How to Move the Taskbar to the Top or Side on Windows 11
Most users who have upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 find the new version of Windows to be quite elegant and coherent to use. However, the taskbar is an area where users are annoyed with its limitations. You have to use third-party apps to easily ungroup icons on the taskbar, and before the Windows 11 2022 update, you couldn’t drag and drop items to the taskbar. In fact, there is no built-in way to move the taskbar to the top. Nevertheless, we bring you a detailed tutorial on how to move taskbar up or sideways on Windows 11. You can easily change the position of the Windows 11 taskbar with a few simple tweaks. With that in mind, let’s jump to the guide.
Move the taskbar up or sideways in Windows 11 (2022).
Here are the steps you need to follow to move the taskbar up or left/right on Windows 11. We’ve added three different ways to change the position of the Windows 11 taskbar, so let’s dive in.
How to move the taskbar up on Windows 11
1. To move the taskbar to the top on Windows 11, you need to make some changes in the registry. First, press the Windows key and type “registration” in the search bar. Then open “Registry Editor‘ from the search results.
2. Next, copy and paste the following path into the Registry Editor address bar, and press Enter. You go directly to the desired entry.
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3
3. Here, double-click the “Settings” button on the right pane and look for the 00000008 row (usually it is the 2nd row).
4. In the 5th column of this row change the value 03 to 01 right below FE. Now click on OK”.
5. Finally, use “Ctrl + Shift + Esc” keyboard shortcut on Windows 11 to open Task Manager. Then under “Processes” look for “Windows explorer‘ and restart by right-clicking on it.
6. Immediately, the taskbar moves up on Windows 11. If that doesn’t work, restart your Windows 11 PC to see it in action.
7. For your information, here are the taskbar position values for every side. If you want to move the Windows 11 taskbar to a specific side, use the corresponding value mentioned below.
- Left taskbar –
00 - Top Taskbar –
01 - Right Taskbar –
02 - Lower Taskbar –
03
8. If you wish restore the taskbar as usual all the way down, you just need to change the same registry value to 03 and restart Windows Explorer.
Move the taskbar icons to the left side in Windows 11
Not many Windows 11 users are fans of the centered taskbar icons and want to go back to the Windows 10-like taskbar. Luckily, Windows 11 has a built-in option to change the left orientation of the taskbar icon. No need to mess with the registry to move the taskbar to the left on Windows 11. Here are the steps you need to follow.
1. Right-click on the taskbar and open “Taskbar Settings“.
2. After that, click “Taskbar behavior‘ to expand the menu.
3. Next in the “Taskbar orientationFrom the Links drop-down menu, select Links.
4. This is it. Now the taskbar icons will move to the left on your Windows 11 PC.
Change Windows 11 taskbar position with ExplorerPatcher
If you are looking for a third-party app to quickly change taskbar position and customize Windows 11 taskbar, we recommend you to download ExplorerPatcher app. It is an amazing free and open source program that allows you to change any element of the taskbar effortlessly. Thats how it works:
1. Go ahead and download Explorer Patcher from the link here.
2. After that, run the program and it will instantly change the appearance of the taskbar to a Windows 10 style. To customize it further, right-click on the taskbar and select “Characteristics“.
3. Under “Taskbar” settings in the right pane, change the style to “Windows 11”. After that, put “Primary position of the taskbar on the screen” up”. Finally, click on “Restart File Explorer” on the bottom left.
4. It moves Taskbar upand the taskbar also changes to the Windows 11 style.
5. If you wish Uninstall Explorer Patcher and restore the default Windows 11 taskbar, go to About and click Restore Defaults. Then follow the on-screen instructions and click Yes to any prompts that appear.
6. After that, open the Control Panel and uninstall the program. The screen will go blank for a few seconds, and then everything will appear automatically.
Move the taskbar to your preferred position on Windows 11
So, these are the three ways that you can use to move the taskbar up, left or any position you like. If you use the registry frequently, change the values manually to adjust the taskbar orientation. In case you want an easy solution, download the third-party app suggested above. Anyway, that’s all from us. For more such registry hacks on Windows 11, see our linked article. And if the taskbar icons are missing from your Windows 11 PC, we have a tutorial for that too. If you have any questions, let us know in the comment section below.