How to change the Windows 11 taskbar size

The current development version of Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system has changed the taskbar and the provided customization options significantly. If you prefer a smaller taskbar size, you may have noticed that the option to use small taskbar buttons that exists in Windows 10 is no longer present.

It looks as if you are stuck with the default taskbar size, just like you are stuck with the bottom taskbar position. Microsoft may add the option in future builds to the Settings app, but for now, there is no option to change the taskbar size using it.

That does not mean that you cannot set a different taskbar size in Windows 11, quite the contrary. Windows 11 supports the three taskbar sizes small, medium and large. The default taskbar size is medium.

Here are screenshots that visualize the different taskbar levels (from small over medium to large):

windows 11 taskbar small size windows 11 taskbar medium size windows 11 taskbar large size

Changing the taskbar size in Windows 11 manually

windows 11 taskbar registry

You need to edit the Registry if you want to change the size of the taskbar in Microsoft's new operating system, here is how that is done:

Select Start.
Type regedit.
Select Registry Editor.
Confirm the UAC prompt that is displayed.
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
Right-click on Advanced and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
Name it TaskbarSi.
Double-click on it to set its value to
- 0 to make the taskbar size small
- 1 to make the taskbar size medium (default).
- 2 to make the taskbar size large.
Sign-out and in again, restart the PC, or restart the Explorer process to see the changes.

Using Registry files to make the changes

You may also use the following Registry files to make the changes to the taskbar. Just download the archive linked below, extract the zip file after the download, and run the Registry file that corresponds to the size that you want: windows-11-registry-taskbar-change-size

Closing Words

There is a chance that Microsoft will add options to modify the size of the taskbar to the Settings app. Even if that is going to be the case, you may still use the direct way to make the change on Windows 11 devices.

Now You: what is your preferred taskbar icon size?

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