Unlock or lock the taskbar in Windows 7: enable or prevent moving / resizing
Once you have moved the taskbar (or resized the taskbar), you can lock it to preserve your settings, and prevent the taskbar from being moved or resized by accident. Likewise, you will be able to easily unlock the taskbar when you do want to move it or resize it. Unlike previous versions of Windows, a locked or unlocked taskbar in Windows 7 has exactly the same appearance, which means that you can no longer rely on the visibility or absence of "grabber" handles to determine whether the taskbar is currently locked or unlocked. This tutorial explains how to do both and check on the current state.
Lock the taskbar in Windows 7
After having moved or resized the taskbar, follow these steps to lock it:
- Right-click on an empty are of the taskbar: this can be either between the Start button and the first taskbar button or pinned program, or between the last taskbar button and the notification area:
(Depending on your taskbar settings, you may have plenty of empty space on your taskbar, for example if you are using the default Windows 7 setting to "Always combine, hide labels", as opposed to making your taskbar buttons appear like older versions of Windows.) - So, after having right-clicked on the taskbar, Windows 7 will show a context menu, containing a "Lock the taskbar" item, with one of two possibilities:
- If this item is checked, your taskbar is currently already locked, and cannot be moved or resized.
- If there is no checkmark displayed next to "Lock the taskbar", you know that your taskbar is currently unlocked, can freely be moved around and resized.
- Somewhat counter-intuitively then, click on the same "Lock the taskbar" menu item to unlock or lock the taskbar, depending on your needs. A locked taskbar will remain in that state until you or someone else manually decides to unlock it - in other words, your favorite taskbar position and size are protected from accidental changes if it is and remains locked.
This is how you lock or unlock the taskbar in Windows 7 - and remember, nothing visually lets you know whether it is locked or not: just give it a right click to confirm its current status.
On a final note, the locked/unlocked status of the taskbar is a "per user" settings. Windows users can each have their own settings, without impact on other user profiles on the same machine.
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