The Notepad++ tab bar keeps hiding

Notepad++ doesn't allow the "drag tab to create a new window" feature unless the file that has been modified is saved (or if the file is new). If this problem persists even after the file is saved, try right-clicking the tab and choosing 'Move to New Instance'.

The configuration files are typically stored in the user's roaming app data folder. I have a standard Notepad++ setup (v6.1). I made no modifications during installation. My config files are stored in:

%appdata%\Notepad++

Which resolves to:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++

I verified this by opening %appdata%\Notepad++\config.xml and checking the value for <GUIConfig name="StatusBar"> tag, which was set to show. I then went into Settings -> Preferences and unchecked the "Show status bar" checkbox. I then closed Notepad++ and reopened the config.xml file. The value now shows hide instead of show.

If you did check the "Don't use the %APPDATA% folder" option at install time, Notepad++ may be trying to write configuration files to your install directory but failing, or the Windows compatibility layer may be giving you a virtualized version of the install directory to write to. In that case I would uninstall, and reinstall using standard settings.