How to Enable End Task option to Close Apps from Taskbar in Windows 11 (23466)

Microsoft is testing a new “End Task” option in the Windows 11 build 23466 in the dev channel (First spotted in build Windows 11 25300). With the help of this option, users will be able to end the entire task or process from the jump list or menu that opens when they right-click on the app icon on Taskbar without opening a task manager.

Right now, if you right-click on the specific opened app icon on the taskbar, the jump list only has the option to close the app window. The same option isn’t useful most of the time. Like, it cannot end the process or task for a particular app running in the background or when the app become unresponsive.

The addition of the End Task option in the Windows 11 jump list will make closing an app task a single-click process and save extra clicks that users have to perform to launch Task Manager and close the task from there.

Right now, the End Task option is hidden in the Windows 11 build 23466 and interested users have to enable it manually. Below in this blog post, let’s learn how to do that:

Before you start following the steps, you need to keep a few things in mind:

• The steps discussed below will add the End Task option to the Jump list, and it’s not working yet.
• It’s an experimental feature and there’s no guarantee that the same feature will be made up to Windows 11 OS.
• The feature is under development and unstable.
• To enable this feature, we’re going to use a third-party program.
• These features are highly experimental, so we recommend users try them on virtual machines and secondary PCs

How to Enable End Task option to Close Apps from Windows 11 Taskbar (23466)

So if you made up to this part of the blog, then we presume that you’re aware of all the pros and cons, right? Let’s learn how to enable the new option

Download and set up ViveTool on your Windows 11 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.

When the UAC dialog box appears, click Yes to continue.

Here, you need to copy-paste this command: c:\vivetool\vivetool.exe /enable /id:42592269 and hit enter.

Once you get the message successfully set feature configuration, you need to reboot your computer to apply the changes.

(Check this YouTube video for step-by-step instructions)

At this point, you have successfully enabled the Taskbar End Task feature in Windows 11.

Show or Hide ‘End Task’ option in Taskbar by Right-click in Windows 11

Once the feature is enabled and your PC is rebooted, an End Task toggle will appear in the Developer Settings of Windows 11. Here’s how you can show or hide it:

Launch Settings app in Windows 11 by pressing Win + I key combination.

Switch to System tab, and then on the right side, select For Developers option.

On this setting page, scroll down ‘End Task’ option. You can use this option to show or hide the End Task option in the Taskbar Jump list in Windows 11.

Out of the box, the End Task option is turned ON.

However, to click on the End Task toggle, you need to turn ON Developer Mode as well, which may not be desired by everyone. To bypass this requirement, you can apply the registry edit discussed below that allows you to access the End Task option in the menu without enabling Developer Mode.

Click on the Search icon and type regedit, when Registry Editor appears in search results, click to open it. If the UAC dialog box appears, click Yes to continue.

You need to navigate to the following key: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DeveloperSettings

Note – In case, the DeveloperSettings key is missing, you need to create it yourself

Under DeveloperSettings, you need to create a new DWORD value. For that, right-click on the DeveloperSettings key and select New > DWORD (32-Bit) Value and name it TaskbarEndTask.

At last, double-click to open the DWORD value and set its Value data to 1.

After that, close everything and restart your computer to apply the changes.

How to End App Task or Process from Windows 11 Jump List

At this point, you’re all set to End App Task or Process from Windows 11 Taskbar App Right-click Menu.

If you right-click on the active app icon, there will be an End Task option in the Windows 11 Jump list.

As simple as that!

In case, this feature creates instability or for any reason, if you want to restore the changes, then you can either delete TaskbarEndTask DWORD Value in the Registry Editor.

Or Executing this command: c:\vivetool\vivetool.exe /disable /id:42592269 (In Command Prompt Window)

Isn’t killing the app task from Windows 11 jump list a convenient option? What do you think, let me know in the comments.

Following New File Explorer Header UI, Never Combine Taskbar Button, Depth Effect, and View Wifi Password from the Settings app, this feature is expected to come with Windows 11 23H2 which is set to release in September or October this year.

Thanks, PhantomOcean and Albacore for discovering and sharing the registry hack.