RetroBar brings the classic Windows taskbar experience to modern versions of Windows. It replaces the default taskbar with retro-inspired designs from Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, and XP, complete with familiar Start buttons, notification areas, and classic styling.

The tool offers multiple themes, customizable taskbar settings, and support for multiple monitors, making it easy to recreate the look and feel of older Windows versions without modifying system files.

Features

  • Replaces default Windows taskbar with classic layout
  • Native notification area with balloon notification support
  • Native task list with UWP app support and drag reordering
  • Quick launch toolbar
  • Start button opens modern start menu
  • Ability to show or hide the clock
  • Ability to auto-hide the taskbar
  • Locked and unlocked taskbar appearances
  • Display taskbar on any side of the screen (even on Windows 11)
  • Resizable taskbar with support for multiple rows
  • Option to display the taskbar, notification area, and clock on multiple monitors
  • Ability to show Vista-style window thumbnails
  • Customizable XP-style collapsible notification area with drag reordering
  • Input language and keyboard layout switcher
  • Custom theme support

Included themes

  • System (Classic, XP, and Vista)
  • Watercolor
  • Windows 95-98
  • Windows Me
  • Windows 2000
  • Windows XP:
    • Classic
    • Blue
    • Olive Green
    • Silver
    • Royale
    • Royale Noir
    • Embedded Style
    • Zune Style
  • Windows Longhorn Aero
  • Windows Vista:
    • Aero
    • Basic
    • Classic

Looking for more themes? Check out the great community-made RetroBar themes on DeviantArt, and the theme-repository channel on our Discord!

Requirements:

  • Before downloading and running the RetroBar application, you have to meet some requirements of the operating system. Your Windows version should be any one of the following:
  • Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, or Windows 11.
  • You will need to download the .NET 6.0.2 or later desktop runtime to run the application.

What's New

New features

  • Dragging a file onto the Show Desktop button now automatically triggers the button (#1287)
  • Input language and keyboard layout can now be changed from the taskbar (#68, thanks @SlavaArduino12345!)
  • Notification area icons can now be rearranged by dragging them (#1207, thanks @xoascf!)
  • The blur effect behind transparent taskbar themes can now be disabled with a setting (#1303)
  • Font smoothing can now be independently controlled for context menus (#1401, thanks @rmnmjw!)

New translations:

  • Belarusian (беларуская) (#1276 and #1441, thanks @pavel-chumakou and @Traindere!)
  • Danish (dansk) (#1421 and #1441, thanks DeepL and @Traindere!)
  • Icelandic (íslenska) (#1289, #1421, and #1441, thanks @Traindere!)
  • Macedonian (Македонски) (#1421 and #1441, thanks @Traindere!)
  • Maltese (Malti) (#1289, #1421 and #1441, thanks @Traindere!)
  • Norsk (bokmål) (#1280, #1421, and #1441, thanks DeepL and @Traindere!)
  • Slovak (slovenščina) (#1421 and #1441, thanks MrRedDiamond and @Traindere!)
  • Welsh (Cymraeg) (#1421 and #1441, thanks Iestyn Phelps and @Traindere!)

Improvements

  • RetroBar has been updated to use .NET 10 instead of .NET 6 when running on Windows 10 or later (#1271)
  • Portable versions of RetroBar are now available from a single download (#1400)
  • The settings in the properties window have been rearranged, and the properties window no longer changes height when switching tabs (#1424)
  • Fixed RetroBar starting up thinking that Explorer is not the shell in some configurations (#1359, thanks @xpewster!)
  • Fixed shrunken taskbar buttons sometimes leaving a gap at the end of the taskbar (#139, thanks @rmnmjw!)
  • Fixed taskbar buttons sometimes showing on the wrong monitor after sleep (#1354, thanks @SMUsamaShah!)
  • Fixed the input language displaying incorrectly for certain applications (#1439, thanks @diomed16!)
  • Fixed the option to automatically start RetroBar on login not working when the installed path contains a space (#1355, thanks @madbrain76!)
  • Fixed the Windows Vista start button sometimes showing above full-screen windows (#1442)
  • Fixed the Windows Vista start button top being clipped after closing a full-screen window (#1437)
  • Fixed the Windows Vista start button top being clipped on high DPI (#1404, thanks @rmnmjw!)
  • Fixed the Windows XP themes' active task title not showing sunken on vertical taskbars (#1436)
  • Improved accuracy of the Windows Vista Aero theme taskbar background (#1340, thanks @custosoft!)
  • When using RetroBar over Remote Desktop, hardware acceleration now works on .NET 10 builds (#1425)