Not quite. According to reporting by Windows Latest, Mikhail Parakhin, who previously served as the head of Windows and Bing at Microsoft and now serves as CTO at Shopify, recently installed the Windows 11 26H2 update and came away thoroughly unimpressed. Calling out current Windows chief Pavan Davuluri in a post on X, Parakhin wrote that he had been looking forward to putting his taskbar back on the left edge, only to find the implementation a “no-go” and “not usable yet” because auto-hide does not work in that position and its size cannot be adjusted. “Pavan Davuluri, c’mon, man, please make it real,” Parakhin reportedly wrote.
While calling the entire taskbar “unusable” is Parakhin’s personal verdict as a dedicated vertical-taskbar loyalist, his complaint shines a spotlight on a very real, officially documented set of architectural trade-offs. Microsoft did bring back the movable taskbar, yet for anyone who relied on Windows 10’s specific combination of edge placement, auto-hiding, and manual resizing, the Windows 11 26H2 era still feels like a work in progress.
What Microsoft Shipped—and What It Left Behind
To understand why a former Windows executive is publicly roasting the feature he reportedly fought to save during his tenure at Redmond, we have to separate what Microsoft actually delivered from what veterans of Windows 10 remember.
When Microsoft’s Diego Baca unveiled the revamped taskbar personalization in a May 15, 2026 Windows Insider blog post, the company acknowledged that moving the taskbar to the top or sides of the screen was one of the most requested features in Windows 11. Microsoft pitched the return of vertical positioning specifically to users who prize vertical screen real estate—such as software developers trying to view more lines of code on 16:9 or 16:10 monitors—and noted that when “Never combine” and labels are enabled on a vertical taskbar, each open application window displays as a separate labeled button.
However, Microsoft’s May 2026 announcement and subsequent September 2026 support documentation (such as cumulative update preview KB5124006) explicitly laid out the guardrails of this first-wave implementation:
- No Auto-Hide on the Sides or Top: Microsoft stated in its May Insider announcement that auto-hide and the tablet-optimized taskbar are “not yet supported in alternate positions.” As Windows Latest points out, if you move the taskbar away from the bottom edge and visit Windows Settings, a warning beneath the “Automatically hide the taskbar” toggle informs you: “This setting is only available when the taskbar is at the bottom.”
- Fixed Compact Sizing Only on Horizontal Edges: Alongside movable positions, Microsoft introduced a smaller taskbar option designed to shrink both the icons and the overall height of the bar without requiring a sign-out or restart. Yet according to Microsoft’s September 2026 KB5124006 documentation, both the smaller taskbar setting and the full search box are currently supported only when the taskbar is positioned at the top or bottom of the screen (side taskbars revert the search box to a compact search icon).
- No Drag-to-Resize or Drag-to-Move: Even where the smaller taskbar option works, it is a binary toggle rather than a freeform adjustment. In Windows 10, users could unlock the taskbar via its right-click context menu and drag its border to widen a vertical column—handy for reading long document titles—or simply click and drag the entire bar to another edge of the monitor. In Windows 11, Microsoft notes that drag-and-drop movement and per-monitor positioning are merely being “evaluated,” framing the Settings-only toggle as a way to keep the experience predictable and prevent accidental taskbar movement.
Windows 10 vs. Windows 11 (2026 Rollout) Taskbar Capabilities
| Taskbar Feature | Windows 10 Behavior | Windows 11 (Late 2026 Rollout) |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Edge Placement | Bottom, Top, Left, Right | Bottom, Top, Left, Right |
| How to Move Position | Unlock taskbar and drag with mouse, or use Settings | Only via Settings > Personalization > Taskbar |
| Auto-Hide Support | Works on all four screen edges | Works only when placed at the bottom edge |
| Taskbar Sizing | Small buttons toggle, plus manual edge-dragging to widen/heighten | Small/compact toggle only (supported on top and bottom edges; no manual edge-dragging) |
| Search Box on Vertical Bar | Adapts or converts to icon/button options | Collapses to a Search icon only |
| Right-Click Context Menu | Full menu (Lock taskbar, Task Manager, Cascade windows, Toolbars) | Minimal menu (Taskbar settings and Task Manager) |
Section Summary: While Windows 11 finally allows users to anchor the taskbar to all four edges of the display, it omits auto-hide for top and side placements, restricts the new compact size toggle and search box to horizontal edges, and lacks the manual drag-to-resize and drag-to-move mechanics of Windows 10.
The "Symmetric Panes" Philosophy and the Five-Year Detour
Why did it take five years to move a rectangular strip of icons ninety degrees, and why is auto-hide still missing on the left and right edges?
According to Parakhin’s earlier public remarks recounted by Windows Latest, the original sin of the Windows 11 taskbar came down to an internal design philosophy centered on “symmetric panes.” When Windows 11 was conceived, designers wanted a balanced visual choreography: the Widgets board (housing weather, news, and feeds) would slide out from the left edge of the screen, while the Notification Center and Quick Settings flyouts would anchor to the right. Placing a persistent or auto-hiding vertical taskbar on the left or right edge collided directly with those flyout animations and touch gestures.
Microsoft’s May 2026 Windows Insider blog post subtly corroborates the technical complexity behind that layout shift. To bring alternate positions back, engineers had to rewire Start, Search, tooltips, and system flyouts so that they open relative to whichever edge the taskbar currently inhabits—for example, making the Start menu drop down from the upper corner when the taskbar sits at the top of the screen. Microsoft also noted in May that touch gestures for alternate positions were still a work in progress.
When you think about how Windows 11 handles edge swipes and hover triggers on the left and right borders, the absence of vertical auto-hide starts to make architectural sense—even if it remains deeply frustrating for end users. If your mouse cursor hits the far-left edge of the screen, should Windows trigger a hidden vertical taskbar, or should it prepare to summon the Widgets pane? Until Microsoft finishes untangling those edge-detection and animation states, vertical taskbar users are stuck with a bar that permanently consumes horizontal pixels.
For Parakhin, who described a left-aligned, auto-hiding vertical taskbar as his lifelong productivity setup, a permanently visible vertical bar that cannot be narrowed or tucked out of sight defeats the entire purpose of moving it there in the first place.
Section Summary: The five-year delay—and the lingering absence of side-edge auto-hide—stems from Windows 11’s XAML flyout architecture, where left-side Widgets, right-side notifications, and touch gestures all compete for the same screen edges.
How to Configure the New Taskbar Controls (and Why You Might Not See Them Yet)
If you want to test the new taskbar placements or the compact size mode on your own machine, you will not find a “Lock the taskbar” toggle by right-clicking the bar. Microsoft has consolidated everything inside the Windows Settings app.
- Open Settings (press
Win + I). - Navigate to Personalization > Taskbar.
- Expand the Taskbar behaviors section (which Microsoft now expands by default in newer builds for better discoverability).
- Locate Taskbar position to choose between Bottom, Top, Left, or Right, and use the adjacent alignment option to center your icons or align them to the corner.
- If your taskbar is at the bottom or top, look for Taskbar size (or Show smaller taskbar buttons depending on your build revision) under Taskbar behaviors to switch to the smaller, compact profile.
The Gradual Rollout Catch in Windows 11 26H2
What if you just installed Windows 11 version 26H2—which reached General Availability on September 29, 2026 (OS build 26300)—and those dropdown menus are nowhere to be found? You are not alone.
While Windows Latest notes that many users received the movable taskbar upon upgrading to 26H2 after its initial September rollout, Microsoft’s servicing documentation makes it clear that taskbar positioning and sizing are governed by gradual rollout (Controlled Feature Rollout) across active Windows branches, including versions 24H2, 25H2, 26H1, and 26H2. Because Microsoft flips the server-side enablement switches in phases, simply installing the 26H2 enablement update or the October 2026 cumulative update (KB5127648, build 26300.9711) does not guarantee the controls will appear on every eligible PC immediately. Conversely, having third-party shell modification utilities installed can sometimes conflict with how Windows surfaces new native taskbar controls until the rollout token sticks.
The Bigger Picture for Windows Power Users
There is something undeniably poetic about a former Windows chief logging onto social media, installing the latest feature update on his daily-driver PC, and airing the exact same grievance that forum members have been posting since October 2021. When asked on X why he was still running Windows at all given his complaints, Parakhin’s reported reply—“What else would I be running?!”—sums up the captive frustration of millions of developers, sysadmins, and enthusiasts.
Microsoft deserves genuine credit for abandoning its early, rigid stance that the Windows 11 taskbar needed to stay glued to the bottom of the screen forever. Re-engineering modern WinUI flyouts to orient themselves from all four screen borders is a meaningful step forward. Yet shipping a movable taskbar that cannot auto-hide on the sides and cannot have its width adjusted feels like serving a steak without a knife: the main course is finally on the table, but the people who asked for it most loudly still cannot eat it the way they want.
Until Microsoft follows through on its May Insider promise that auto-hide for alternate positions is “coming soon,” power users who depend on a disappearing vertical dock will either have to sacrifice a permanent strip of horizontal screen space or keep their trusted third-party taskbar utilities on standby for a few months longer.
Section Summary: Users on updated Windows 11 builds can adjust taskbar edge placement and compact sizing under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors, though Controlled Feature Rollout phasing means availability still varies across devices even after installing version 26H2.