How to move the Windows 11 taskbar to the top of the screen

As of October 2021, Windows 11 does not allow you to move the taskbar to the top of the screen with the official setting (unlike Windows 10). But we found a way to do it by editing the registry and you can do it with just a few clicks. Here’s how.

Edit the registry yourself

To move the Windows 11 taskbar to the top of the screen, you can manually change the Windows registry or download our one-click hack in the section below . First, we’ll show you how to do it yourself.

Warning: The Registry Editor is a powerful tool. Misuse can make your system unstable or even inoperable. However, this is a simple hack and if you follow the instructions completely, you shouldn’t have any problems. If you haven’t used Registry Editor before, think about how to use it before you get started. We also recommend that you back up your registry (and your computer) before making any changes.

To manually display the taskbar at the top of the screen, first open the Registry Editor. To do this, click the Start button, type regedit, then select Registry Editor from the results.

When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to this key using the sidebar, or paste it into the address bar at the top of the window:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3

Once you’ve navigated to the “StuckRects3” key, double-click the “Settings” key inside it.

When the Edit Binary Value window opens, you will see a table of values. This is the somewhat tricky part. Find the second row of values ​​from the top, then count up to the fifth value from the left. By default, this value is set to “03”. Place the cursor to the right of “03” (click, then press the right arrow key if necessary), press Backspace once, then type 01.

Recall that you replaced the value “03” (which means the taskbar at the bottom) with “01” (which means the taskbar at the top). When you’re done, click OK.

Close Registry Editor and restart Windows Explorer.

To restart File Explorer, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager, click Details to view the full interface if necessary, and select the Processes tab. Find “Windows Explorer” in the list, right-click it and select “Restart”.

Note. Your change will not take effect until you restart File Explorer. Unlike changing many Windows settings, simply restarting your computer or logging out and back in will most likely not work.

After that, the taskbar will be at the top of the screen. If the icons on the taskbar are centered and you click Start, you will notice that the Start menu appears on the left side of the screen instead of in the center.

If you want the location of the Start button to match the location of the Start menu at the top of the screen, open Settings (press Windows + i) and navigate to Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar Behavior and set “Taskbar Alignment” to “Left.”

If you change your mind and want to return to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, edit the “Settings” key shown in the step above by changing the value “01” to “03”. Or you can use the “win11_taskbar_bottom.reg” file in the section below .

You might be thinking: is it possible to move the Windows 11 taskbar to the left or right side of the screen? Yes, by changing the value of the “Settings” key to “00” (for left) or “02” (for right). Unfortunately, the taskbar is becoming unusable (as of October 2021) because the taskbar icons do not display properly.

Download our registry hack in one click

If you don’t want to risk manually editing the registry, you can download our registry hack files with one click. In the ZIP archive below, you will find two files that will place the Windows 11 taskbar at the top or bottom of the screen (after a reboot).

Download Files to Hack Windows 11 Taskbar Location

After downloading the file, unzip it to any location and you will have two files:

• win11_taskbar_top.reg: Moves the taskbar to the top of the screen.
• win11_taskbar_bottom.reg: Moves the taskbar to the bottom of the screen.

As a rule, you should not trust the registry files you find on the Internet, but we have prepared and tested them ourselves. You can check their content with Notepad if you like. (Right-click the .reg file, choose Show Advanced Options, then choose Edit.)

To use REG files, double click the one you want to use and you will see a warning about adding information to the registry. Click Yes.

After that, click OK on the confirmation popup and restart Windows Explorer.

To restart File Explorer, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager, click Details to view the full interface if necessary, and select the Processes tab. Find “Windows Explorer” in the list of running processes, right-click on it and select “Restart”.

Note. Be sure to restart File Explorer rather than restarting your computer or logging out and back in again.

Your taskbar will now be either at the top or bottom of your screen, depending on which .reg file you used.

Warning: Be aware that this registry hack is not officially supported by Microsoft. It may break in a future upgrade to Windows 11, or it may not work perfectly on every PC.

While we’re currently forced to use registry hacks to change the taskbar location, we’re hoping Microsoft will eventually make this option official in the Settings app. Until then, good luck!