How to Fix Taskbar Shows in Fullscreen

The Taskbar in windows, the bar (that is mostly present at the bottom of the screen). That houses important data like the date & time information, volume controls, shortcut icons, search bar, as well. That disappears automatically whenever you guys are playing a game or watching a random video on fullscreen. This helps in giving users a much more immersive experience. Just read this article to know all about How to Fix Taskbar Shows in Fullscreen. Let’s begin!

Although, the Taskbar not hiding or disappearing automatically in fullscreen programs is a really well-known issue and has been plaguing Windows 7, 8, and 10 likewise as well. The issue isn’t really restricted to playing fullscreen videos on Chrome as well as Firefox but also whenever playing games. An array of constantly blinking icons on the Taskbar can be really distracting, to say the least, and take away from the overall experience.

Contents

1 How to Fix Taskbar Shows in Fullscreen

How to Fix Taskbar Shows in Fullscreen

The most common solution to the problem at hand is just to restart the explorer.exe process from the Task Manager. The Taskbar also might not hide automatically if you guys have locked it in its place or have a pending Windows update too. Turning off all visual effects (animations and much other stuff) has also been reported to solve the issue for a few users.

You can try enabling override high DPI scaling behavior or turn off hardware acceleration in Chrome if your Taskbar doesn’t really hide automatically when playing a video in full screen on the web browser.

Restart explorer.exe process | Taskbar Shows in Fullscreen

Most users assume that the explorer.exe process is solely concerned along with the Windows File Explorer actually. However, that’s not true. The explorer.exe process controls the whole graphical user interface of your computer. It also, includes the File Explorer, Taskbar, start menu, desktop, as well.

A corrupt explorer.exe process can also lead to a number of graphical issues just like the Taskbar not automatically disappearing in fullscreen. Simply restarting the process can actually solve any and all issues related to it.

Launch the Windows Task Manager via any of the following methods:
- Press the Ctrl + Shift + ESC keys on your keyboard to directly open the application.
- Tap on the Start button or on the search bar (Windows Key + S), type Task Manager, and click Open when the search returns.
- Just right-click on the start button or tap on the Windows key + X to access the power user menu and choose Task Manager from there.
- You guys can also open Task Manager via right-clicking on the Taskbar and then choose the same.
Make sure you are on the Processes tab of the Task Manager.
Just locate the Windows Explorer process. If you have an explorer window open in the background, then the process will appear at the very top of the list under Apps.
But, if you guys do not have an active Explorer window. Then you will need to scroll quite a bit to find the required process (under Windows processes).
You can either select to End the Explorer process and then restart your computer to get the process up anew and then run again or restart the process yourself.
We advise you in order to restart the process first, and if that doesn’t solve the problem at hand, just terminate it.

Further

To restart the Windows Explorer process, just right-click on it and choose Restart. You can also restart via clicking on the Restart button at the bottom of the Task Manager after selecting the process.
Go ahead and then run the application in which the Taskbar kept showing up even whenever in full screen. See if you’re able to fix Taskbar Showing in Fullscreen issue or not. If it still shows, End the process and then restart manually.
To end the process, right-click and choose End task from the context menu. Ending the Windows Explorer process will actually cause the Taskbar and the graphical user interface to disappear entirely until you guys restart the process. The Windows key on your keyboard will also stop working until the very next Restart as well.
Tap on File at the top left of the Task Manager window and then choose Run New Task. If you guys accidentally closed the Task Manager window, tap on ctrl + shift + del and select Task Manager from the next screen.
In the textbox, just type explorer.exe and click on the OK button to restart the process.

Disable Lock Taskbar | Taskbar Shows in Fullscreen

‘Lock the Taskbar’ is one of the newer taskbar features introduced in Windows OS and permits the user to essentially lock it in place and avoid accidentally moving it. However, also stops the Taskbar from disappearing when you switch to fullscreen mode. Whenever locked, the Taskbar will then persist on the screen while overlaying on the fullscreen application.

To unlock the Taskbar, it brings up its context menu by right-clicking anywhere on the Taskbar. If you guys see a check/tick next to the Lock Taskbar option. Then it implies that the feature is indeed enabled. Simply tap on ‘Lock the Taskbar’ in order to disable the feature and then unlock the Taskbar.

The option to lock/unlock Taskbar can also be found at Windows Settings > Personalization > Taskbar as well.

Turn on the Auto-hide Taskbar feature

You can also turn on the auto-hide taskbar feature to solve the issue temporarily. With enabling auto-hide, the Taskbar will always remain hidden unless you guys bring your mouse pointer to the side of the screen where the Taskbar is actually placed. This works as a temporary solution as the issue will continue in order to persist if you disable the auto-hide feature.

Open Windows Settings via clicking on the Start button and then the Settings icon (cogwheel/gear icon). As well as use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + I. You can also search for Settings in the search bar and then click on enter as well.
In the Windows Settings, just tap on Personalization.
At the bottom of the navigation pane on the left side, you guys will find Taskbar. Tap on it.
(You can directly access Taskbar settings via right-clicking on the Taskbar and then choosing the same.)
On the right, you guys will find two automatically hidden options. One for when the PC is in desktop mode (normal mode) and another for when in tablet mode. Enable both the options via clicking on their respective toggle switches as well.

Enable Override high DPI scaling behavior of Chrome

Well, if the Taskbar not hiding automatically is only prevailing whenever playing fullscreen videos in Google Chrome. Then you can try enabling the override high DPI scaling behavior feature.

Right-click on the Google Chrome shortcut icon on your desktop and choose Properties from the context menu.
Then just move to the Compatibility tab of the Properties window and tap on the Change high DPI settings button.

Now in the following window, check the box next to Override high DPI scaling behavior.
Tap on OK in order to save the changes and exit.

Turn off Hardware Acceleration in Chrome | Taskbar Shows in Fullscreen

Another trick to solving fullscreen issues in Chrome is just to disable hardware acceleration. The feature essentially redirects some tasks like page loading and rendering from the processor to the GPU. Disabling the feature is also known to fix the issues along with the Taskbar.

You have to Open Google Chrome via double-clicking on its shortcut icon or via searching for the same in the Windows search bar and then tapping on Open.
Tap on the three vertical dots (or horizontal bars, relying on the Chrome version) at the top right corner of the Chrome window and choose Settings from the drop-down menu.
You can also access Chrome Settings via visiting the following URL chrome://settings/ in a new tab.
Just scroll all the way down to the end of the Settings page and tap on Advanced.

(Or then tap on the Advanced Settings option present on the left panel.)

Now under Advanced System Settings, you guys will find the option to enable-disable Hardware acceleration. Tap on the toggle switch next to Use Hardware Acceleration whenever available to turn it off.
Now, go ahead and then play a YouTube video on full screen in order to check if the Taskbar continues to show. If it does, you guys may want to reset Chrome to its default settings.

To reset Chrome: Find your way to the Advanced Chrome Settings via the above procedure. And tap on the ‘Restore settings to their original defaults’ that are under the Reset and clean up section. Just confirm your action via clicking on Reset Settings in the pop-up that follows as well.

Conclusion

Well, That is all from my side. If you want to know more about this article or have any queries. Then feel free to ask me anything in the comments section below.

Have a Good Day!

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