Taskbar Disappears on Asus devices on applying ApplicationLaunchRestrictions from Applocker CSP

Question

Taskbar Disappears on Asus devices on applying ApplicationLaunchRestrictions from Applocker CSP

Sam Doe 0

Hi everyone,

We're seeing an issue on a subset of Windows 11 ASUS devices after applying an Application Launch Restrictions of Applocker CSP on adding a whitelist of a few custom apps.
./Vendor/MSFT/AppLocker/ApplicationLaunchRestrictions/{groupid}/StoreApps/Policy

Observed Behavior

The taskbar becomes hidden or disappears after the policy is applied.
The issue is consistently observed on ASUS devices.
The same policy works as expected on other OEM devices (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.).

No obvious policy failures are reported from the management side.

Request for Guidance

Has anyone encountered a similar issue where:

Application Launch Restrictions or Advanced App Compliance Policies cause the taskbar to disappear?
The behavior is OEM-specific (particularly ASUS)?
Certain AppX packages or dependencies needed to be excluded from restrictions to restore normal shell behavior?

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1 answer

Your answer

Answer 1

Hi Sam,

This is a classic symptom of Explorer.exe or a shell dependency being blocked by AppLocker, even if the policy was only intended to whitelist a small set of Store apps. When the Windows shell cannot launch one of its packaged components, the taskbar, Start menu, or notification area may disappear while the desktop itself remains functional. AppLocker CSP applies to packaged apps through the StoreApps rule collection, and Windows relies on multiple built-in AppX packages for shell functionality.

The fact that the issue is limited to ASUS devices suggests there may be an ASUS-specific UWP/AppX package integrated into the shell experience or registered as a taskbar extension. If that package is blocked, Explorer can behave differently than on Dell, HP, or Lenovo systems. I would compare the output of:

Get-AppxPackage | Select Name, PackageFamilyName

between a working OEM and an affected ASUS device and look for ASUS-specific AppX packages that are registered per-user or system-wide.

I would also verify that your AppLocker XML contains the equivalent of the default packaged app allow rules. A common mistake with AppLocker whitelisting is allowing only a few target apps while unintentionally blocking Microsoft-signed packaged apps required by the shell. Creating the default packaged app rules ("Allow Everyone to run all signed packaged apps") and then adding explicit deny rules where needed is generally the safer design.

On an affected device, check Event Viewer → Applications and Services Logs → Microsoft → Windows → AppLocker → Packaged app-Deployment and Packaged app-Execution. You are likely to find Event IDs showing which package was denied immediately before the taskbar disappears. Those events are usually far more revealing than the Intune policy deployment status.

My suspicion is not an ASUS bug by itself, but rather an OEM-specific AppX dependency being caught by an overly restrictive ApplicationLaunchRestrictions/.../StoreApps/Policy rule set. The AppLocker operational logs should identify the exact package within minutes.