To customize the Taskbar fully, you have to unlock it first. Here are three simple steps to fully unlock the Taskbar in Windows 10.
As I said many times, the Taskbar is one of the most valuable parts of Windows. A few of the main reasons being the quick access toolbar and the ability to access the Start menu and pin apps. When it comes to customization, you can do many things like changing color, adding widgets, using small or big icons on the Taskbar, etc.
One such customization option is the ability to resize various parts of the Taskbar. For example, maybe you want to increase or decrease the quick access or the Start button size, resize the Taskbar itself, or change the position of the pinned icons, etc. However, you cannot do that out of the box because the Taskbar is locked.
For greater customization, you have to unlock the Taskbar. Once the Taskbar is unlocked, you can freely resize the Taskbar and its different parts.
In this straightforward Windows guide, I will show you how to unlock the Taskbar and resize it to meet your needs.
Steps to Unlock Taskbar in Windows
To unlock the Taskbar, follow the steps given below.
- Open the Settings app.
- Go to the “Personalization -> Taskbar” page.
- Turn off the “Lock the Taskbar” option.
- With that, the Taskbar is unlocked.
- You can now close the Settings app.
As always, the first thing you do is open the Settings app. To do that, either press the “Start key + I” shortcut or click the “All Settings” button in the Notification Center. After opening the Settings app, go to the “Personalization -> Taskbar” page. As the name suggests, this is where you will find most of the Taskbar personalization options.
Turn off the “Lock the Taskbar” option on the right page. Turning off the option unlocks the Taskbar.
As an alternative, you can also right-click on the Taskbar and uncheck the “Lock Taskbar” option to unlock Taskbar.
You can now resize the Taskbar by dragging the boundary lines. Click, hold, and drag to resize the taskbar sections. To resize the Taskbar itself, set the mouse pointer on Taskbar’s top border and pull it up or down.
Remember to lock the Taskbar after making the changes. This eliminates any accidental modifications.
Use Registry to Unlock Taskbar
If the unlock taskbar option is greyed out, you can use the Registry Editor to fix it. Here is how.
First, open the Start menu, search for “Registry Editor,” and press the Enter button. You can also open the same by executing the “regedit” command in the Run dialog box.
After opening the Registry Editor, paste the below path in the Editor’s address bar and press the Enter button.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
After that, double-click on the “TaskbarSizeMove” value. Next, set its Value Data to 1 and click the “Ok” button.
Finally, close the Registry Editor and restart the system.
After restarting, the Taskbar is unlocked, and you can resize it however you want. To lock it again, follow the same steps but set the Value Data to “0” in the last step.
That is all. It is that simple to unlock the Taskbar in Windows 10.
I hope that helps.
If you are stuck or need some help, comment below, and I will try to help as much as possible.
