With Windows 11, Microsoft introduced a revamped taskbar and Start menu. Windows 11 displays program icons, including the Start button, at the center on the taskbar instead of the left. In addition, search, Widgets, task view, and Chat icons appear by default on the taskbar, but they can be turned off.
Windows 11 does not offer a setting to change the default size of icons on the taskbar. Of course, you can change the scaling under the Settings app, but doing so changes the size of all icons (not just icons on the taskbar), text (everywhere), and other items that most people do not want to change.
Luckily, there is a workaround to change the size of taskbar icons in Windows 11. It’s pretty easy as well. All you need to do is open the Registry and change a value.
Change program icons size on Windows 11 taskbar
Complete the directions given below to change the size of taskbar icons in Windows 11.
IMPORTANT: Changing the size of taskbar icons also changes the size of the taskbar accordingly. That is, if you increase the size of icons, the taskbar size will also be increased automatically to accommodate larger icons and vice versa. So, yes, this guide can also be used to make the taskbar smaller or larger.
Step 1: Use the Start/taskbar search to open the Registry Editor.
If you get the User Account Confirmation prompt, click the Yes button to open the Registry Editor.
Step 2: In the address bar of the Registry Editor, copy and paste the following path and hit the Enter key.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
Step 3: Now, on the right side, you need to create a new value. To do that, perform a right-click on an empty spot (on the right side), click New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Name the new value as TaskbarSi.
Step 4: Finally, double-click on the TaskbarSi value, set 0 for small, 1 for medium, and 2 for large icons.
Click the OK button to apply.
Step 5: You need to restart your PC or restart the File Explorer to see the change.
Use display scaling to change the size of all icons and other items in Windows 11
The display scaling allows you to increase or reduce the size of icons, menus, texts, and other items. Here is how to do that.
Step 1: Right-click on an empty spot on the desktop and click Display settings to open Settings > System > Display page.
Step 2: Here, on the right side, in the Scale & layout section, select a scale from the drop-down box to apply the same. The default scale value is 100%. We suggest you choose the scale recommended by Windows 11.
Russell van Hooff says
this method seems to have its problems
When you insert the taskbar sizing entry 0 in the registry, it does indeed change the size of the taskbar icons.
But it also s p a c e s t h e m o u t so they look ridiculous.
It also squashes down the size of the taskbar without considering the notification area, which gets distorted and pushed down below the resolution of the monitor.
It works all ok on medium setting 1, which is what i am going to use.