The finest Windows 11 replace in years is usually Microsoft undoing itself
In October 2021, Microsoft shipped a Windows 11 taskbar that could only live at the bottom of your screen. Nearly 5 years later, you’ll be able to lastly park it on the highest, left, or proper edge once more, identical to Windows 10 did.
That’s the principle change in KB5124008, the September 2026 Patch Tuesday update, and it is not the one factor Microsoft is giving us again. The KB5120998 preview notes listing Start menu dimension choices and unbiased toggles for every Start part, and KB5124008 carried these into the necessary September replace. Almost none of that is new; this replace is Windows 11 reversing selections Microsoft made at launch, which is why it is the very best replace in years. It’s additionally incomplete: you continue to cannot drag the taskbar to a brand new edge, Start nonetheless does not resize freely, and a staged rollout means you could not see any of it but.
The five-year highway to fixing the interface
Restripping the core interface to construct a brand new basis
When Windows 11 launched in 2021, it stripped away many years of established workflow habits. Power customers misplaced drag-and-drop file opening on taskbar icons, the deep right-click context menu was changed with a bare-bones Taskbar Settings hyperlink, and the bar was locked to the display screen’s backside edge. Microsoft defended these omissions as crucial trade-offs whereas rebuilding the taskbar from scratch.
Over the following two years, Microsoft trickled fundamental performance again by way of incremental patches, restoring drag-and-drop in 2022, Task Manager’s right-click shortcut later that 12 months, and full window labels by late 2023. However, the taskbar itself remained pinned on the backside.
The taskbar strikes once more
A protracted-awaited repair arrives with actual bodily limitations
The capability to maneuver your taskbar appeared earlier this 12 months when Microsoft supplied Experimental construct 26300.8493 to Insiders in May 2026, introducing high, left, and proper alignment choices alongside a compact taskbar setting. That check labored its manner into the August preview replace earlier than formally rolling out to everybody within the September 8 safety launch, KB5124008. Moving the bar is so simple as heading to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors and selecting your most popular edge from the brand new place dropdown. As welcome as this restoration is, it is not a complete return to Windows 10 functionality. There are nonetheless notable characteristic gaps: you can not click on and drag the taskbar to a brand new edge on the fly, auto-hiding breaks on each edge besides the underside, and parking the bar vertically strips away the total search field in favor of a fundamental icon.
Start will get its controls again, type of
More format choices, however no true freeform sizing
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The Start menu is getting a similar treatment. Under the format settings launched in KB5120998 and KB5124008, you get a lot better management over display screen actual property by selecting specific Small or Large preset layouts, toggling Pinned gadgets, Recommended information, and All Apps on or off independently, or hiding your account profile image to trim litter. While these new toggles offer you a cleaner format, they don’t carry again the freeform corner-dragging resize habits that made the Windows 10 Start menu so adaptable. You are selecting from pre-set templates reasonably than constructing your individual grid.
Shut down lastly means shut down
Bypassing pressured replace delays whenever you simply wish to flip off your PC.
Microsoft additionally seems to be fixing one of the crucial persistent each day annoyances in Windows administration: pressured replace stalls when powering off. Starting in Insider build 26300.8289, the corporate up to date the Power menu logic so it at all times shows customary Restart and Shut down commands proper alongside “Update and Restart.”
This change ought to hit your machine quickly, permitting you to show off your rig with out being held hostage by a seemingly infinite patch set up. Because Microsoft omitted this particular tweak from the official KB5124008 patch notes, you’ll want to check your individual Power menu choices after updating to substantiate your construct has acquired the server-side toggle.
Why you won’t see any of this but
Staged rollouts and lingering replace bugs
Installing KB5124008 will not assure these adjustments will present up in your desktop instantly, nevertheless, as Microsoft’s Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR) course of flips characteristic flags on in waves that may take days or perhaps weeks to look. Applying the patch additionally comes with typical OS improve dangers. Microsoft’s Release Health dashboard flagged 4 key bugs tied to the discharge: Remote Desktop hanging, and damaged Linux VM folder sharing in Hyper-V, each of which have been resolved by way of an out-of-band KB5129195 patch, alongside USB audio connection drops on sure exterior DACs and enterprise area belief losses, which stay on momentary mitigations whereas we look forward to extra everlasting fixes.
A protracted-overdue give up
Giving customers again their taskbar choices might not be a daring leap into computing’s future, but it surely’s a strong step ahead, even when it reads extra like an organization give up to 5 years of regular person complaints.
KB5124008 marks a crucial step towards fixing a fractured desktop expertise, even when it is a bittersweet victore. Five years of ready delivered fundamental format toggles, whereas drag-and-drop taskbar transferring and freeform Start menu resizing stay totally lacking. Update your system for the safety fixes and seize the highest taskbar in the event you miss it, although.
