Task Bar keeps disappearing

[Terry James]

Every few days my task bar stops working or disappears completely.
The only way I can restore it is to re-boot from the PC ‘on-off’ button which is a pain when I have a lot of programs running.
Any one knows why this happens and more importantly how to stop it happening?

Zoostorm
Windows 10 Home
Intel Core i5-4460 4th Generation 3.20 GHz
Model 7200-0152/A
RAM 12GB
Hard Disk 2TB
SSD 120GB
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-H81M-S2V

 

[Ian]

Hi Terry,

If it happens again, could you please go to Settings > Personalisation > Taskbar and try toggling "lock the taskbar" to on and then turn the "hide the taskbar..." options for desktop and tablet to off please. Does that make it re-appear?

When you say it stops working, do you mean it stops responding? If so, could you take a look at the processes tab in Task manager and see if anything has stopped (you can access it via CTRL+ALT+DEL if the taskbar stops responding).

Does anything show up in event viewer when this happens?

 

[Terry James]

Many thanks Ian.
I will do as you say & let you know.
"When you say it stops working, do you mean it stops responding?"
Yes, clicking on any of the Icons does nothing. I can still work on whats on the screen but can't switch from say excell to word or anything else.

 

[Ian]

OK, if it's freezing then I'd definitely go with the task manager and event viewer advice from above .

It may also be worth running SFC (System File Checker) to see if anything shows up:

1. Right-click (or press and hold) the Start button, then select Command Prompt (Admin).
2. Enter sfc /scannow (note the space between "sfc" and "/").

 

[Terry James]

Hi Ian

Was working on an excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel 2010) when the ‘Task Bar’ flickered then disappeared.

I tried to do what you instructed, but couldn’t click on the ‘Windows’ key to get to ‘settings’ because the taskbar had disappeared & I forgot that I could have used the ‘Windows’ key on the keypad.

I ran the ‘Task Manager’, the only thing I could find was “System Settings, PID 8364, Suspended.

After restarting the PC I checked that the Settings > Personalisation > Taskbar and try toggling "lock the taskbar" to on and then turn the "hide the taskbar..." options for desktop and tablet to off, was correct.

When the taskbar disappeared, I switched to the ‘Desktop’, this had gone blank, except for my Cannon printer icon.

When it happens again, I will check the ‘Settings’ via the Windows key & let you know.

 

[Terry James]

Hi Ian, can’t do what you suggest. Once the taskbar disappears, as it did again today, the ‘Windows’ key on the keyboard does not work. So I have no way of getting to ‘Settings’ unless you know of an alternative?

 

[Ian]

Not to worry, it sounds like the problem is a little deeper. You can run the "SFC" tool from post #4 when everything is working, as it will hopefully pick up the problem.

So, to confirm, the "automatically hide taskbar" options are set to "off" and "lock taskbar" is set to "on"?

Does it happen when you are using a specific application, as that may help narrow down the problem. Could you please check the event viewer (when you have rebooted after a problem) and see if anything shows up under the warnings/errors in event viewer (excluding the unscheduled reboot error message that will be there).

 

[Terry James]

Thanks Ian.
Yes the "automatically hide taskbar" options are set to "off" and "lock taskbar" is set to "on".
Will run 'SFC' & event viewer & let you know.

 

[Terry James]

Hi Ian
SFC found no issues but ‘Event Viewer’ did.
The time stamp on ‘Event Viewer’ is exactly when the ‘Taskbar’ disappeared. I was working on an excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel 2010) when this happened which is my most used programme.
The Error reads
“Level – Error. Date & Time – 09/01/17 08:33:13. Source – DistributedCOM. Event ID – 10016. Task Category – None.”
I took screen shots to pdf but could not attach the file as the site said file was too large.

 

[Ian]

Excellent, hopefully the details of that will reveal something. If you are viewing the error on the summary (main) page, you can double click it for the full details.

When you are viewing the full error entry, there should be a "general" tab at the bottom with lots of information in it. Could you please copy and paste the text in here, as that will reveal where the problem is (I hope).

If you need to upload screenshot attachments, the best tool to use is probably the "snipping tool" (you can search for it in the Windows search box/start menu) - that will save images as PNG files, which should upload OK.

 

[Terry James]

Many thanks Ian

Will do that & let you know.

 

[Terry James]

Hi Ian, I hope this is what you need?

 

[Ian]

Hi Terry - that's part of the info, but if you could highlight and copy the text that starts with "The application-specific..." at the bottom of the window under the "General" heading, and then paste it in to a post here. I suspect there is more text in that window which isn't visible in the screenshot - you'll need to highlight and drag down to select it all.

 

[Ian]

Actually, I think that may be enough info after all - however it looks like the fix for this is actually quite complicated, and relates to incorrect permissions. If you attempt a fix, I would make sure you make a backup before you start.

There is an extremely detailed article on how to fix this error, here:
https://www.windows10forums.com/articles/event-id-10016-distributedcom.47/

 

[Terry James]

Hi Ian, this is all the text it would display.

 

[Terry James]

Sorry Ian, didn't read your 10:52 post properly, Was going to send more but now will your link & let you know.

 

[Terry James]

Hi Ian
“There is an extremely detailed article on how to fix this error”, you’re not kidding.
This is going to take me some time, when I get time, to understand it before I attempt to fix it.
The good thing, thanks to you, is that I now understand a lot more about ‘Event Viewer’ & SFC.
I will get on with it when I can & let you know the outcome. Many thanks.

 

[Ian]

Good luck Terry . Yes, that's not for the faint-hearted, but it'll hopefully sort the problem.