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I had auto-hide chosen for a long time but today it stopped hiding though the option is still checked off under Properties. I tried unchecking, re-checking; pressing Apply; pressing Ok numerous times but the taskbar won't hide. What went wrong?

Oh, it's Win 7 64-bit.

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  • 1
    Have you tried turning it off and on again?
    – Ian Pugsley
    Commented Sep 29, 2011 at 21:26
  • I can't right now. In the middle of working with 70 windows etc.
    – verve
    Commented Sep 29, 2011 at 21:53
  • So is your question "How to fix it", or "What went wrong to cause this"?
    – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007
    Commented Sep 29, 2011 at 23:31
  • What is causing it so that I can fix it. grin
    – verve
    Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 0:26
  • 2
    Perhaps you should save your work and try rebooting. It's often pretty hard to pin down problems like this, and a fresh start would be helpful in determining the issue.
    – nhinkle
    Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 5:18

8 Answers 8

Reset to default
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Try this: Run the Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC).Stop the Explorer process. If there are multiple explorers running, sort them by memory usage and stop the largest one. Alternatively, just stop them all. With task manager open, go to File > New Task (Run…) and type:

C:\Windows\explorer.exe

Now retry auto-hiding.

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  • I've also found this thread. It may be helpful: answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-desktop/… - Check out the 3rd answer on that page.
    – Mehper C. Palavuzlar
    Commented Sep 29, 2011 at 21:32
  • I was going to try this and then I noticed another problem: my mouse cursor stays on top of VLC player that always never had the cursor on top of the program as the app has an "always on top" option (which I always have had selected) but when the taskbar problem started this began too. Does this change the cause of the autohide thing?
    – verve
    Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 0:23
  • @verve: I don't know if it is related but stopping & restarting explorer is an easy method you may try. The link I gave in my above comment has also different methods you may try.
    – Mehper C. Palavuzlar
    Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 7:22
  • Be sure only to end that process. Any others, and your computer might be toast.
    – HelpingHand
    Commented May 30, 2013 at 14:11
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I've had that happen under two circumstances:

  1. When there is a message in the notification area of the task bar that wants to be clicked on. Clicking on the message resolved it in this case.

  2. Occasionally when I've had the Network and Sharing Center Open, I have to re-open and close the Network and Sharing Center in order to get the task bar to hide.

Neither of these makes much sense to me, but I have fix the problem several times this way.

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I tried as Mehper C. Palavuzlar suggests, and killed/restarted explorer.exe, which fixed the problem.

The issue happens to me all the time so I wanted to find a "clean way" do this to ensure that none of my work gets lost. Here's the resource I used with a good detailed explanation: How to Terminate and Restart Explorer.exe Process Cleanly in Windows 7...

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  • I've voted your solution as it's the best one for me, as it's really clean one. But remember to always apply the gist of your solution with link to it, as a source of your link could get lost over time.
    – WebComer
    Commented Jun 25, 2018 at 21:36
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Canceling Explorer.exe works for a while, but a permanent fix is to respond to those icons in the taskbar--usually an update, and usually flashing. You have to do this each time a new one tries to get your attention.

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  • Welcome to SU. There's no need to add your name as a signature, SU does that for you.
    – dav
    Commented May 30, 2013 at 14:34
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I had (and still have) this annoying problem, {Win 7-64 bit} but by going over a number of remedies from several sites, I found a simple fix that works for at least your current session. Fire up Task Manager and close the 'Process' called "explorer.exe", which shuts down all programs and window features except the Task Manager you are still in, so VERY IMPORTANT - Do nothing else but go to 'File' and select 'New task' and type in "Explorer.exe." and everything re-appears, but task bar stays hidden until needed as it's supposed to do. Most times it stays that way for next session, but if not just do it again; at least that works and it's not too hard to do once you get used to it. ~ Dave \W/

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Are there any messages of Windows that you have still not solved?

If Windows send any message, the Taskbar will be at top until you take an action.

For example:

  • Windows Defender is outdated
  • Windows Updates available
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The TD Ameritrade thinkorswim Trading Platform is one of the potential culprits. In this case, closing the application fixes the problem.

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This has always worked for us . Restarting the windows explorer from the task manager https://nishantrana.me/2021/05/01/fixed-taskbar-overlapping-showing-in-full-screen-in-windows-10/

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  • If possible, answers here should be self-contained, at least in outline form. Can you provide more information on what is suggested.
    – Charles Kenyon
    Commented May 1, 2021 at 14:32

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