my PC is being fucking odd. for a long time the display settings have refused to open, even after a Windows 11 refresh (installed but kept local files). I kind of ignored it because it rarely comes up and it's otherwise a very solid PC still in terms of speed and ability to handle heavy software usage for audio work and game dev.
But today it's no longer showing/loading the task bar. If I hover over the taskbar I get the loading circle. If I click on the task bar or hit the windows key, things flash but nothing appears. I cannot open settings (trying to use cmd to launch settings gets me "uhhh what's settings?"). (added the read more to take up less timeline space!)
Firefox does not work but chrome and edge do. file explorer keeps freezing. i have to launch explorer from cmd, and task manager only sort of works and hangs when you try to close it (but procexp does work for restarting or closing programs).
All my scans say there's nothing wrong, hard drive health checks out. I ran restore health, etc. I've restarted, I've logged into the admin user profile, i've shut down completely, tried restarting file explorer, etc. But the task bar does not come back.
I've taken note of all my most used programs and plugins that will need to be re-downloaded and installed (lots of audio related stuff), I've backed up everything (and I'm tripple checking my backups tomorrow) and I have Windows 11 installer on an external drive ready to go for a fresh install of my boot drive, I have my product code written down, I'm going to shut down my PC and unplug my two non-boot drives as a precaution, and by then I should be good to do a clean reinstall.
I'm really hoping this does the trick.
it's 4 years old, I've basically only added some ram and replaced some fans in it. I'd really like it to get me through the next 6 months at the very least (I'm too busy for this!)
If anyone has encountered something like this, or has some, "before you clean install Win11," advice, please feel free. i am also accepting spirit bombs. because i need to get work done on monday. 
