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Despite the fact that I have that option set to "Always", the icons do not automatically combine and collapse into squares the way they were a couple of days ago. I've searched around but I wasn't able to find anyone experiencing the same problem with Windows seemingly ignoring any choice you make.

It seemed to start after installing Cumulative Update Preview for Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5030310). I'm assuming that's not a coincidence.

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  • Try uninstalling the update, that particular update, changed several things directly associated with the start menu and taskbar
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 30, 2023 at 22:21
  • Working here - newest Windows 11 build. Try running DISM / SFC to see if that helps. (1) Open cmd.exe with Run as Administrator. (2) DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup (3) DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth (4) SFC /SCANNOW (5) Restart when all the above is complete and test.
    – anon
    Commented Sep 30, 2023 at 22:21
  • Same problem here, I don't evne have this update. Unfortunately, @John's suggestions didn't make a difference either.
    – sebastiaan
    Commented May 2 at 6:30

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I had the same problem until now. The new Taskbar settings for grouping/ungrouping didn't work.

  • Before Windows Update, that introduced "Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels" setting, buttons always been grouped.
  • After the update, buttons always been ungrouped and the setting "Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels" did nothing.

Moreover, taskbar layout behaviour was strange and buggy after the update. Sometimes there was plenty of space, but apps were hidden under [...] button, sometimes buttons on the right side have had strange width, etc.

I accidentally found how to fix this problem. There was DWord key NoTaskGrouping in the Registry under this path:

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

I set the value for this key to 0 and restarted explorer.exe. And suddenly ungrouped taskbar started to behave properly and "Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels" setting started to work (yay!). Now I can group/ungroup the taskbar buttons!

I hope this helps someone.

Presumably, this setting somehow interferes with the new updated Windows 11 settings (i.e. "Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels").

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  • Just to note, that didn't change anything for me unfortunately. I rebooted, just to make sure.
    – sebastiaan
    Commented May 2 at 6:32
  • Fixed the issue for me. Thank you so much, this has bothered me for 6+ months
    – user1165115
    Commented Jun 4 at 9:16
  • I created this account just to give you a HUGE THANK YOU, man. This thing was annoying me the past few months, your Registry fix did it! :D
    – SkyFlyer
    Commented Jun 27 at 0:11
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It was the update. Sorry to bother everyone, but it didn't occur to me until about 5 seconds after posting my question that I might be able to uninstall the update, and that did it.

For those who are curious, it was optional, and the main feature of this update is that it added the Microsoft version of ChatGPT as an app that was automatically tacked to the taskbar. I'm already using it with Edge Canary, so I don't think I'll miss this update and I'll definitely wait until they've got the kinks out.

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