How to move the Windows 11 taskbar to the top of the screen

As of October 2021, Windows 11 does not allow you to move your taskbar to the top of the screen with an official setting (unlike Windows 10). But we found a way to do this by editing the registry, and you can do it with a few clicks. Here's how.

Edit the registry yourself

To move your Windows 11 taskbar to the top of the screen, you can either edit your Windows registry manually or download our one-click hack in the section below. First of all, we'll show you how to do it yourself.

Warning: Registry Editor is a powerful tool. Improper use can make your system unstable or even unusable. Still, this is a simple hack, and if you follow the instructions completely, you shouldn't have any problems. If you've never used Registry Editor before, be sure to read how to use it before you begin. We also recommend that you back up the registry (and your computer) before making any changes.

To manually bring up the taskbar at the top of the screen, first open Registry Editor. To do this, click on the Start button, type in "regedit" and then select "Registry Editor" from the results.

When Registry Editor opens, navigate to this key using the sidebar or paste it into the address line near the top of the window:

ComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerStuckRects3

Once you have navigated to the "StuckRects3" button, double-click on the "Settings" button it contains.

When the "Edit Binary Value" window opens, you will see an array of values. It's a bit tricky part. Locate the second row of values ​​from the top, then count to the fifth value from the left. By default, this value is set to "03". Place the cursor just to the right of the "03" (click with the mouse then press the right arrow if necessary), press Backspace once, then type 01 .

To recap, you replaced the value "03" (which means taskbar at the bottom) with "01" (which means taskbar at the top). When you are done, click “OK”.

Close Registry Editor, then restart your PC, sign out and sign in again, or restart Windows Explorer.

To restart Explorer, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, click "More Details" to display the full interface if necessary, and select the "Processes" tab. Locate "Windows Explorer" in the list, right click on it and select "Restart".

Then the taskbar will be at the top of the screen. If your taskbar icons are centered and you click Start, you'll notice that the Start menu will appear on the left side of the screen, not in the center.

If you want the location of your Start button to match the location of the Start menu at the top of the screen, open Settings (press Windows + i) and go to Personalization> Taskbar> Taskbar Behaviors and set "Taskbar Alignment" to "Left. "

If you change your mind and want to go back to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, change the "Settings" key shown in the step above, changing the value "01" to "03". Or you can use the "win11_taskbar_bottom.reg" file in the section below.

You might be thinking: is it possible to move the Windows 11 taskbar to the left or right of the screen? Yes, by changing the value of the "Parameters" key to "00" (for the left) or "02" (for the right). Unfortunately, the taskbar becomes unusable (as of October 2021) because the taskbar icons are not displayed correctly.

How to move taskbar icons to the left in Windows 11

Download our one-click registry hack

If you prefer not to risk modifying your registry by hand, you can download our registry hack files with one click. In the ZIP linked below, you will find two files that will position your Windows 11 taskbar at the top or bottom of the screen (after restarting).

Download the hack files from the Windows 11 taskbar location

After downloading the file, unzip it anywhere, and you will have two files:

• win11_taskbar_top.reg: This moves the taskbar to the top of the screen.
• win11_taskbar_bottom.reg: This moves the taskbar to the bottom of the screen.

As a general rule, you shouldn't trust registry files that you find on the internet, but we have prepared and tested them ourselves. You can check their content using Notepad if you want. (Right-click on a REG file, select "Show more options," then choose "Edit.")

To use REG files, double click on the one you want to use and you will see a warning about adding information to the registry. Click on "Yes".

After that, click “OK” in the confirmation window. Then restart your PC, log out and log back in, or restart Explorer. When you log back in, your taskbar will either be at the top or bottom of the screen, depending on which REG file you used.

Warning: Keep in mind that this registry hack is not officially supported by Microsoft. It may crash in a future Windows 11 update, or it may not work perfectly on all PCs.

Although we are currently forced to use registry hacks to change the location of the taskbar, we hope that Microsoft will eventually make the option official in the Settings app. Until then, good task!

Windows 11 taskbar will not be completed until release