How to enable new Taskbar positioning and resizing settings on Windows 11

• Microsoft is testing new Taskbar position settings for Windows 11 in Insider Preview builds.
• Users can move the Taskbar to the top, left, right, or bottom of the screen.
• A new, smaller Taskbar mode is also hidden in recent preview builds.
• The features can be enabled through Feature Flags or ViveTool, but support remains incomplete.

On Windows 11, Microsoft is finally testing new Taskbar customization features that allow users to move the Taskbar to different sides of the screen and even make it smaller. Although the company removed Taskbar positioning support when it redesigned the Windows 11 desktop experience, the feature now appears to be making a comeback in recent preview builds.

The new experience adds a “Taskbar position” setting that lets you place the Taskbar at the top, left, right, or bottom of the screen. The company is also experimenting with a smaller Taskbar layout that reduces the size of buttons and system tray elements for a more compact desktop experience.

At the time of writing, these changes are still hidden and incomplete, meaning they aren’t officially available for everyone. However, if you’re running the latest Insider Preview builds, you can enable the early preview using hidden feature flags or using ViveTool (via @PhantomOfEarth).

In this guide, I’ll explain how to enable the new Taskbar position and smaller Taskbar settings in Windows 11.

• Enable Taskbar position settings on Windows 11 (Flags)
• Enable Taskbar position settings on Windows 11 (ViveTool)

Enable Taskbar position settings on Windows 11 (Flags)

To enable the new, smaller, and alternate Taskbar position settings, install Windows 11 build 26300.8493 or higher release, and follow these steps:

1. Open Settings on Windows 11.

2. Click on Windows Update.

3. Click the Windows Insider Program page.

4. Click the Feature flags button.

   

5. Select the Enabled option for the “Alternate taskbar positions” flag.

   

6. Select the Enabled option for the “Smaller Taskbar” flag.

7. Click the “Apply Changes” button.

8. Click the Restart now button.

Once you complete the steps, the system will enable and surface the Taskbar repositioning and resizing option. 

After the flags have been applied, open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors, and from the “Taskbar position” settings, choose the Taskbar location: Top, Left, Right, or Bottom.

To make the Taskbar smaller, select the “Always” option in the “Show smaller taskbar buttons” setting in the “Taskbar position” section.

Enable Taskbar position settings on Windows 11 (ViveTool)

To enable an early preview of the new Tasbkar features, install Windows 11 build 26300.8493 or higher release, and use the ViveTool with these steps:

1. Open the GitHub website.

2. Download the ViveTool-vx.x.x.zip file to enable the new Taskbar features.

3. Double-click the zip folder to open it with File Explorer.

4. Click the Extract all button.

   

5. Click the Extract button.

6. Copy the path to the folder.

7. Open Start.

8. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as administrator option.

9. Type the following command to navigate to the ViveTool folder and press Enter:

   cd c:\folder\path\ViveTool-v0.x.x

   In the command, remember to change the path to the folder with your path.

10. Type the following command to enable the “Taskbar position” settings on Windows 11 and press Enter:

    vivetool /enable /id:59213768

11. Type the following command to enable the smaller Taskbar behavior on Windows 11 and press Enter:

    vivetool /enable /id:61090762

12. Restart the computer to apply the changes.

Once you complete the steps, you’ll be able to change the position and make the Taskbar smaller on the “Taskbar” settings page, under the “Taskbar behaviors” section.

After the ViveTool configuration has been applied, open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors, and from the “Taskbar position” settings, choose the Taskbar location: Top, Left, Right, or Bottom.

To make the Taskbar smaller, select the “Always” option in the “Show smaller taskbar buttons” setting in the “Taskbar position” section.

I tested this ViveTool configuration on Windows 11 build 26200.8493, but I didn’t notice any improvements. As a result, this configuration may or may not work for everyone.

If you want to undo the changes, you can follow the same instructions outlined above, but in step 10, run the vivetool /disable /id:59213768,61090762 command.