Windows 11 – Apps keep pinning to the taskbar

January 21, 2023 / Kannan / 0 Comments

In certain laptops/desktops, you will be able to see a few apps keep pining themselves to the taskbar after each reboot.

For me, this happens in my MSI-manufactured Windows 11 laptop.

Do the following to fix this annoyance.

• Once you have logged into your Windows 11 operating system
• Press “Win + R” keys
• Type in “%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell”
• This will open up the folder “Shell”
• Within the folder, you will find a file named “LayoutModification.xml”
• Create a copy of that file and rename it to “LayoutModification-Original.xml.bak”
• Now open that file with the “Notepad” app.
• Search for the word “CustomTaskbar” and you should be able to see the following lines.

<CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
    <defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
      <taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
        <taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="9426MICRO-STARINTERNATION.DragonCenter_kzh8wxbdkxb8p!App" />
        <taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="9426MICRO-STARINTERNATION.CreatorCenter_kzh8wxbdkxb8p!App" />
		<taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="9426MICRO-STARINTERNATION.BusinessCenter_kzh8wxbdkxb8p!App" />
		<taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="9426MICRO-STARINTERNATION.MSICenter_kzh8wxbdkxb8p!App" />
        <taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="Microsoft.GamingApp_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.Xbox.App" />
      </taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
    </defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
 </CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>

• In the above case, there are 5 line items (4,5,6,7 & 8) which start the relevant apps.
• Remove the necessary lines and save the file.

<CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
    <defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
      <taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
      </taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
    </defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
 </CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>

Reboot the system and those apps shouldn’t pin themselves in the next restart.