windows’s Auto-hide taskbar not working error. Having adequate screen space and a clearer view of your work is crucial for productivity. The auto-hide taskbar feature provides just that. We hope you found the article helpful in fixing the Auto-hide feature not working in Windows. Please make sure that you share this article with everyone.

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