Surface Pro 12 - Second, hidden taskbar, large taskbar icons after 2nd monitor disconnected

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Surface Pro 12 - Second, hidden taskbar, large taskbar icons after 2nd monitor disconnected

Steve Bean 0

My Surface Pro 12 worked fine except I was unable to make the taskbar STOP hiding, until I hooked up a second monitor for one project. Hooked up via a docking hub/HDMI. Everything worked as expected. Until I unhooked it. Then the small icons on my taskbar reverted to large and with that the taskbar got taller of course, still popping up and down. When it is down, a second, smaller taskbar is always visible at the bottom of the screen. It has the right hand icons on it but none of the left, start button or app icons. If I move my mouse to that bar, the larger bar pops up and covers it. About half the time, the right hand icons are NOT on this pop up taskbar. If I go into task manager and restart explorer, the right hand icons come back, but I still get the large pop up over top of the smaller static bar. It also seems like the fonts system wide got smaller. I increased the zoom to 175%, which seems high but at least I can read email now. So, I tried reconnecting the second monitor. The taskbar went back to normal. Small icons and no longer popping up and down. It acts perfectly normal until I disconnect the monitor and the large icons and tiny (smaller than the "small icons" taskbar) returns behind it. How in the world can I restore the tablet monitor only to normal and I'll never hook up a second monitor again.

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Answer 1

S.Sengupta 30,501 MVP Volunteer Moderator

Settings → System → Display > Click Detect > Under “Multiple displays”:

Set to Show only on 1

NOT “Extend” or “Duplicate”

Then scroll and click:

Identify

Make sure only ONE screen is active.

Set Scale to 150% — that's the native recommended scaling for Surface Pro at its screen size and resolution. At 150% everything should look right.

Press Win + R → type regedit and hit the Enter key:

Delete these two keys:

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

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams

Reboot.

Steve Bean 0 Reputation points

2026-05-04T21:26:50.71+00:00

No difference whatsoever. Still doing the same thing. Just a smaller font with 150% instead of 175%
S.Sengupta 30,501 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-05-05T11:14:38.5333333+00:00

Create a New User Profile

Go to:

Settings → Accounts → Other users

Click Add account

Choose:

“I don’t have this person’s sign-in info”

Then Add a user without Microsoft account

Create a simple local user

Log out and log into that new account

Recheck the issue.
Steve Bean 0 Reputation points

2026-05-05T15:58:36.2033333+00:00

Again, that made no difference. Same behavior. I'm adding a link to a screen capture video. For some reason, the audio didn't record. Watch bottom right. I have an always visible tiny task bar that gets covered up with the larger one. The larger one is unresponsive to taskbar settings and the items in the lower right disappear. If I restart Explorer, they will come back. Before I made the mistake of hooking up an external monitor it was normal other than I couldn't turn off auto-hide, which I attributed to a Surface setting with the small screen. But I could choose small icons. If I hook up the external monitor the taskbar acts normally. Small icons. One taskbar. The moment I disconnect the second monitor, the taskbar gets big again and the second one comes up. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ShD1F91taAEfkACQEyxxKE2kZQzKsRVQ/view?usp=drive_link
S.Sengupta 30,501 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-05-06T05:31:12.88+00:00

I watched your video — What you have is a stuck “tablet/secondary taskbar layer” + failed display mode switch that only clears when a second monitor is attached.

That’s why:

You see a thin, always-visible taskbar (secondary layer)

A larger primary taskbar overlays it.

Settings → Personalization → Taskbar → Taskbar behaviors

Then:

Turn OFF:

“Optimize taskbar for touch interactions when this device is used as a tablet”

Press Win + R → type regedit

Go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Find or create:

DWORD: TaskbarSi

Set values:

0 = small icons

1 = default

2 = large

Set 0

Do the same with

DWORD: ExpandableTaskbar

In Task Manager:

End Windows Explorer

Also end:

Shell Experience Host

StartMenuExperienceHost

Win + P

Second screen only

Wait for a few secs.

Again press:

Win + P

Select PC screen only

If nothing works Reset PC.

Answer 2

Use taskbar and display settings to reset the taskbar behavior after disconnecting the second monitor.

Open taskbar settings:
- Right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings, or run the shortcut: ms-settings:taskbar.
Fix auto‑hide and alignment (Windows 11):
- Expand Taskbar behaviors.
- Clear the checkbox Automatically hide the taskbar so the taskbar stays visible and does not pop up and down.
- In the same Taskbar behaviors section, use the Taskbar alignment dropdown (under Make it easier to focus on tasks) to confirm the alignment is as desired (center or left). This does not change size, but ensures the layout is consistent.
Remove extra taskbar from “phantom” display:
- Still in Taskbar behaviors, uncheck Show my taskbar on all displays. This ensures only the active Surface display shows a taskbar and prevents a leftover secondary bar from a previously attached monitor.
Clean up taskbar clutter and tray icons:
- In Settings > Personalization > Taskbar, expand:
  - Taskbar items to choose which main icons (Search, Task view, Widgets) appear.
  - System tray icons and Other system tray icons to control which right‑hand icons show. Toggle off anything not needed so the tray is consistent and less likely to appear duplicated.
Re‑apply notification area layout (Windows 10 scenarios):
- If using Windows 10 on the device, open Taskbar settings and under Notification area choose which icons appear, then use Select which icons appear on the taskbar and Turn system icons on or off to ensure the right‑hand icons are only on the main taskbar.
Confirm taskbar size by display scaling:
- Since the taskbar and fonts changed size after disconnecting the monitor, adjust display scaling back to a comfortable value (for example 150% instead of 175%) in Settings > System > Display. This will normalize text and UI size, including the taskbar height.

After these changes, disconnect the external monitor again. With Show my taskbar on all displays disabled and Automatically hide the taskbar turned off, the Surface Pro display should show a single, stable taskbar with consistent icon size.

References:

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Surface Pro 12 - Second, hidden taskbar, large taskbar icons after 2nd monitor disconnected

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