How to Enable or Disable Notification Badges on Taskbar Apps in Windows 11

Designed for visibility, taskbar badges display unread counts or attention markers for supported apps. They depend on Windows notification settings and app permissions, and can be cluttered when icons move into the overflow menu. Inconsistent device configuration often leads to missed alerts or unexpected badge behavior.

This guide walks through how to show badges on taskbar apps or turn them off using Settings, registry changes, and PowerShell. It also covers the checks you need to run, the things that affect visibility, and the steps that can help you confirm everything works. These can help MSPs and admins maintain consistent badge behavior across their fleet.

Methods for enabling or disabling notification badges on taskbar apps in Windows 11

Before you can show notification badges or disable them, you will need to meet the following requirements:

📌 Prerequisites:

• This requires permissions to change settings for the current user.
• You will need to use a test application that produces notifications for validation.
• This needs a change window if deploying the registry or PowerShell across user profiles.

Method 1: Toggle show badges on taskbar apps via Settings

📌 Use Cases:

• This allows you to enable or disable badges for a single user without modifying the Registry or scripts.
• It’s a quick way to check whether badges are displaying correctly when you’re troubleshooting an issue on a single device.

📌 Prerequisites:

• You will need access to the device and permission to adjust taskbar settings.
• This will require a test app that can generate notifications on demand.

Actions:

1. Open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors.
2. Check or uncheck Show badges (unread messages counter) on taskbar apps.
3. Trigger a notification from your test app and confirm badge behavior on the taskbar icon.

Method 2: Enabling or disabling show badges on taskbar apps via Windows Registry (per user)

📌 Use Cases:

• This allows you to enforce badge behavior per user without needing to access Settings.
• This provides a reusable method for RMM, login scripts, or GPO-based user configuration.

📌 Prerequisites:

• You will need the ability to modify HKCU registry keys for the target user.
• This requires restarting Explorer or signing out and back in to apply the change

Actions:

1. Open the Registry Editor (press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter), then navigate to: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
2. Locate or create the TaskbarBadges DWORD value.
3. Next, edit the value. Set it to 1 to enable badges or 0 to disable them.
4. Apply the change by restarting File Explorer for the current user. Open Command Prompt and run: taskkill /f /im explorer.exe & start explorer.exe

Method 3: Tweaking show badges on taskbar apps via PowerShell for scale

📌 Use Cases:

• This allows consistent badge behavior across multiple devices via RMM, Intune, or login scripts.
• It implements the same registry change for each user where the script is executed, ensuring that Explorer reloads cleanly.

📌 Prerequisites:

• You will need the ability to run PowerShell as a user (HKCU), not system.
• This runs in the current user session and briefly restarts File Explorer to apply the change.

Actions (via PowerShell):

1. Create or validate the Advanced registry key:
   New-Item -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer" -Name Advanced -Force | Out-Null

Note: If the Advanced key does not exist, create it using the following command; otherwise, skip this step.

2. To enable badges, set TaskbarBadges value to 1. Set it to 0 to disable them: Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" -Name TaskbarBadges -Type DWord -Value 1
3. Restart Explorer to apply the change:
   Stop-Process -Name explorer -Force
Start-Process explorer.exe
4. To deploy these scripts at scale, you can use your RMM or endpoint management tool.

Steps to validate and optimize taskbar badge settings

Badge behavior depends on notification settings, taskbar layout, and each user’s setup. Use these steps to verify dependencies, enhance visibility, and maintain consistent badge behavior across devices.

Step 1: Validate dependencies

📌 Use Cases:

• This ensures that badge behavior is not blocked by global or app-level notification controls.
• Prevents false troubleshooting paths when badges fail to appear due to unrelated notification settings.

📌 Prerequisites:

• You will need access to system notification settings and the target app’s notification preferences.
• This requires a test app that can generate notifications on demand.

Actions:

1. Open Settings > System > Notifications and confirm that notifications are On.
2. Next, open the target app’s notification settings and ensure notifications are allowed.
3. Temporarily disable Do Not Disturb if it is active.

Step 2: Optimize visibility of badges on taskbar buttons

📌 Use Cases:

• This improves the visibility of unread indicators for users who rely on quick, glanceable badge information.
• Prevents badge behavior from being misinterpreted when icons are not visible, combined, or moved to the overflow menu.

📌 Prerequisites:

• You will need access to the taskbar personalization settings for the user session.
• This requires a list of critical apps that must remain visible on the taskbar.

Actions:

1. Check whether taskbar icons are combined or hidden in the overflow menu. Uncombine or adjust the layout if visibility is reduced.
2. Review your Combine taskbar buttons settings for roles that require constant badge visibility.
3. Pin the important apps so they stay on the main taskbar and don’t get pushed into the overflow menu.

Step 3: Document and standardize your taskbar badge posture

📌 Use Cases:

• This ensures badge behavior is applied consistently across devices and user groups.
• It reduces configuration drift by recording preferred defaults and allowing exceptions when necessary.

📌 Prerequisites:

• You will need a defined badge policy for roles or departments that rely on notification visibility.
• You will need access to your device profiles, onboarding templates, or documentation platform.

Actions:

1. Determine which user groups require badges and which can operate without them.
2. Record your default configuration, including the method used (Settings, registry, or PowerShell).
3. Document validation steps so technicians can confirm badge behavior after deployment.
4. Add these defaults to your device profile or onboarding runbook to maintain consistency across all devices.

⚠️ Things to look out for

Troubleshooting badges on taskbar apps issues

Use these checks to diagnose common problems with taskbar badge visibility issues:

• Badge does not appear: Make sure app notifications are allowed, Do Not Disturb is turned off, and the app icon is not hidden in the overflow menu.
• Setting reverts after reboot: A policy, OEM tool, or user script might overwrite the value. Audit RMM policies and sign-in scripts.
• The badge shows, but the count is incorrect: Some apps only display an attention dot. Inspect app-level notification settings.
• Users find badges distracting: Disable badges for specific groups by using the Windows Registry or a PowerShell script, while keeping notifications enabled.

Standardize how you show badges on taskbar apps for consistent results

Taskbar badges help people notice new activity faster, but if every device displays them differently, they just become noise. Select a badge setup you want to adhere to and apply it consistently through Settings, registry keys, or PowerShell, to promote uniform behavior across devices.

If you double-check the notification pieces that badges depend on and jot down your standard settings, they’ll continue to work the way you expect after updates. With a steady process and a quick review now and then, users get clarity, and you deal with fewer support tickets.

Related topics:

• How to Enable or Disable Mail Notifications in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable Windows Firewall Notifications in Windows 10
• How to Change Notifications Priority in Windows 11
• How to Add or Remove the Notification Bell Icon on the Windows 11 Taskbar
• How to Enable or Disable Notification Center in Windows 11