Windows 7 // 8/10 taskbar can be a very handy launcher where you can pin frequently used programs. You can also pin frequently used files, folders and web pages to it.
Once you have customized the taskbar the way you want, you can take a backup so you can restore it if there is a problem with your computer. You can also copy pinned taskbar items to another user’s profile.
Back up installed taskbar items
To back up items pinned to the taskbar, open Windows Explorer, type the following path in the address bar, and press Enter.
% AppData% Microsoft Internet Explorer Quick Launch User Pinned TaskBar
Select all shortcut files in the TaskBar folder. Right-click the files and choose Copy from the pop-up menu.
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Browse to the folder you are using to store your taskbar backup files. Right-click the folder and choose Paste from the pop-up menu.
There is a section in the registry that stores data about the taskbar, which you should also back up. To do this, open the Start menu and type “regedit” (without quotes) in the “Search programs and files” field. When regedit.exe appears in the list of results, click the link.
Click Yes again in the User Account Control dialog box.
Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Explorer Taskband
Right-click the taskbar button and choose Export from the pop-up menu.
Notice that the selected branch is selected at the bottom of the Export Registry File dialog box, and the value corresponds to the selected registry key. Navigate to the folder where you store your taskbar backup files. Enter the name of the backup file for the registry key by appending the .reg extension to the file name. Click Save.
Close Registry Editor by choosing Exit from the File menu.
You should see your .reg file in your backup folder.
Restore pinned taskbar items
To restore pinned taskbar items, open Windows Explorer and navigate to the directory where you saved the taskbar shortcut files and the .reg file. Select your shortcut files (not a .reg file yet), right-click the files and choose Copy from the pop-up menu.
Navigate to the following folder again:
% AppData% Microsoft Internet Explorer Quick Launch User Pinned TaskBar
Right-click inside the folder and choose Paste from the pop-up menu.
When the Copy File dialog box opens, select the Do this for next X conflicts check box (the X may be different depending on how many shortcuts are replaced). Then click the Copy and Replace button.
Now you need to add a backup copy of the Taskband registry key back to the registry. To do this, copy the created .reg file to your desktop.
NOTE. We found that .reg files don’t always run from external or network drives, so we copied the TaskbarPinnedItemsBackup.reg file to our desktop before adding the key back to the registry.
Double-click the .reg file on your desktop and click Yes in the User Account Control dialog box that appears.
A confirmation dialog will open to make sure you really want to add the information from the .reg file to the registry. Click Yes.
A dialog box is then displayed that says the information has been successfully added to the registry. Click OK.
Please note that your pinned items are not immediately displayed in the taskbar. You need to end the explorer process and restart it for the items to be displayed. To do this, right-click on the taskbar and select “Start Task Manager” from the pop-up menu.
In the Windows Task Manager dialog box, click the Processes tab. Right-click the explorer.exe task in the list and select End Process from the pop-up menu.
A dialog box will open to make sure you really want to end the Explorer process. Click End Process.
To restart the Explorer process, select New Task (Run…) from the File menu.
In the Create New Task dialog box, enter explorer.exe (without quotes) in the Open edit box and click OK.
To close the Windows Task Manager dialog box, choose Exit Task Manager from the File menu.
After you restart File Explorer, you should see the restored pinned items on the taskbar again. Enjoy!
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