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The task bar on my windows XP machine has become hidden, how do I get it back?

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Summary: The task bar can appear hidden if it's configured to auto-hide, or if the size has been configured to be too small.

The task bar on my windows XP machine has become hidden, how do I get it back?

The taskbar is very configurable as I discussed in a previous article: My TaskBar is too small to be useful, what can I do?, and the accompanying video out at Lockergnome. You might want to review that to see if perhaps it got configured to auto-hide or have zero size.

CTRL+ESC will always bring up the start menu. On that you might also check Settings, Taskbar and Start Menu, and make sure that Auto-hide is turned off and the taskbar is unlocked.

Then if the size did in fact get set to zero height then you may see a small, thin bar where your task bar used to be. You should be able to click, hold, and drag that up to make it bigger.

Related:

Article C1977 - June 2, 2004

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Recent Comments
89 Comments

Reply to Grumpah, my son was playing with his new pc for 1 day, next day he tells me the start bar was missing. The nview properties fix worked for me, thank you. J

Posted by: John at January 17, 2009 10:13 AM

go to run type gpedit.msc group policy editer will open >administrative templates>system then go to alt+ctrl+del Option then got to remove taskbar option >right click property disible it Done

Posted by: mukesh nema at February 7, 2009 8:39 AM

hi, i have the problem of my start bar not showing. ive pressed the windows button to see if it pops up, but doesnt, tried the CTRL+ESC, but still nothing. and when i go to control panel, i try to click on taskbar and start menu, but it does not open. please help, i have ran out of ideas.

Posted by: Mani at February 12, 2009 7:52 AM

It's CTRL SHIFT ESC

Posted by: Dave at March 21, 2009 5:17 AM

how can I get back task manager and run button while currapted by vitus

Posted by: sudheer at March 28, 2009 1:37 AM

I have lost my task bar on my windows XP. I followed your instructions and depressed Escape and Control and brought up the settings, control panel. I opened up the task bar. It is not on auto hide and I do not have a thin line on my screen that I can stretch. It is also on unlock. This just happened a few minutes ago when I was typing an e-mail. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

Posted by: Diane DeRosa at March 28, 2009 9:15 PM

non of the above worked,i can see a thin line of the bar but it wont come back up

Posted by: gav at April 19, 2009 7:16 PM

If you're using a dual video card, try this. Go to the display settings, and uncheck the "extend my windows desktop onto this monitor" box. Your start bar should come right back. That did the trick for me.

Posted by: jubiq at May 11, 2009 4:11 PM

Start your PC using F8 . at the system tools do recovery recover from a ealier date.

Posted by: Desprate at May 20, 2009 1:54 AM

I have lost my task bar on my windows XP. I followed your instructions and depressed Escape and Control and brought up the settings, control panel. I opened up the task bar. It is not on auto hide and I do not have a thin line on my screen that I can stretch. It is also on unlock.Any other suggestions?

Posted by: aparajita at September 25, 2009 10:07 PM

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