How to Display Taskbar on Multiple Displays Windows 11/10

Last Updated: September 9, 2026

In the realm of digital workspaces, a multi monitor taskbar in Windows 11 and 10 can dramatically improve your productivity. This system offers enhanced capabilities for managing multiple applications and windows.

A common feature users often seek is the ability to show the taskbar on all displays, which facilitates navigation and access across multiple monitors. This guide will walk you through the simple steps to enable this feature and make your workspace more efficient and user-friendly. If you’re still on Windows 7, this feature isn’t built in the same way—see the legacy method near the end for the real options.

Key Takeaways

• Windows 11 and 10 both support showing the taskbar on every connected monitor, controlled from Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors.
• The setting is off by default in both versions—you have to turn it on manually; it doesn’t happen automatically when you connect a second screen.
• A registry method exists as a backup if the Settings toggle is greyed out or won’t save.
• A documented Explorer-crashing bug affects some multi-monitor setups in Windows 11; disabling the same setting is the current workaround.
• Windows 7 has no equivalent feature at all—it needs third-party software to get taskbar functionality on a second screen.

Quick answer

To show the taskbar on every monitor in Windows 11 or 10, right-click the taskbar, choose Taskbar settings, expand Taskbar behaviors, and turn on Show my taskbar on all displays.

Then set When using multiple displays, show my taskbar apps on to All taskbars if you want every app icon visible on every screen.

I’ve set up more dual and triple-monitor desks than I can count over the years, and this is one of those settings almost nobody finds on their own the first time.

It’s buried a level deeper than most taskbar options, and the wording Microsoft uses (“Taskbar behaviors”) doesn’t exactly scream “this is where your second monitor’s taskbar lives.”

Here’s the full picture—how to turn it on, how to control what shows where, and what to do when it doesn’t behave.

How to Show Taskbar on All Displays in Windows 10

How Windows 11 and 10 handle multi-monitor taskbars

By default, both Windows 11 and Windows 10 only show the taskbar on your primary monitor. Connect a second screen, and nothing changes automatically—you have to turn the feature on yourself.

Once enabled, Windows gives you a taskbar on every connected display, but each one isn’t a fully independent copy. Some settings (auto-hide, taskbar alignment) apply globally across all taskbars, while others (which app icons appear where) can be configured per your preference.

How to show the taskbar on all displays in Windows 11

Step 1: Open Taskbar settings

Right-click any empty area of the taskbar and select Taskbar settings, or go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.

Step 2: Expand Taskbar behaviors

Scroll down and click Taskbar behaviors to expand that section — this is where the multi-monitor controls live in Windows 11.

Step 3: Turn on Show my taskbar on all displays

Toggle this on. The taskbar should immediately appear on every connected monitor.

Step 4: Choose how app icons display

A new dropdown appears once the toggle is on: When using multiple displays, show my taskbar apps on. You’ll have three choices:

• All taskbars – every open app’s icon shows on every monitor’s taskbar
• Main taskbar and taskbar where window is open – the primary taskbar always shows all apps; secondary taskbars only show apps open on that specific screen
• Taskbar where window is open – each taskbar only shows icons for apps actually open on that screen

Most people find Taskbar where window is open the least cluttered option once they get used to it, since it keeps each monitor’s taskbar focused on what’s actually happening there.

How to show the taskbar on all displays in Windows 10

The steps are nearly identical, just without the “Taskbar behaviors” expandable section Windows 11 introduced.

Step 1: Open Taskbar settings

Right-click the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings.

Step 2: Scroll to Multiple displays

Scroll down to the Multiple displays section directly — there’s no extra expand step needed.

Step 3: Toggle Show taskbar on all displays

Turn this on.

Step 4: Set Show taskbar buttons on

Choose from the same three options described above for Windows 11.

Registry method (when the Settings toggle won’t work)

If the setting is greyed out, won’t save, or you need to script this across multiple office machines, the registry method works as a backup on both versions.

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, press Enter
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
3. Right-click in the right pane, choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it MMTaskbarEnabled
4. Double-click it and set the value to 1
5. Create a second DWORD named MMTaskbarMode to control the app-icon behavior — set it to 0 for all taskbars, 1 for main taskbar plus window’s taskbar, or 2 for taskbar where window is open
6. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), find Windows Explorer under Processes, and select Restart

Back up the registry before editing it, as with any registry change.

Fixing the Windows 11 Explorer crash on multi-monitor setups

There’s a documented issue where Windows Explorer crashes repeatedly on some systems specifically when the multi-monitor taskbar is enabled. If your desktop keeps flickering, restarting, or Explorer keeps freezing after turning this feature on, the current known workaround is straightforward:

1. Right-click the taskbar, open Taskbar settings
2. Expand Taskbar behaviors
3. Turn off Show my taskbar on all displays
4. Restart Explorer via Task Manager

This isn’t a permanent fix — it’s a workaround that trades the multi-monitor taskbar for stability until Microsoft addresses the underlying bug in a future update. If you rely heavily on the multi-monitor taskbar, check your Windows Update history for a fix for this specific issue.

Why an app disappeared from one monitor’s taskbar

This scenario is one of the most common points of confusion, and it’s almost never actually a bug. If an app you had open on one screen seems to have vanished from that monitor’s taskbar, check the “When using multiple displays, show my taskbar apps on” setting first. If it’s set to Taskbar where window is open, an app will only show on the taskbar of the screen it’s actually open on — moving the window to another monitor moves its taskbar icon too. The app hasn’t closed; its icon is just following the window.

Multi-monitor taskbar: Windows 7 vs 10 vs 11 comparison

Feature	Windows 7	Windows 10	Windows 11
Native multi-monitor taskbar	Not supported	Supported	Supported
Setting location	N/A	Settings > Personalization > Taskbar	Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors
Default state	N/A	Off	Off
Per-screen app icon control	N/A	Yes (3 modes)	Yes (3 modes)
Registry method available	N/A	Yes	Yes
Known stability issues	N/A	Rare	Explorer crash reported on some configurations

By following these steps, you will have successfully configured your Windows 10 system to show the taskbar on all displays. This setup ensures that you have easy access to all your applications and tools across your multiple monitors, enhancing your productivity and multitasking capabilities.

Windows 7 has no built-in setting at all for showing the taskbar on a second monitor — the feature was introduced starting with Windows 10. If you’re still on Windows 7 and need this functionality, you have two options.

Third-party software is the only way to get genuine multi-monitor taskbar functionality on Windows 7. Tools like DisplayFusion or Actual Multiple Monitors add a taskbar-style bar to secondary displays, complete with their own app icons and system tray.

A common point of confusion worth clearing up: “Extend” and “Duplicate” display modes are not the same thing, and neither one gives you a second taskbar on its own.

Duplicate your entire primary screen—including the taskbar — onto the second monitor exactly as-is. Extend creates a larger combined desktop across both screens, but the native Windows 7 taskbar still only appears on your primary monitor; extending the desktop doesn’t extend the taskbar with it. If you want an actual second taskbar under Extend mode, third-party software is required.

Best practices for a multi-monitor taskbar setup

• Start with Taskbar where window is open for app icons — it’s the least cluttered option for most multi-monitor workflows
• Confirm your displays are set to Extend, not Duplicate, before configuring taskbar settings (Win + P > Extend)
• Use Settings > System > Display > Identify to confirm which monitor Windows considers your primary display before enabling the feature
• If you experience crashes, disable the feature temporarily rather than assuming a full system problem — check Windows Update for a fix before troubleshooting further
• For office deployments across many PCs, use the registry method or Group Policy rather than manually configuring each machine

Common mistakes people make with multi-monitor taskbars

• People often assume that the feature turns on automatically when they connect a second monitor. It doesn’t—you have to enable it manually every time on a fresh Windows install.
• Confusing Extend and Duplicate display modes. Duplicate mirrors everything, including the taskbar; it isn’t a way to get a second independent taskbar.
• Not checking the app-icon display setting when an app “disappears.” This is almost always a display setting, not a crashed or closed application.
• Troubleshooting a crash as a hardware issue first. If Explorer is crashing specifically after enabling multi-monitor taskbars, the setting itself is the more likely cause—try disabling it before deeper hardware diagnostics.
• Trying to find this setting on Windows 7. It doesn’t exist natively on Windows 7 at all—no amount of searching Control Panel will find it, because the feature wasn’t introduced until Windows 10.

Recommended tools

• DisplayFusion—Third-party software that adds full taskbar functionality to any monitor, including on Windows 7, where the feature doesn’t exist natively
• Actual Multiple Monitors – An alternative third-party tool with similar multi-monitor taskbar and window-management features
• Windows Registry Editor (built-in)—For the registry method described above, useful for scripting across multiple office machines

If you’ve since upgraded to Windows 10 or 11, none of this applies—the native toggle covered earlier in this guide replaces the need for any third-party tool entirely.

Conclusion

A multi-monitor taskbar setup should feel invisible once it’s configured right—you shouldn’t have to think about which screen an app icon lives on or wonder whether Windows silently closed something.

Just turn on the setting, choose the app-icon behavior that matches how you actually work across your screens, and you’re done in under a minute.

If you hit the Explorer-crashing bug, don’t assume your hardware is at fault—disable the feature, confirm stability returns, and re-enable it once Microsoft ships a fix.

And if you’re still on Windows 7, save yourself the search through Control Panel: the native feature simply isn’t there, and third-party software is genuinely your only path to a working second-screen taskbar.