Several Windows 11 Insiders have spotted a taskbar with rounded corners in the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25174, a preview of Windows 11 23H2, from the Dev Channel and other Insider Previews, and in the sub-reddit r/Windows11 released. But it is a bug.
No taskbar with rounded corners for Windows 11
While some users already thought they had discovered a new optical feature for the Windows 11 taskbar, which gives it rounded corners, it quickly turned out that this was a bug and not a new feature.
As Brandon LeBlancSenior Program Manager in the Windows 11 Insider program, has now announced via the short message service Twitter that it was simply a graphical bug.
This looks like an error. There are a few such bugs that change the user interface in various ways. It’s not something we test in A/B testing.
Brandon LeBlanc, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft
It is currently assumed that the function responsible for the rounded corners of the windows will also be transferred to the taskbar. This is then also displayed temporarily in this style.
Restarting the user interface corrects errors
After exiting and then restarting the user interface via the process explorer.exe or a restart of the entire operating system, the taskbar is then displayed again as usual.
Taskbar with rounded corners from the Microsoft Store
Although Windows 11 will not offer a “floating” taskbar with rounded corners “out of the box” in the future either, there is a solution for this optical gimmick in the Microsoft Store. The little tool RoundedTB makes the Windows 11 taskbar appear floating, transparent and with rounded corners at the top or bottom of the screen if desired.
For more information on RoundedTB, see the official project page on the developer platform GitHub as well as the official ones Release Notes the current release 3.1 (v1.3.1.0). Also a Download (.ZIP) from the developer side is possible.
The developer of RoundedTB also works closely with the maker of TranslucentTB. TranslucentTB is a tool that gives the taskbar transparency and an acrylic style so that the two programs complement each other in the best possible way and don’t inadvertently get in each other’s way.
Also TranslucentTB is about the Microsoft Store from Windows 11 and Windows 10 and the official Product page on GitHub available.