The short answer is that the code required to move the taskbar to the top or sides isn’t actually in Windows 11, because Microsoft created the new taskbar from the ground up and didn’t use the old code from Windows 10.
So instead of porting the old, good code, they wrote something worse, with fewer features, and called it a day.
For me personally, while I never used the "move taskbar" ability, I made heavy use of the "extend taskbar to multiple lines" ability on my work laptops, as I always have a ton of apps/windows open and I can't stand grouping them.
Windows 11 taskbar is now being “upgraded” with AI-first features. Microsoft is working on the Ask Copilot bar, which may replace Windows Search in the taskbar. More recently, Microsoft has started testing AI agents directly inside the taskbar, with Microsoft’s goal of turning the taskbar into an AI hub.
I am now convinced that Microsoft executives have drunk the Roko's Basilisk cool-aid, honestly believing that if they don't force AI down everyone's throats, then they will be tortured by the AI singularity until the end of time. There is no other reasonable explanation for why they keep forcing AI onto users who do not want it.
Some think the big AI push is to muddy the internet waters with tons of fake images so that MAGA can call Epstein files photos fake. Now that Bill Gates is implicated with photo evidence, the theory isn’t exactly outlandish.
So instead of porting the old, good code, they wrote something worse, with fewer features, and called it a day
No, instead of trying to change the old, bloated code, they decided to start from the ground up and add only the things that are needed.
When you have a billion users, you're going to piss someone off eventually and statistically you're very likely to encounter both, the group of people who likes the old stuff that works in a certain way and don't want it changed, ever. And the group of people who are pissed of about this old stuff and how they can't come up with something new and innovation is dead or whatever.
There's no right or wrong decision, just different.
When you drop 10 features, each of which is only used by 20% of the userbase, you will piss off almost everyone because chances are any given user was using at least one of those features.
And instead they're forcing in features that most users do NOT want.
Neither of us has the data to backup our claims though, and Microsoft is probably not going to share that data.
From personal experience, I can say that we migrated all our users at work to Windows 11, which range from student assistants to boomers, and we had zero complains about Windows 11 nor the Taskbar, or whatever.
The only complains we've gotten, are some stuff related to hardware, because Lenovo Thinkpads are fucking junk devices that needs to be burned with fire.
Their reasoning is a straight lie, though. I use Windhawk to have my taskbar at the top. It is such a simple tweak that it runs immediately after logging in, even on a cold boot.
Microsoft has been using AI to do away with their coders. Apparently, 25% of the codebase in 2025 has been AI-written. They have fewer and fewer competent people, and they do not listen to their customers. And they deserve what is slowly coming to them: the erosion of Windows.
I don't understand your argument, their reasoning, that they did the Taskbar from the ground up, is a lie? That's not a reasoning, that's a fact. They're bringing it to parity with the old Taskbar as they go along, and that's about it.
"We didn't include it because we changed the code." That's not really an answer. I've never wanted the taskbar other than at the bottom, but I did find it a problem that QuickLaunch was broken on Win11. The "pinning" business is very poorly designed. The icons are too big and ganging up program instances can't be avoided. I ended up needing to use Explorer Patcher to get QL back. Then when I tried to update to 24H2.... problems galore. So all of my Win11 installs are 22H2 with Explorer Patcher and Windows Update blocked. To my mind, the trick of Win11 is to keep experimenting until one attains reasonable usability, then lock it down and make disk images so I'll never have to do that again. Though I have no intention to move from 10 to 11 as my primary system. 11 is just too unstable.
It's hard to imagine that this could have been such a big deal for Microsoft. Docking windows have been a thing since the 90s. But they do seem to be trying to standardize as part of their services shift.
Absolutely absurd excuse, if you’re going to build it from the ground up you should at least have the major features in parity with the old code, especially something that so many people are getting loud about.
It’s Microsoft, they can afford the extra dev and QA time for something like this.
If you can't do feature parity, why the hell go along with the rewrite? Not touching code that works in the first place was the reason people wanted to use Windows.
90's Microsoft nailed the start menu idea so hard they continued to use the same exact interface in 5 different OSs, and their next design(in Windows XP) was even better. Why can't 2020's Microsoft just replace the start menu picture, maybe put more rounding on the menu itself and call it a day?
If they were really catering to what users previously have known, they'd not try to shove that abomination of centered start button.
Second, no, nobody designs apps having "known" width in mind. No-f-body! There are multiple screen resolutions out there, both wide and ultra-wide, with all flavors of 100%, 125%,and 150% scaling.
"We giving zero fs" would be a honest response and a bit less irritating as well.
I hate it. Hate it so much. It absolutely infuriates me. I've never had my taskbar on the bottom and now I have no choice. In addition the toolbar option was also removed. The two main features I've used since Windows 95.
I just opened my 8 years old Windows Laptop for the first time since 2020 and I was like wow, this task bar, this menu, this look is amazing! How did they manage to destroy this fully functional windows release!
TLDR: Too much engineering effort for just a small number of users. The Win11 taskbar is build from the ground-up, so they choose wisely what features have on launch and what to add later (or never), they didn't recycled code from Win10 taskbar.
So instead of porting the old, good code, they wrote something worse, with fewer features, and called it a day.
For me personally, while I never used the "move taskbar" ability, I made heavy use of the "extend taskbar to multiple lines" ability on my work laptops, as I always have a ton of apps/windows open and I can't stand grouping them.
I am now convinced that Microsoft executives have drunk the Roko's Basilisk cool-aid, honestly believing that if they don't force AI down everyone's throats, then they will be tortured by the AI singularity until the end of time. There is no other reasonable explanation for why they keep forcing AI onto users who do not want it.
Some think the big AI push is to muddy the internet waters with tons of fake images so that MAGA can call Epstein files photos fake. Now that Bill Gates is implicated with photo evidence, the theory isn’t exactly outlandish.
…or they just want to create “users“ for their AI shit so they can keep the bubble from bursting.
No, instead of trying to change the old, bloated code, they decided to start from the ground up and add only the things that are needed.
When you have a billion users, you're going to piss someone off eventually and statistically you're very likely to encounter both, the group of people who likes the old stuff that works in a certain way and don't want it changed, ever. And the group of people who are pissed of about this old stuff and how they can't come up with something new and innovation is dead or whatever.
There's no right or wrong decision, just different.
When you drop 10 features, each of which is only used by 20% of the userbase, you will piss off almost everyone because chances are any given user was using at least one of those features.
And instead they're forcing in features that most users do NOT want.
Tell me, where is the sense in that?
So they've managed to piss off 400% of users? Sounds about right.
Neither of us has the data to backup our claims though, and Microsoft is probably not going to share that data.
From personal experience, I can say that we migrated all our users at work to Windows 11, which range from student assistants to boomers, and we had zero complains about Windows 11 nor the Taskbar, or whatever.
The only complains we've gotten, are some stuff related to hardware, because Lenovo Thinkpads are fucking junk devices that needs to be burned with fire.
well my dad works at microsoft so
They actually just created old, bloated code from ground up.
Their reasoning is a straight lie, though. I use Windhawk to have my taskbar at the top. It is such a simple tweak that it runs immediately after logging in, even on a cold boot.
Microsoft has been using AI to do away with their coders. Apparently, 25% of the codebase in 2025 has been AI-written. They have fewer and fewer competent people, and they do not listen to their customers. And they deserve what is slowly coming to them: the erosion of Windows.
I don't understand your argument, their reasoning, that they did the Taskbar from the ground up, is a lie? That's not a reasoning, that's a fact. They're bringing it to parity with the old Taskbar as they go along, and that's about it.
What a shit company
"We didn't include it because we changed the code." That's not really an answer. I've never wanted the taskbar other than at the bottom, but I did find it a problem that QuickLaunch was broken on Win11. The "pinning" business is very poorly designed. The icons are too big and ganging up program instances can't be avoided. I ended up needing to use Explorer Patcher to get QL back. Then when I tried to update to 24H2.... problems galore. So all of my Win11 installs are 22H2 with Explorer Patcher and Windows Update blocked. To my mind, the trick of Win11 is to keep experimenting until one attains reasonable usability, then lock it down and make disk images so I'll never have to do that again. Though I have no intention to move from 10 to 11 as my primary system. 11 is just too unstable.
I've had my taskbar at home at the top of my screen for 25 years. I hate it at the bottom. Bugs the shit outta me at work.
Had to use a 3rd party app to reposition it and reskin it to a better look.
Similar situation here: my taskbar lives on the side of the screen.
Unfortunately, my work computer is on 11 and I can't just add a third party app.
It's hard to imagine that this could have been such a big deal for Microsoft. Docking windows have been a thing since the 90s. But they do seem to be trying to standardize as part of their services shift.
Absolutely absurd excuse, if you’re going to build it from the ground up you should at least have the major features in parity with the old code, especially something that so many people are getting loud about.
It’s Microsoft, they can afford the extra dev and QA time for something like this.
If you can't do feature parity, why the hell go along with the rewrite? Not touching code that works in the first place was the reason people wanted to use Windows.
90's Microsoft nailed the start menu idea so hard they continued to use the same exact interface in 5 different OSs, and their next design(in Windows XP) was even better. Why can't 2020's Microsoft just replace the start menu picture, maybe put more rounding on the menu itself and call it a day?
Wonder if they’ve heard about AI. They say it can solve all problems including cancer. This should be a piece of cake for it.
Haven’t used it myself but see ads about it. Something CoPilot I think. Worth a shot for them to fix this trivial taskbar issue
yeah and in the process make the taskbar a WebView2 element too, lol
Copilot: Now you can run your taskbar wherever you please, on your browser, a device from another country, the moon, your phone... 👁️👄👁️
At the cost of a lil extra RAM* in small lettering
Which you can easily download from the internet!
Don't give them ideas.
Probably these elite coders haven't given the new keyboards with the copilot button yet.
They used AI for Windows 11 but instead of Artificial intelligence it stands for "Actually Indians"
Lies on top of lies.
If they were really catering to what users previously have known, they'd not try to shove that abomination of centered start button.
Second, no, nobody designs apps having "known" width in mind. No-f-body! There are multiple screen resolutions out there, both wide and ultra-wide, with all flavors of 100%, 125%,and 150% scaling.
"We giving zero fs" would be a honest response and a bit less irritating as well.
Ah, I see Microsoft are pulling the old apple excuses
It's not there because we said so
Your using it wrong
Your stupid to want it any other way
Explained: why microsoft sucks.
This is the number one reason I continue with windows 10, and will do so for a long time to come.
Incompetent af.
I hate it. Hate it so much. It absolutely infuriates me. I've never had my taskbar on the bottom and now I have no choice. In addition the toolbar option was also removed. The two main features I've used since Windows 95.
I just opened my 8 years old Windows Laptop for the first time since 2020 and I was like wow, this task bar, this menu, this look is amazing! How did they manage to destroy this fully functional windows release!
was it a windows 10 laptop?
bullshit
Good thing there's Windhawk and enthusiasts willing to fix what's broken
because they are LAZY PIECES OF SHIT.
Apps don’t care whether your monitor is 1080p, 1440p, ultrawide, or a tiny laptop. They already handle different resolutions just fine.
What they do care about is knowing where the taskbar is and how much space it occupies so they can place UI elements correctly.
If the taskbar can be on the left, right, or top:
Derka der
Every change will break somebodys workflow. Always. Even when the change is an improvement.
I see no problem with the new layout (after they added easy access to Task Manager again), going back to Win10 feels clunky.
Will probably get down voted for this. But it has to do with who currently works at Microsoft.
TLDR: Too much engineering effort for just a small number of users. The Win11 taskbar is build from the ground-up, so they choose wisely what features have on launch and what to add later (or never), they didn't recycled code from Win10 taskbar.
Nothing about windows 11 came from a place of wisdom.
Nothing about windows 11 came from a place of wisdom.