The Task Manager is one of the most powerful system utilities that Windows comes with. It allows you to not only stop and restart tasks, but it also gives you a glimpse at program resource usage, hardware utilization graphs, and application history.
Task Manager is a necessary feature for computer administrators, and can help troubleshoot and diagnose issues with your PC when things get out of control.
In Windows 10, opening the Task Manager is as easy as right-clicking the taskbar and selecting Task Manager. However, Windows 11 has decided to simplify its context menu, and that means that you can no longer launch the Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar.
Fortunately, opening the Task Manager in Windows 11 is still simple. In typical Windows fashion, there’s more than one way to do it, so we’ll go over each way here.
Open Task Manager With Your Keyboard
The first and most simple way to open Task Manager is with your keyboard. There are two different shortcuts you can use, one of which you probably already know of.
The first is with the iconic Ctrl + Alt + Delete, which will bring up a menu with a few different options, including one to open up the Task Manager.
The other is Ctrl + Shift + Esc, which will directly open up the Task Manager.
Open Task Manager From the Start Menu
Another way to quickly bring up the Task Manager is to use the Start menu. Like the keyboard shortcuts, you have a couple options.
The first is to use the search function. Click the Start button, and type in Task Manager in the Start menu. It will show up at the top of the results.
An even easier way is to simply right-click the Start button. From the context menu, find Task Manager, and viola!
Open Task Manager With the Run Command
Much like the search function, you can also use the Run command to start the Task Manager. Start by pressing the Windows + R to bring up the Run box. Then, type in taskmgr in the Run window and press OK.
Open Task Manager With the Command Prompt
Whether you’re a command line guru, or you’re in a peculiar situation where you only have access to the command prompt, you can also launch the Task Manager directly from the command prompt.
Just like the Run box, simply type in taskmgr in an empty line on the command prompt and press Enter.
Open Task Manager With a Taskbar Shortcut
If you’re really set on opening the Task Manager from the taskbar like you could in Windows 10, then you can create a taskbar shortcut.
To do this, start by opening up the Start menu and typing in Task Manager.
On the right side of the search menu, select Pin to taskbar. Now you’ll always have a shortcut on the taskbar you can directly launch the Task Manager from.
Open Task Manager With a Desktop Shortcut
If, instead of having a shortcut on your taskbar, you’d rather have a shortcut to the Task Manager on your desktop, you can also easily do that too.
Start by right-clicking on an empty space on your desktop. Mouse over New, and click on Shortcut.
In the box under Type the location of the item, type in taskmgr and select Next.
Now type in a name for your new shortcut, and select the Finish button to create the shortcut on your desktop.
