Widgets not working in Windows 11: how to fix them

Applies to: Windows 11 Home, Pro, Enterprise and Education, on the Widgets board that opens from the left side of the taskbar (with the weather and news feed). Menu names below follow Microsoft’s current support pages and can differ slightly between Windows 11 versions. If several taskbar icons are missing, not only Widgets, start with our taskbar icons missing guide instead.

Match your symptom

The table is general guidance to help you skip ahead; the fixes below say which steps come from Microsoft.

What you see	Start with
No Widgets button or weather on the taskbar	Fix 1, then Fix 8
Board opens when you only point at the taskbar, or never on hover	Fix 2
Board opens but stays blank or keeps loading	Fix 3, then Fix 6
News feed missing, or shows the wrong account or country	Fix 2, Fix 4 and Fix 5
Nothing happens with the button or Windows key + W	Fix 6, then Fix 7
Widgets option is grayed out or missing on a work PC	Fix 8

Fix 1: Turn the Widgets button back on

Microsoft’s Stay up to date with Widgets in Windows page lists three ways to open the board: select the Widgets area on the taskbar, press Windows key + W, or swipe in from the left edge on a touch screen. If the button has vanished, Microsoft’s steps to show it again are:

1. Right-click an empty part of the taskbar and select Taskbar settings.
2. Under Taskbar items, turn the Widgets switch on.

Microsoft notes that hiding the button doesn’t turn widgets off, so Windows key + W still works with the switch off. That makes a useful test: if the shortcut opens the board, widgets work and only the taskbar button was hidden. If the switch is missing or grayed out, go to Fix 8.

As general guidance, if the switch is already on and the button still doesn’t show, turn it off, wait a few seconds and turn it on again. That redraws the taskbar item without a restart.

Fix 2: Check the Widgets board settings

The board has its own settings, opened from the gear icon on its navigation bar. Microsoft’s widgets page describes these options:

• Dashboards: turns the Discover dashboard (the news feed) on or off. If the board shows your widgets but no news, check that this is on.
• Open on hover: opens the board when you point at the taskbar icon. Turn it off if the board keeps popping up by accident; turn it on if you expect hover to work and it doesn’t.
• More settings > Notifications: controls the badges on the taskbar and navigation bar. Microsoft notes that taskbar announcements and badges are hidden during focus sessions, so a missing badge during focus isn’t a fault.

To get back a single widget that disappeared, Microsoft says to select the + button on the board, or find new widgets on the Widgets page of the Microsoft Store. A widget’s more options menu lets you remove it, resize it or customize it.

Fix 3: Update the Windows Web Experience Pack

Microsoft’s widgets page says the board and the Discover feed need the latest Windows Web Experience Pack and Start Experiences App, and that both should update automatically. Microsoft’s How to update the Windows Web Experience Pack article describes the pack as the app that delivers and updates features such as widgets through the Microsoft Store, and suggests updating it when widgets aren’t working. Its steps:

1. Open the Microsoft Store app and select Library in the bottom-left corner.
2. In the search box, type Windows Web Experience Pack and select it from the list.
3. If an update is available, select Update. If there’s no update option, you already have the latest version.

To keep the pack current from now on, the same article says to select your profile icon in the Store, open Store settings and make sure App updates is on.

If the Store won’t download the update, our Microsoft Store not downloading apps guide covers that problem. If the Store app itself is missing, see how to get Microsoft Store back. As general guidance, restart the PC after the pack updates so the board loads the new version.

Fix 4: Check your Microsoft account

Microsoft says the Discover dashboard uses your Microsoft account preferences by default, and that signing in with the same account on each device keeps news personalization consistent. To check or change the account, select the user account button on the Discover dashboard and choose Manage accounts. To sign out, Microsoft’s path is the same button, then Manage accounts > More profile settings > Sign out.

As general guidance, if the feed is empty or shows someone else’s interests, sign out there, restart the PC and sign in again with the account you want. If Windows asks you to verify your identity under Settings > Accounts, finish that first so account-based content has a working sign-in to use. Microsoft also notes that the feed becomes more personalized over time, so a fresh sign-in may not show the topics you follow right away.

Fix 5: Check region and language

According to Microsoft, Discover follows your Windows display language and Country or region by default. To change what the feed shows, open Discover, select the user account button and use the Region and Language drop-down. If weather or news is in the wrong language or for the wrong country, this is the setting to check.

Microsoft adds that location for widgets such as weather may come from the Windows location service or, without it, from your IP address. As general guidance, a VPN can therefore make the weather widget show another city; check the location the weather widget uses in its own customize option before you change anything else.

Fix 6: Restart Widgets and File Explorer

These steps are general guidance, not from Microsoft’s widgets pages. The taskbar belongs to File Explorer, so restarting Explorer redraws the taskbar and its Widgets button without signing you out:

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
2. On the Processes page, look for an entry named Widgets or Windows Widgets. If it’s there, select it and choose End task. Windows should start it again the next time you open the board.
3. Find Windows Explorer, select it and choose Restart. The taskbar disappears for a moment and comes back.
4. Press Windows key + W to test the board.

If that doesn’t help, restart the PC fully from Start > Power > Restart. If Start or the whole taskbar also misbehaves, the problem is wider than widgets; our Start menu not working guide covers Explorer and Start repairs in more depth.

Fix 7: Update Windows and repair system files

As general guidance, install pending updates from Settings > Windows Update with Check for updates, then restart. The board depends on Windows components as well as the Store app in Fix 3, so it makes sense to bring both up to date before you go further.

If the board still won’t open after updates, run the System File Checker from an administrator Terminal to repair damaged Windows files. Our sfc /scannow guide explains how to run it and read the results.

Fix 8: Check whether a policy turned widgets off

Microsoft Learn’s NewsAndInterests policy reference documents an Allow widgets policy that applies to the whole widgets experience, including the content on the taskbar. When it’s set to not allowed, widgets are off on that device. The policy is supported on Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, Education and IoT Enterprise, so this fix is for those editions and for PCs managed by a school or employer.

To check it on a PC you manage yourself:

1. Press Windows key + R, type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
2. Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Widgets.
3. Open Allow widgets. If it’s set to Disabled, set it to Not Configured, select OK and restart the PC.

Microsoft lists the matching registry value as AllowNewsAndInterests under the device-wide key SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Dsh, where 0 means not allowed and 1 (the default) means allowed. As general guidance, a value of 0 left behind by a privacy or tweak tool can hide widgets; the Group Policy steps above are the safer way to reset it. The Local Group Policy Editor isn’t included in Windows 11 Home.

The same reference also lists a Disable Widgets Board policy that removes the board and its taskbar entry, but at the time of writing Microsoft marks it as applying to Windows Insider Preview builds only.

Known issues

Microsoft lists confirmed Windows 11 problems on its Windows release health pages. If widgets stopped working right after an update and none of the fixes help, check those pages.

Related guides

• Taskbar icons missing in Windows 11 or 10: how to get them back
• Start menu not working in Windows 11: how to fix it
• Microsoft Store not downloading or installing apps in Windows 11: how to fix it
• Microsoft Store missing in Windows 11 or 10? How to get it back
• How to run sfc /scannow in Windows 11 and 10 (and read the results)

Official sources

• Microsoft Support: Stay up to date with Widgets in Windows
• Microsoft Support: How to update the Windows Web Experience Pack
• Microsoft Learn: Policy CSP – NewsAndInterests