Windows Task Manager is a system app that provides information about the processes and applications running on your system. It also helps you to monitor and assess your PC’s performance and to forcefully quit the apps and programs that are not responding. The Task Manager has separate sections that include Applications, Processes, Performance, Startup items, and other services.
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If you’re familiar with the Windows OS, we’re sure you must’ve used Task Manager at some point in time for general troubleshooting. As soon as an app or service becomes unresponsive, we quickly launch the Task Manager, head to the “Processes” tab, find the culprit, and then hit the “End Task” button to forcefully quit the application. Isn’t it?
So, yes, if the Task Manager itself becomes non-functional or doesn’t open your Windows 11 device, it is certainly a matter of concern. In this post, we have listed a couple of solutions that you can use to fix the “Task Manager not working” issue on Windows 11.
Let’s get started and see how we can fix the Task Manager by making a few quick changes in your machine’s settings.
Also read: Ways To Fix Windows 10 Task Manager Not Responding
How To Fix Task Manager not Working on Windows 11
#1 Reboot your Device
Yes, let’s start with the basics. If the Task Manager becomes unresponsive or if it suddenly crashes or freezes when you launch the app you can try rebooting your machine. Rebooting your system is one of the oldest and effective hacks to deal with common errors, bugs, and glitches.
#2 Run the System Maintenance Tasks
The System Maintenance Troubleshooter is a built-in Windows utility that allows you to scan, detect and fix any irregularities or system discrepancies. You can run the System Maintenance Troubleshooter to fix the Task Manager on Windows 11. Here’s what you need to do:
Press the search (Magnifier) icon placed on the Taskbar, type “Control Panel” in the search bar, and hit Enter.
In the Control Panel window, tap on View By> View Large Icons. Tap on “Troubleshooting”.
Hit on the “Run maintenance task” option placed under the “System and Security” section.
Follow the on-screen instructions to run the System Maintenance Troubleshooter so that Windows can scan, detect and fix underlying issues. After running the troubleshooter, launch Task Manager to see whether it fixed the issues.
Also read: What Is Conhost.Exe And Why Is It Running In My Task Manager
#3 Run the SFC Scan
System File Checker is another built-in Windows utility that allows you to scan, fix and replace corrupt system files. To run the SFC scan on Windows 11, follow these steps:
Press the search icon placed on the Taskbar, type “Command Prompt” and then hit on the “Run as Administrator” option.
In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and hit Enter:
sfc/scannow
Wait for a couple of minutes until the scanning process is completed. Once the SFC scan is completed, reboot your device and see if you’re still encountering the “Task Manager not working” issue.
Also read: How To Kill Unresponsive Programs Without Task Manager
#4 Run the DISM Scan
DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) is a command-line tool that can be used as a workaround to fix Windows Task Manager. To run the DISM commands on Windows 11, here’s what you need to do.
Launch Command Prompt in Admin mode.
Now, run the following commands one by one in the same order on Command Prompt:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
After executing the commands, reboot your machine and then launch Task Manager to check if is functioning properly without any glitches.
#5 Enable Task Manager via Windows Registry
To make sure that the Task Manager service is up and running, you can manually enable it via Windows Registry. Follow these quick steps to enable Task Manager via Registry Editor on Windows 11.
Press the Window + R key combination to open the Run dialog box. Type “Regedit” and hit Enter.
In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the following folder location:
DISM /Online /HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies
Once you’re in the Policies folder, tap on it to see the sub-categories.
Right-click on the “System” folder, select New> D-WORD value.
Rename the new D-WORD file as “DisableTaskMgr”. Once the new entry appears in the Registry Editor, double-tap on it and then enter “0” in the Value Data field. Hit on OK when done.
Now, reboot your device and then once your device restarts, launch the Task Manager and check if you’re still experiencing any issues.
Also read: Windows 11 Taskbar Not Working: Here’s How To Fix
Conclusion
Here were a few simple troubleshooting hacks that you can use to fix the “Task Manager not working” issues on Windows 11. Windows Task Manager is a crucial system app that allows you to monitor processes and applications running on your system. So, if the Task Manager suddenly stops working, you can use the above-mentioned solutions to get it up and running within no time.
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Good luck!