How I Fixed the Taskbar Not Hiding in Full Screen on Windows 10 & 11
If you’ve ever been all set to binge your favorite show or play a game, only to notice that the taskbar just hangs out during fullscreen—yeah, it’s a real pain. It’s like Windows decides to ignore your auto-hide setting or gets stuck in some weird glitch where it refuses to disappear at the right moments. That’s happened to me more times than I can count, especially after a bunch of updates or just leaving the machine on all night. Sometimes, the taskbar will pop up over your video or everything else, ruining the immersion. It’s frustrating because you’re trying to enjoy full screen without distractions, but Windows seems to have its own ideas. So here’s what finally worked for me, and honestly, it’s simpler than digging through hours of settings or reinstalling stuff.
Getting to the Bottom of the Stubborn Taskbar
The key thing I found out is that, often, this isn’t a setting glitch but a hiccup with a system process called Windows Explorer. It manages really basic stuff—your desktop, the taskbar, Start menu—so if Explorer gets hung up or acts weird, the taskbar can get stuck showing when it shouldn’t. The fix? Restart Explorer. Sounds kinda technical, but it’s straightforward once you get the hang of it.
Here’s How to Restart Windows Explorer
Start by opening Task Manager. You can do this a few ways: either press Ctrl + Shift + Esc directly (my go-to—no-fuss), or hit the Win + S keys, type Task Manager, and open it from there. Once it’s up, look for Windows Explorer in the list of processes. Don’t panic if it’s buried; just scroll or even use the search bar in Task Manager (if you can get to it faster).
Right-click on Windows Explorer and choose Restart. Your screen will flicker (or go blank for a second), then your desktop and taskbar will come back. If it doesn’t restart instantly, try selecting End task first, then go to File > Run new task, type explorer.exe, and hit Enter. That manually kicks Explorer back to life, which often clears the glitch that makes the taskbar refuse to hide in fullscreen mode.
Why Does This Work?
From my experience—it’s pretty common—Explorer is the main culprit here. If it’s stuck or glitching, the taskbar and desktop get frozen in some weird state. Restarting Explorer usually clears whatever temporary bugs or “stuck” flags are causing this. It’s like giving your system a quick refresh without rebooting the whole machine. This simple step often fixes the full-screen hiding problem in a matter of seconds.
When This Fix Doesn’t Help & Other Considerations
Now, sometimes I’ve needed to do this restart twice, especially after updates or system hick-ups. If it still refuses to hide, a full reboot might be necessary—though, honestly, I prefer the quick Explorer restart first, because it’s way faster, especially mid-movie or during a game. Also, keep in mind: if your taskbar isn’t set to auto-hide (Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Turn on auto-hide the taskbar), then it’s not going to hide during fullscreen no matter what. Double-check that setting just to be safe.
Another thing I ran into is that third-party apps like screen recorders, overlays, or custom shell extenders can interfere and cause this glitch. Deactivating or uninstalling those can sometimes help. Also, if you’re comfortable with registry tweaks, the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3 governs taskbar states — but honestly, messing with it is risky if you don’t know what you’re doing. Better to stick with Explorer restarts unless you’re really familiar with registry editing.
Pro Tips & Final Thoughts
To keep this from rearing its ugly head often, I recommend updating your graphics drivers (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel—whatever you’re using). Outdated or buggy drivers can cause display quirks that mess with fullscreen, including the taskbar sticking around. Also, run system scans with commands like sfc /scannow (in an admin Command Prompt) or DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth—these can repair system files that might be corrupted and impair Explorer’s functioning over time.
Basically: if it’s acting up, try the Explorer restart first. It’s quick, simple, and usually enough to clear the glitch. Just remember, if the problem persists after multiple tries, the underlying cause could be deeper, like driver issues or even system corruption. But as a quick fix? This method saved me more than once, especially when I wanted to keep things running smoothly during a trial of something or an important video.
- Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc)
- Find Windows Explorer
- Right-click & select Restart
And that’s about it. Hope this helps — it took way longer than it should’ve to figure it out myself, so maybe it’ll save someone else a bit of frustration. Good luck!