Unwanted Resizing of Taskbar

[packrat1]

As a personal preference, I run with the taskbar positioned on the left side of the screen with autohide set. In all previous versions of Windows, when I set the width of the taskbar (usually about 1 inch, so I can see more than just the icon for each task and the quick launch area is three or four icons wide) it stays that way, whether the taskbar is locked or unlocked. With Windows 7, after I set the width, any time the system restarts, whether from Hibernation, reboot, initial startup, what-ever - the taskbar is back to the narrowest setting. I've done web searches and and been through all the taskbar resizing entries on this forum without finding a solution. Any ideas?

 

[bigredswims]

I have the taskbar on the left side of my screen as well, set on auto-hide and locked, and I've encountered this same problem. Rarely does it occur for me from a system restart, but it always happens when I play Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. It's kind of annoying, and I'd like to know if there's a solution aside from not playing that game.

 

[Peaches]

I would try locking the taskbar if you don't already have it set to do that and see if that works.

 

[packrat1]

Locked or unlocked, no difference.

 

[lowkee]

Same issue

Has anyone found a fix for this issue? It happens on both my desktop and my notebook. To recap:

- Vertical (left side) taskbar
- Locked or unlocked, doesn't matter
- Autohide set to On
- Often caused by making apps fullscreen or changing resolutions
- Sometimes happens just by coming out of power-save mode

Actual windows bug? C'mon Microsoft, we know you monitor these forums. Fix it!

 

[vatachino]

Same problem here. In my case it is 100% repeatable: every time I resume from hibernation, the taskbar is shrunk to its smallest size.

 

[whs]

The common problem seems to be hibernation. My uneducated guess would be that hibernation changes the screen settings. Try Sleep mode instead.

 

[Vind]

This problem occurs only when the Autohide set to On.
This bug is present for my Windows XP and Windows 7 if the taskbar is located on left/right side. With Autohide set to off this bug has never to repeat.
If the taskbar is located at the bottom, then everything works fine even with Autohide set to On.

 

[torfason]

Having the exact same problem. Status bar on left and autohide is on. When coming out of hibernation, connecting external display, or doing other screen related things, the width setting is completely forgotten. A fix would be appreciated.

PS. The quick reply feature on this forum is not very intuitive, I filled in a quick reply and then clicked the big orange button right next to it, and lost my whole reply. This is my second try. I'm glad it wasn't longer.

 

[Imperfect1]

The quick reply feature on this forum is not very intuitive, I filled in a quick reply and then clicked the big orange button right next to it, and lost my whole reply. This is my second try. I'm glad it wasn't longer.

To post your Quick Reply, click on the "Submit Reply" link below the Quick Rely box. That will save and post your reply. (And of course, you can click Preview Post if you want to preview/edit it first.)

 

[torfason]

Quick reply issue

To post your Quick Reply, click on the "Submit Reply" link below the Quick Rely box. That will save and post your reply. (And of course, you can click Preview Post if you want to preview/edit it first.)

Yupp, I got it the second time, it was just that the reply that I had taken the time to write was lost when I clicked the big orange button, which was a bit annoying.

 

[Imperfect1]

To post your Quick Reply, click on the "Submit Reply" link below the Quick Rely box. That will save and post your reply. (And of course, you can click Preview Post if you want to preview/edit it first.)

Yupp, I got it the second time, it was just that the reply that I had taken the time to write was lost when I clicked the big orange button, which was a bit annoying.

I know, that IS very annoying. After having had that happen to me a number of times, I have recently started highlighting and copying my reply just before I hit Submit or Preview. That way, I don't have to go through that, especially with some of our long posts. It may take an extra second or two, but it also saves me a lot of grief!

 

[Angelfire]

Whoa, that is what I call goint off-topic, we're talking about reply button now.. lol.

Well, going back to topic, I have the exact same problem, and I found this by searching for a solution to it.

I have my taskbar to the left, auto-hide and 6 "small icons of width". On my PC it keeps on resizing to the width of one icon, and it does that quite often. On my notebook however, it never happens.

Has anyone found a solution yet?

 

[Carbon6]

+1 for this problem, its pretty annoying...
It does it for me when apps turn off Aero, and turn it back on again after closing, it shrinks back to a tiny width.

 

[Angelfire]

TIP: Someone else on another forum said that installing the software Classical Start Menu would solve the issue, I have tried personally and it didn't work, but there are others who said it did.

So I leave this as a suggestion, might be it works for some.

 

[fewilcox]

I'm also having this problem. Every single time I resume from hibernation, my taskbar shrinks back to being an icon width. It's extremely irritating but I can't find any way to keep it from happening.

 

[clippee]

I think I have a workaround for this bug.

I always configure my taskbar this way (left, auto-hide, locked) as well and I have seen the same behavior, but only on some of my systems. I noticed that the systems that work correctly have a "Links" toolbar activated on the taskbar. Once I activated that toolbar (and configured it for small icons and added a link to it) I no longer saw the problem.

NOTE: Just activating the Links toolbar didn't seem to be enough. I also had to switch the view to small icons on the Links toolbar and a link with a name, e.g. "Test Link". I also turn off the text label "Links" but I doubt that matters. Also I run Windows Classic theme but I doubt that matters either.

I'm guessing that this change ensures that there is at least one wide element on the taskbar. If Windows sees there are none, it tries to optimize the display of the taskbar by shrinking it down.

Hope this helps.

 

[pcgneurotic]

Langauge bar?

Hi all. I registered just now because this is my pet problem with Win 7. Here’s what I know from my experience:

Taskbar left side, 6 icons wide, Autohide on, Locked. Toolbars used are: iTunes, Quick Launch and the Language bar. I also have two programmes Pinned to the Taskbar. The Taskbar resizes itself:

-When alt-tabbing between a full-screen game/prog (prog even using desktop resolution etc),
-When exiting certain older game or programmes that use the full screen, or even full-screen Windowed. By ‘older’ I mean as recently as a few years ago.

I don’t use sleep, suspend or hibernate options, so I can’t comment on that.

I also had this problem with XP, and the problem then was caused by my Language bar (as someone stated above). I work as an editor of translations, so I keep my Language bar on all the time – there are certain situations where the keyboard shortcut doesn’t work (Gmail in Firefox particularly doesn’t like it!). Anyway, in XP it was the Language bar that was causing the problem, I don’t know why, but turning it off stopped the re-sizing problem. In Win 7, it doesn’t help me, but maybe it’s something to consider for you guys?

At any rate, I hope they sort this out one day. It seems to me to be a ‘legacy bug’.

 

[alexbk66]

Partial workaround

Have the same bloody problem!
As mentioned by @clippee, setting Links toolbar to small icons with Text (label) helps a bit, after hibernation the toolbar is displayed, but still narrower than I set. Partial workaround. :banghead:

 

[Brian2ast]

Thank to all the people have contributed to resolve this problem that was also mine (since Win XP I was used to have the bar on the left). I've resolved with your tips, but I would like to add a little contribution.
Just to have the workaround more effective, try locating the Address toolbar, instead Link toolbar, in the bottom-left, near the Tray-bar.
The Address toolbar is resizeable, does not depend on the text and size of icon like the Link toolbar. So the overall bar dimension won't resize at every hibernation.
Good luck.
Brian.