Taskbar Auto-Hide Broken

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Are you on touch capable system? Also need more information from you.

1. Windows 10 or 11? And, need it full version numbers.
2. Start11 version numbers

Thanks
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

No, standard desktop system with no touch screen. I'm currently running the beta version of Start11 v2 in hopes that it would fix the issue but alas, it didn't. I'm running Windows 11 23H2 (22631.2715).

Hello,
I have forwarded your problem/question to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

Please see if the updated beta resolves your issue:

https://forums.stardock.com/524001/get;3910016

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

No, it doesn't. Something interesting that I figured out. A window has to be open on the desktop, any window will suffice, in order for the taskbar to be able to re-appear upon bringing your mouse cursor down to the bottom of the screen. However, if you have nothing open and you are just looking at your desktop wallpaper and your icons, that's when you can't get the taskbar to re-appear upon bringing your mouse cursor down.

I even went so far as to completely uninstall Start11 v2 with Revo Uninstaller to make sure that every single piece of Start11 was removed and reinstalled the beta version to see if it fixes it. Nope, it doesn't.

So right now, autohide works as intended as long as there's a window on the screen. It can be any window be it the Start11 config screen, a Windows Explorer window, Microsoft Edge, or Calculator. Yes, any window will do. As long as a window is open on the screen and not minimized, autohide works as intended. However, a blank desktop with just the desktop and nothing open on it showing nothing more than your desktop icons will cause autohide to not function properly.

I had this same problem and found out Wallpaper Engine was causing the taskbar to not reappear.  I haven't found a way to fix this yet, but if you are also using Wallpaper Engine then that might be the reason you are having a similar problem.

I don’t even know what Wallpaper Engine is.

Still broken in v2.0.3.

I just tested on Start11v2 - 2.03 with rounded taskbar, autohide on, at the top and on the bottom of the monitor, and I don't see your issue. There has to be something unique about your system that is causing this issue. I'm even running the Beta version of Windows 11 - 22635.2771.

I think all the issues with where the mouse had to be in order to unhide the taskbar have now been resolved.

I even tried disabling DeskScapes 11 thinking maybe it was acting as a window on the desktop as you mentioned was needed on your system for the Autohide function to work. It didn't make any difference. I still did not see your issue.

Nope, completely stock Windows 11 23H2 installation. I even reinstalled Windows 11 to eliminate any possible Windows-related issues that could cause this and still no luck.

A window has to be on the screen for the taskbar to re-appear when bringing my mouse cursor down to the bottom of the screen. If I'm at the desktop with no window open with nothing but the icons showing, bringing the mouse cursor down to the bottom of the screen does nothing.

Maybe it has something to do with your gpu and/or display driver. If the gpu is displaying the 1 pixel line off the screen, then your mouse can’t trip it. Maybe having a window open on the desktop causes that 1 pixel line to come back onto the screen.

Do you have the display scaling set to 100%?

Double check your gpu driver settings.

Hello again.

I made a short video just to show that it work normally on my system. Do let me know if you do something different to make the issue come up.

Would like to suggest to try cleanboot and see if there is something interfering with Start11 https://forums.stardock.com/505872/start11-support-faq#cleanboot

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

OK, I tried what you suggested; no dice. Same symptoms.

If you mean to say you have tried Cleanboot and same issue. Please try purge and reinstall steps as mention here : [Link]. Just make sure to redownload the latest version from your account page. Reboot after the purge. Reinstall and reboot again after the installation. Retest and report back here.

Thank you,
Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

basj, in your video, the taskbar appears when you hit the top of where the taskbar is located. On my system, and in other conversations in this forum, there is a 1 pixel line at the bottom of the monitor that trips the taskbar to unhide.

Are you using an NVIDIA gpu? If so, here is an article from NVIDIA support that describes what I was talking about above.

https://www.nvidia.com/content/Control-Panel-Help/vLatest/en-us/index.htm#mergedProjects/nvdsp/Resizing_your_desktop_reference.htm

In the video I posted there is one line appear at the very bottom of the screen. Yes I need to touch or cross over it to popup the taskbar.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Sorry, in the video it looked like you were above the bottom of the screen. I see now that there is a black bar above and below your actual screen.

I did the purge thing, still an issue. Yes, I have an nVidia card in my system. What really makes this whole thing strange is that the issue only exists on the primary monitor, not the secondary monitor.

What happens if you switch the monitor order? Set existing primary to secondary; existing secondary to primary.

At least that let's us know it's not the monitor causing the issue.

As long as there's a window on the screen, the taskbar functions as it should. With nothing but the desktop and the icons, it's broken.

I didn't see this mentioned anywhere in this post, so I'm going to ask. Do you by any chance have autohide enabled in the Windows settings?