How to disable Taskbar Thumbnail Preview in Windows 11

You have probably arrived at this article because you found the taskbar thumbnail preview feature of Windows annoying rather than helpful. This feature is activated when you hover the mouse pointer over one of the taskbar buttons. When you do that, Window shows a small version of the application window as a thumbnail above the taskbar icon. It is probably useful in some situations, but if you find it rather distracting, you probably looked for a way to disable this feature. Turns out it's not as straighforward as you would expect: the methods that used to work in the previous versions of Windows no longer work in Windows 11. This article demostrates a registry tweak that is proven to work in Windows 11, at least at the time of this writing.

Before Windows 11, you could use Advanced System Settings - Performance Options screen to turn off the taskbar thumbnails:

However, this method no longer works in Windows 11. Another possible solution you might have found on the web uses Gropup Policy Editor:

As of this writing, this method no longer works in Windows 11 either.

Here is what works in Windows 11:

Before we continue, a WORD OF CAUTION: please be very careful when modifying the registry, because if you change or delete something important, it may damage your Windows installation and make your computer unbootable. If you are not sure how to properly use Registry Editor, please consider contacting a qualified computer specialist. The following information is provided AS-IS, with NO GUARANTEE, use it on your own risk!

Run Registry Editor, by launching regedit.exe. Again, we assume below that you are comfortable using this tool; if not, better ask someone more experienced with computers for help! Select the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Add a DWORD (32-bit) value under this key named ExtendedUIHoverTime.

Set the value of ExtendedUIHoverTime to be 10000 (decimal):

This value controls the delay (in milliseconds) between the start of the hovering of the mouse pointer over a taskbar icon, and the appearance of the thumbnail image above the button. The value 10000 sets the delay to be 10 seconds which in effect prevents the appearance of the thumbnail previow image. (Unless, of course, you let the mouse pointer hover over the button for more than 10 seconds).

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You need to sign off and then sign back on to Windows (or simply restart the computer) in order for the change to take effect.

Happy computing!

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