How to keep the Windows Taskbar where you want it on a 3 display setup

My setup is 2 external monitors (displays) and my laptop.

My particular laptop is a Surface Pro 6 and I’ve got the external displays connected via the Surface Dock. I work a lot with Remote Desktop Sessions. Typically my development virtual machine stays open all day full screen on display 3. In this setup I don’t want the Windows Taskbar of my Surface to show on display 3. Through the Windows Display settings you have a few options of whether to show the Taskbar on all displays or a single main display. So what I had been doing (that was driving me crazy) was to go into Windows Display Settings select display 2 and set it as my primary display.

This is simple enough and gives the desired outcome. The Windows Taskbar is now moved from my laptop display to the external display.

This work great until I lock my screen, or it switches off to save power, or I remove my laptop from the dock to go to a meeting and then return. Frequently when I wake it back up the Windows Taskbar (or I plug the dock back in) it decides to pick a different display to put itself on. Going into the settings, display 2 is still set as the primary display, and the Taskbar is still set to just show on the primary display. I have to change my primary display to be a different display and then back again, or sometimes plug/unplug the dock a few times.

This was driving me crazy.

New technique that doesn’t require me to go into Windows Display Settings and Taskbar Settings and more, and after a few weeks of working in the office, at home and laptop only I haven’t had the taskbar move itself around unexpectedly.

It’s incredible simple and I’m not sure why I didn’t try this begin with.

Just grab the taskbar with your left mouse button held down and drag in to display 2 and it will snap to the bottom of display 2. Job done – it actually stays there and survives the Windows lock-screen, power save and even unplug and re-plug into the dock! If it does move to a different display on its own for some reason then just grab it and drag it back rather than trying to mess around with the settings.

Note – if you can’t drag the taskbar it may be because it is locked. Right click on an empty space on the taskbar and you can toggle this locked state allowing you to drag it around.