re: Question about 'My Taskbar has disappeared - how do I get it back?'
Sunday, January 28, 2007 at 3:23 am
Windows Me Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by Frank Hedlund
(1 messages posted)
My solution to "Taskbar disappeared or taskbar hidden", Windows XP SP2 Home ed.
Hi, earlier this week I was experiencing a problem with my taskbar disappearing.
I tried the tricks posted earlier in this thread, to no avail. It turned out to
be a setup problem with multiple monitors.
I'm Running Windows XP SP2 Home ed.
My situation was:
- taskbar not visible
- nothing happened when I pressed the Windows key or Ctrl-Esc, though obviously there
was some contact to the taskbar menu, for instance by pressing the down arrow key
and then the return key I could reach the Shut Down / Log off screen
- strangely, other users of the computer (XP Home) DID have the taskbar allright.
The problem started after I installed a new graphics card which supports multiple
monitors. That procedure somehow corrupted the multiple monitors setting. I only
have one monitor. Although the computer correctly reported only one monitor, other
settings appear to have told a different story. I found out because primary and
secondary monitor were presented in the same blue color on the setup screen.
Solution: Go to the Display Properties screen, select the secondary monitor, select
"disable" secondary monitor or " not active", then OK. The secondary monitor now
changes to a faded blue color, indicative that it is non-existing.
That procedure restored my taskbar.
The problem must have been that the Taskbar had been there allright all the time,
but that it had been displayed on the non-existing secondary monitor, and therefore
not visible to me on the primary monitor.
This issue took me two #¤!&% evenings to fix.
How to get to the Display Properties screen:
Start - Control Panel - Appearance and Themes - Display control panel icon. This
should start the Display Properties window. Select the tab "Settings". If your
graphics card supports multiple monitors the window displays screens marked 1, 2,
3. Make sure to set 2 and 3 as "not active".
OK - I know you dont have access to the Start button, precisely because you have
this task bar problem ;-), here are some other ways to locate the Control Panel:
a) Minimize all windows so you see the Desktop, Click on MyComputer, under "Other
Places" click the icon for Control Panel
b) If this does not work, somehow start the file explorer, for instance clicking
on a folder on your desktop. Doubleclick the yellow folder icon on the left of your
Address Bar, in the drop down list select Control Panel. (If you dont have the
address bar visible, get it with Alt-View-Toolbars then select address bar.)
Hope this will save some other people's time out there
Frank, Denmark
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