Configuration

Configuration

TaskbarUtil has no settings file of its own — no YAML, no JSON, no environment variables read at runtime. Its entire configuration is the layout XML it builds, plus the registry values it writes to deploy that XML. This page enumerates every path and key the code touches.

Files

Path	Written by	Purpose
%LOCALAPPDATA%\TaskbarUtil\LayoutModification.xml	add, remove, move, replace	The layout config. The single source of truth for the pin list
%LOCALAPPDATA%\TaskbarUtil\backup\shortcuts\*.lnk	pin backup routine	Copies of the user's taskbar shortcuts, restored by reset
%LOCALAPPDATA%\TaskbarUtil\backup\Favorites.bin	pin backup routine	The Taskband\Favorites binary value as it was before modification
%LOCALAPPDATA%\TaskbarUtil\backup\FavoritesResolve.bin	pin backup routine	The Taskband\FavoritesResolve binary value
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml	apply fallback	Where the layout goes when the policy registry key is not writable
C:\ProgramData\TaskbarUtil\LayoutModification.xml	apply --allhomes	The shared copy every profile's policy points at
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\LayoutModification.xml	apply --allhomes	Seeds the layout for profiles created after this point
C:\ProgramData\ManagedUtilities\logs\taskbarutil.log	every mutating command	The file log
%LOCALAPPDATA%\TaskbarUtil\logs\taskbarutil.log	every mutating command	Log fallback when the shared directory is not writable

Read but never written:

Path	Read by
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar	list
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs	app resolution
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs	app resolution

Registry

Policy keys written by apply and cleared by reset

Under HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer (and, for --allhomes, the same subpath under HKEY_USERS\<SID>):

Value	Type	Set to	Meaning
StartLayoutFile	REG_EXPAND_SZ	Path to the layout XML	Tells Explorer which layout file to read
LockedStartLayout	REG_DWORD	1	Activates the layout. Without it the file is ignored

reset deletes both values, then deletes the key itself if nothing else is left in it.

Caches deleted to force a rebuild

Location	Deleted by	What it holds
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband (whole subtree)	apply, as part of the Explorer restart	Pin order, in binary values
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\start2.bin	apply, as part of the Explorer restart	Pin data cache

For --allhomes the same two are cleared per profile, using the profile's own ProfileImagePath for start2.bin and HKEY_USERS\<SID> for Taskband.

Deleting Taskband is why a stale layout does not survive apply, and also why any pin the user added by hand is gone afterwards. There is no partial update.

Taskbar item visibility, written by settings

Under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced, all REG_DWORD:

Setting name	Registry value	Values
search	SearchboxTaskbarMode	0 hidden, 1 icon, 2 icon-label, 3 box
taskview	ShowTaskViewButton	0 off, 1 on
widgets	TaskbarDa	0 off, 1 on
resume	ShowResumeButton	0 off, 1 on
copilot	ShowCopilotButton	0 off, 1 on
chat	TaskbarMn	0 off, 1 on

Policy values read but never written

settings checks these, in HKLM first and then HKCU, and reports the setting as "locked by policy" if either carries a value. It does not attempt to override them.

Setting	Key	Value
taskview	Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer	HideTaskViewButton
widgets	SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Dsh	DisableWidgetsBoard
copilot	Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot	TurnOffWindowsCopilot
chat	Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer	ChatIcon

Profile enumeration for --allhomes

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList is enumerated to find user profiles. A subkey is considered only if its name starts with S-1-, is not one of the system SIDs S-1-5-18, S-1-5-19 or S-1-5-20, and its ProfileImagePath names a directory that exists. Usernames are resolved from the SID for display only.

Environment variables

None are read at runtime. %ProgramData% and %APPDATA% appear inside generated link paths and are expanded by Explorer, and by the tool when it needs to test whether a shortcut exists — see Layout XML Reference.

build.ps1 reads CERT_THUMBPRINT, TASKBARUTIL_CERT_CN, ENTERPRISE_CERT_CN, TASKBARUTIL_CERT_SUBJECT, ENTERPRISE_CERT_SUBJECT, SIGNTOOL_PATH and SIGNTOOL, but those are build-time only. See Installation.

Logging

Every pin, unpin, move, replace, apply, reset and settings change is appended to the file log with its target and outcome, along with any error. Read-only commands (list, find, show) do not log and do not even create the log directory — the log is resolved lazily on first use.

Property	Value
Primary path	C:\ProgramData\ManagedUtilities\logs\taskbarutil.log
Fallback path	%LOCALAPPDATA%\TaskbarUtil\logs\taskbarutil.log
Line format	[yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss] LEVEL message, local time, level padded to five characters
Levels	DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR
Encoding	UTF-8, no BOM
Roll threshold	5 MB
Generations kept	5 — taskbarutil.log.1 (newest) through .5

The fallback is chosen at startup by probing whether the shared directory can be created and appended to; an unelevated user typically lands on the per-user path. Log failures are swallowed entirely and never change a command's behaviour or exit code.

Console output is not the log. --verbose adds detail to stderr only, and that detail is separate from what is written to the file. --dry-run still writes DEBUG lines describing what would have happened.

There is no verbosity switch for the file log; it records everything from DEBUG up.

Worked example

Build a six-pin office layout and deploy it:

taskbarutil add "File Explorer"
taskbarutil add "Microsoft Edge"
taskbarutil add "Outlook"
taskbarutil add "Microsoft Teams"
taskbarutil add "Calculator"
taskbarutil add "Snipping Tool"

The resulting %LOCALAPPDATA%\TaskbarUtil\LayoutModification.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LayoutModificationTemplate Version="1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/LayoutModification"
    xmlns:defaultlayout="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/FullDefaultLayout"
    xmlns:start="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/StartLayout"
    xmlns:taskbar="http://schemas.microsoft.com/Start/2014/TaskbarLayout">
  <CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection PinListPlacement="Replace">
    <defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
      <taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
        <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationID="Microsoft.Windows.Explorer" />
        <taskbar:DesktopApp DesktopApplicationID="MSEdge" />
        <taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="Microsoft.OutlookForWindows_8wekyb3d8bbwe!Microsoft.OutlookforWindows" />
        <taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe!MSTeams" />
        <taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App" />
        <taskbar:UWA AppUserModelID="Microsoft.ScreenSketch_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App" />
      </taskbar:TaskbarPinList>
    </defaultlayout:TaskbarLayout>
  </CustomTaskbarLayoutCollection>
</LayoutModificationTemplate>

Then, after taskbarutil apply, the registry state is:

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
    StartLayoutFile   REG_EXPAND_SZ   C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\TaskbarUtil\LayoutModification.xml
    LockedStartLayout REG_DWORD       1