How to Stop Apps automatically pinning themselves on Taskbar

Are the apps on your computer pinning automatically on the Taskbar? Don’t worry. In this article, we are going to discuss some easy solutions for this issue. Almost all the users who are experiencing this issue have pointed out that this issue is persistent with the restart of their devices. Just enact the solutions to solve the problem.

Fix 1 – Edit the LayoutModification.xml file

You have to edit the LayoutModification.xml file and remove the lines associated with the conflicting app.

1. At first, press the Windows key with the ‘R‘ key.

2. When the Run terminal appears on your screen, copy-paste this address. Then, click on “OK” to access it.

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell

 

 

3. Inside the Shell folder, you will find the “Layoutmodification.xml” file.

Note: – If Layoutmodification.xml does not exist, then edit DefaultLayouts.xml instead

4. Here, right-click on the particular file and click on “Open with“. Then, select the “Notepad” from the list.

(You can use any word processor. Like – Notepad, Notepad++ or even Wordpad)

 

 

5. Once the Layoutmodification.xml file opens up, click on the “Edit” on the menu bar.

6. After that, click on “Find“.

 

 

7. Now, paste this line in the ‘Find what:’ box.

CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection

8. Then, click on “Find Next” to search the particular query.

 

 

CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection is the particular node that contains the particular app IDs of the apps you have on the Taskbar.

In the ‘taskbar:TaskbarPinList’ is the sub-node where you will perform this alternation work.

9. Here, you will notice several apps(you will see the appID) that are pinned on the taskbar.

Just delete all lines of apps you do not want on your taskbar between <taskbar:TaskbarPinList> and </taskbar:TaskbarPinList>

<taskbar:TaskbarPinList>

You can also delete all things written in between

</taskbar:TaskbarPinList>

 

 

12. Now, click on the “File” in the menu bar.

13. Then, click on “Save” to save this modification.

 

 

After doing this, restart your computer once.

Fix 2 – Stop the automatic startup

Some apps like Microsoft Teams, Skype have configured to startup automatically with system startup.

STEP 1 – DISABLE THE AUTOMATIC STARTUP

1. Just Press CTRL + SHIFT + Esc keys together to open Task manager

2. This will Open Task manager on your computer

 

3. When the Task Manager opens up, go to the “Startup” tab.

4. Here you will find the list of apps configured to startup automatically on system startup.

5. Right-click on the app that is pinning automatically on the Taskbar and click on “Disable” to disable the startup of the item.

 

 

This way, disable the startup of any problematic app.

Once you have made sure that the startup of every item is disabled, close the Task Manager.

 

Step 2 – Unpin the unwanted programs

Now, you have to unpin the unwanted programs from the Taskbar.

1. Come back to your desktop window.

2. Then, right-click on the unwanted program and click on “Unpin from Taskbar“.

 

 

This will unpin that unwanted program from the taskbar.

Repeat the same process for other programs that are automatically pinned in the Taskbar.

Restart your computer.

 

Fix 3 – Disable pinning using group policy

Disable the pinning feature using the group policy on your computer.

1. You have to press the Windows key+R keys together.

2. Then, type “gpedit.msc” and click on “OK“.

 

 

3. Once the Group Policy Editor opens up, go to this place –

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar

 

 

4. On the right-hand side, double click on the “Do not allow pinning programs to the Taskbar” to modify it.

 

 

5. Now, set the policy settings to “Disabled“.

6. Finally, click on “Apply” and “Ok” to save this change.

 

 

Close the Group Policy Editor window.

Restart your computer to let this policy change take desired effect.

Now, you can easily unpin or pin the programs on the Taskbar.

Fix 4 – Reset the Taskbar

If the previous two methods didn’t work out, try resetting the Taskbar.

1. First of all, open a blank Notepad on your computer.

2. WEe the Notepad opens up, copy-paste this script.

DEL /F /S /Q /A "%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar\*"
REG DELETE HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband /F
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe

 

3. After pasting these lines, click on “File‘ and click on “Save as” to save the file.

 

 

4. Now, choose a location to save the file. Next, set the ‘File type’ to “All files“.

5. Then, simply name the file as “taskbarreset.bat“.

6. Just, click on “OK” to save it.

 

 

Close the Notepad window.

7. Go to the location where you have saved the file.

6. Right-click on the “taskbarreset.bat” file and click on “Run as administrator“.

 

 

Once you have run the script, you will see that Taskbar has reset. Wait for a while for this process to be complete.