Windows – In Windows 7 Ultimate, how to enable multiple rows of icons in the taskbar

Okay - I kind of found a way to do this, but it does not work with the taskbar vertical (or I haven't got it to work yet, pretty sure it won't anyways with this method).

A while back I wanted to get my icons centered like a Macs, so I followed this tutorial. It works perfect, and your taskbar stays centered that way (minus when you open new windows, they show up to the right of center). Your taskar should look similar to this:

After you have finished that tutorial, instead of locking the taskbar, drag it up one more space so it is two units high. After that, take the little scroll thing on the notification area side and drag that over until your icons are stacked like you want them, similar to this

:

Alternatively, you could add another folder on the other side of your icons and use that to adjust the stacking of the icons instead of the notification area, incase you like it in a certain way.

Now, if you want a vertical taskbar with programs or files, first unlock the taskbar and drag it to the side of the screen you would like for it to be on. Second, create some folders, that contain the items that you want to be stacked on the bar. For example, I just used Folder and then duplicated it to get Folder2 (that's why the two columns match) - unfortunately, I haven't found out how to make the taskbar icons multi layered yet (You can put an application in the folder, and it will launch, but it will then show up as the last icon in the task bar, and won't actually be a taskbar icon - I hope that makes sense.) I'll post back here if I can find a way to fix that - but anyways, this is what mine looked like.

I finally solved the problem by running the following vbs script. It does some modifications to the windows registry. Although it's originally designed for Windows XP, fortunately it also works in Windows 7, at least in my case. My task bar has now come back but I still have no idea what actually causes such problem.

'xp_taskbar_desktop_fixall.vbs - Repairs the Taskbar when minimized programs don't show.
'?Kelly Theriot and Doug Knox - 8/22/2003

Set WSHShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

Message = "To work correctly, the script will close" & vbCR
Message = Message & "and restart the Windows Explorer shell." & vbCR
Message = Message & "This will not harm your system." & vbCR & vbCR
Message = Message & "Continue?"

X = MsgBox(Message, vbYesNo, "Notice")

If X = 6 Then 

On Error Resume Next

WshShell.RegDelete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects2\"
WshShell.RegDelete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StreamMRU\"
WshShell.RegDelete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop\"

WshShell.RegDelete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Explorer Bars\{32683183-48a0-441b-a342-7c2a440a9478}\BarSize"

P1 = "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\"

WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "NoBandCustomize", 0, "REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "NoMovingBands", 0, "REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "NoCloseDragDropBands", 0, "REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "NoSetTaskbar", 0, "REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "NoToolbarsOnTaskbar", 0, "REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "NoSaveSettings",0,"REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "NoToolbarsOnTaskbar", 0, "REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "NoSetTaskbar",0,"REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "NoActiveDesktop",0,"REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "ClassicShell",0,"REG_DWORD"

p1 = "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\LocalUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\"

WshShell.RegWrite p1 & "NoCloseDragDropBands", 0, "REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegDelete p1 & "NoMovingBands"

p1 = "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell"

WshShell.RegWrite p1, "explorer.exe", "REG_SZ"

p1 = "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Explorer Bars\{32683183-48a0-441b-a342-7c2a440a9478}\"
WshShell.RegDelete p1 & "BarSize"
WshShell.RegWrite p1, "Media Band", "REG_SZ"

On Error Goto 0

For Each Process in GetObject("winmgmts:"). _
    ExecQuery ("select * from Win32_Process where name='explorer.exe'")
   Process.terminate(0)
Next

MsgBox "Finished." & vbcr & vbcr & "?Kelly Theriot and Doug Knox", 4096, "Done"

Else

MsgBox "No changes were made to your system." & vbcr & vbcr & "?Kelly Theriot and Doug Knox", 4096, "User Cancelled"

End If

The script can also be downloaded in this page:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

Just click on "Taskbar is Missing".

Good luck.