Guides

Windows 11 – Restore Windows 10 Taskbar with Ungrouped Labels and Drag to Taskbar

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restore-windows-10-taskbar

 

At work I have Windows 11 and when I was asked to update I didn’t know it would come without 2 features I used extensively:

  • dragging to taskbar
  • ungrouped taskbar buttons – so I can see which is which without having to hove on a group then look at thumbnails

I’ve tried several regedit tricks in order to not have to install a piece of software, but to no avail.

There is a piece of completely free software that works amazing and offers even more options than I remembered Windows 10 had.

The program is called ExplorerPatcher. Make sure you get the latest release from here: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/releases

Installation:

  1. Run the installer. It will automatically prompt for elevation after which it will install the necessary files
  2. When done you will be greeted with the familiar Windows 10 taskbar. To customize, right click the taskbar and choose Properties
  3. Note: if when you run setup all the Windows Explorer windows and taskbar disappears, simply press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to open Task Manager, go to File – Run New Task, type explorer.exe and hit OK

 

Feature summary:

  • Choose between Windows 11 or Windows 10 taskbar (with labels support, small icons and lots of customization).
  • Disable Windows 11 context menu and command bar in File Explorer and more.
  • Open Start to All apps by default, choose number of frequent apps to show, display on active monitor and more.
  • Choose between the Windows 11, Windows 10 and Windows NT Alt-Tab window switcher with customization.
  • Lots of quality of life improvements for the shell, like:
    • Skin tray menus to match Windows style, make them behave like flyouts and center them relative to the icon.
    • Choose action when left and/or right clicking the network icon.
    • Revert to the Windows 7 search box in File Explorer, or disable Windows Search altogether.
    • Disable immersive menus and use mitigations that help you run the real classic theme without glitches.

Some features may not be available on Windows 10.

Make sure you check the wiki page for extensive features with screenshots: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher/wiki/All-features