Microsoft is internally testing various variants of the New Taskbar Search Button in Windows 11 Insider builds. With recent updates, the company has started pushing 3 variants in public builds.
The same is confirmed by various users on different forums. Let’s learn and see what these variants look like:
- Search button with ‘Search’ labeled and magnifying glass
- Instead of a Search button, there’s a magnifying glass
- Search button with ‘Search the Web’ labeled
You can check the screenshot below for a clean idea.
If you’re seeing a new variant of the Taskbar search button, then it is possible that you’re running
- 21H2: 22000.1041+ (KB5017383 or newer updates installed)
- 22H2: 22621.754+ (KB5018496 or newer updates installed)
- Beta: 2262x.730+ (rollout is only for .870 and newer)
However, some users don’t like them and just bring back the old simple taskbar search icon in Windows 11. If you landed on this blog post, then definitely you’re one of them. Fortunately, it is possible and below in this blog, you will learn how to do that.
How to Restore old simple Taskbar Search icon in Windows 11
Download and Set up ViveTool on your PC.
Launch the Command prompt with admin rights. For that, click on the Search icon and type CMD, when it Command prompt appears in the search results click to open it.
Here, you need to copy-paste this command: c:\vivetool\vivetool.exe /disable /id:39263329 and hit enter.
Once you get the message successfully set feature configuration for both commands, you need to reboot your computer to apply the changes.
Disabling the ID disables the currently active Taskbar search variant and prevents other variants to show up. As a result, restore the old search button available on the Taskbar in Windows 11.
What is your opinion about Microsoft testing new Taskbar search box variants, are you happy with this? Did you like any of the search box variants? Let us your opinion in the comments.
Thanks, PhantomOfEarth
