How to Enable or Disable Hide Badges on Taskbar Apps with Focus Session in Windows 11

Prerequisites

• You must be running Windows 11. The Focus page is missing on Windows 10.
• Update Windows through Windows Update 🔃 first. On older Windows 11 builds the Focus page or its badge option may be missing or named differently.
• A standard user account is enough for the Settings ⚙️ method. The registry and Terminal methods below need administrator rights, so have an admin password ready.

How to Manage Taskbar Badges via Settings

The Settings ⚙️ app is the easiest method and the one to try first. The same setting works for Home and Pro editions.

1. Open Settings. You can press the Win and I together.
2. Click System in the left-hand list.
3. Scroll down the right-hand pane and click Focus. You should now see the Focus session options, including a start button ⊞ and a few checkboxes.
4. Find the option labeled Hide badges on taskbar apps.
5. Check the box to hide the badges, or uncheck it to show them again.

The setting is saved as soon as you click the box. Unchecking the box is also how you undo the change. If you don’t see the option, run Windows Update 🔃 and reopen Settings.

Open Focus settings

Advanced Method: Registry Editor

Back up the key first, or create a restore point, because a wrong edit in Registry Editor can cause problems.

1. Press the Win and R together to open the Run dialog.
2. Type regedit and press Enter. Approve the User Account Control prompt. Administrator rights are required to make changes here, and Registry Editor should open.
3. Navigate to this location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
4. Look for a value named HideBadge and double-click it.
5. Set Value data to 1 to enable hiding, or 0 to disable it, then click OK.

To undo the change, set the value back to 0. If the icons don’t update right away, sign out and back in, or restart Windows Explorer 📁 (see the troubleshooting section).

Advanced Method: PowerShell

The Terminal method is useful if you want to script the change or work remotely. It needs administrator privileges.

1. Right-click the Start button and choose Terminal (Admin). Click Yes at the User Account Control prompt. A Terminal window opens with administrator rights.
2. Copy and paste the following command to hide badges:

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" -Name "TaskbarBadges" -Value 0

3. Press Enter to apply the change.

Check the taskbar afterwards. If you want the badges back, switch the option off in Settings under System › Focus.

Troubleshooting

If badges stay visible after you've changed the setting, an active Focus session is usually locking it. End the session in the Clock app, or wait for the timer to finish, and check again. If they still show, restart Windows Explorer so the taskbar reloads the setting:

1. Press Ctrl, Shift and Esc to open Task Manager.
2. On the Processes tab, find Windows Explorer and right-click it.
3. Click Restart. The taskbar will flicker or disappear for a moment and then come back with the new setting applied.

If that doesn't help, restart the computer.

Summary

Hiding taskbar badges during Focus sessions helps you stay on task. You can switch it on or off in Settings, or use the Registry Editor or Terminal when you need more control, such as on several machines. Either way, the result is a taskbar with fewer things competing for your attention.