windows-internals

Every taskbar checkbox is a documented per-user value

Alignment, Widgets, Chat, badges, jump list hover — taskbar configuration is a small set of HKCU values with known names. The full per-account map.

ProofTune Project·2026-08-18·4 min read

The key paths

All per user, all restart-Explorer to apply:

…\Explorer\Advanced\TaskbarAl

0 = left-aligned, 1 = centered (Windows 11)

…\Explorer\Advanced\TaskbarDa

Widgets button visibility per account

…\Explorer\Advanced\TaskbarMn

Chat/Teams-pinned button visibility

…\Explorer\Advanced\ShowSecondsInSystemClock

Seconds in the clock. yes, it's a value now

Explorer holds the write: the toggles write these themselves, so warm them via Settings not scripts where possible; scripts still work, with Explorer restart as the deterministic reload.
Policy cousins exist: admins can lock Widgets off machine-wide via policy — a per-user value loses to the machine policy by design, and that's the correct pecking order.
Undo is the default byte: stock values are documented per value; restoring = rewrite. No opposites, no deletion unless the value defaults to absent.

The taskbar's a good ambassador for a wider truth: the most-wanted “tweaks” were always settings, just hidden behind the wrong UI.

ProofTune ProjectEngineering notes — every claim here names the bytes a real tool touches. Verify first, install second.

The browser replica runs the same strings and states as the installed app — click around before you ever install anything.