Edge Taskbar icons for different profiles suddenly no longer work right

Question

Edge Taskbar icons for different profiles suddenly no longer work right

Vikas Sagi 20

I've had Edge icons pinned to my taskbar for many years to open different Edge profiles, and the windows they open have always been associated with the icons I used to open them.

Today, I woke up to find that when I click on one of the pinned icons to start its Edge profile, it opens a blank window attached to the icon for the Edge that's already running. Bad! If I go to the newly opened window, open Settings, and Switch to the profile it's supposed to be, it opens the window for that profile on the correct taskbar icon. I can then go to the errant window and close it, and things are like they've always been, at least until I start the whole process over. Moreover, it's order-dependent. If I start from no Edges running and open the profiles in the reverse order, they attach to their taskbar icons fine.

Everything was working perfectly for years before this morning, and I've been opening and closing these Edge profiles without any trouble multiple times per day, every day. I don't think it's necessarily the new taskbar features, because they were activated several days ago, and the problem didn't occur until today. I did update to the 26H2 preview a few days ago, but again, everything was fine until today.

pls fix

Dave M 0 Reputation points

2026-11-03T21:13:00.8266667+00:00

Here is an alternative solution that's quite simple. Just right-click on the taskbar icon, right-click on the profile name, go to the General tab, and rename it.

I had the same issue after a recent Windows update. Unpinning/repinning Edge profile icons, rebuilding the taskbar cache, and even recreating Edge profiles did not resolve it.

What finally worked was renaming the profile-specific shortcut itself from "Edge" to "Something Else". After renaming it, Windows correctly launched and associated the profile again.

In my case the shortcut target already contained the correct --profile-directory="Profile X" argument, so the problem did not appear to be the shortcut target. It seemed more like Windows had cached an incorrect association for the taskbar pin.
michael weber 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T02:48:45.8166667+00:00

This was one of the first things I tried, and it unfortunately did not work. I can unpin and repin the school/work account as much as I want, but trying to repin the personal account just pins a generic edge session that opens to whatever account was opened last. I suspect edge does not recognize the personal account as its own thing anymore, for some reason, hence the initial and subsequent bugs.
Clary-N 18,695 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-04T08:45:48.3266667+00:00

Hi Michael,

Please give the above suggestion a try to see if it helps in your case and keep me updated on how it goes.
Hollis Wai-Hong Chan 0 Reputation points

2026-11-05T05:57:59.9533333+00:00

Hello Clary-N, I have tried your solution multiple times, but concerningly, the problem persists. Please help.

Thank you
Clary-N 18,695 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-05T08:08:57.1333333+00:00

Hi Hollis,

Have you had a chance to try Dave’s suggestions above yet? If so, please let me know how it went and whether anything changed.

Answer accepted by question author

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Your answer

Dave M 0 Reputation points

2026-11-03T21:13:00.8266667+00:00

Here is an alternative solution that's quite simple. Just right-click on the taskbar icon, right-click on the profile name, go to the General tab, and rename it.

I had the same issue after a recent Windows update. Unpinning/repinning Edge profile icons, rebuilding the taskbar cache, and even recreating Edge profiles did not resolve it.

What finally worked was renaming the profile-specific shortcut itself from "Edge" to "Something Else". After renaming it, Windows correctly launched and associated the profile again.

In my case the shortcut target already contained the correct --profile-directory="Profile X" argument, so the problem did not appear to be the shortcut target. It seemed more like Windows had cached an incorrect association for the taskbar pin.
michael weber 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T02:48:45.8166667+00:00

This was one of the first things I tried, and it unfortunately did not work. I can unpin and repin the school/work account as much as I want, but trying to repin the personal account just pins a generic edge session that opens to whatever account was opened last. I suspect edge does not recognize the personal account as its own thing anymore, for some reason, hence the initial and subsequent bugs.
Clary-N 18,695 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-04T08:45:48.3266667+00:00

Hi Michael,

Please give the above suggestion a try to see if it helps in your case and keep me updated on how it goes.
Hollis Wai-Hong Chan 0 Reputation points

2026-11-05T05:57:59.9533333+00:00

Hello Clary-N, I have tried your solution multiple times, but concerningly, the problem persists. Please help.

Thank you
Clary-N 18,695 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-05T08:08:57.1333333+00:00

Hi Hollis,

Have you had a chance to try Dave’s suggestions above yet? If so, please let me know how it went and whether anything changed.

Answer 1

Clary-N 18,695 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Vikas Sagi,

I can understand why this is concerning, especially since the profile icons worked correctly for years and the behavior now depends on which profile you open first.

Since this began shortly after moving to the 26H2 preview build, it could be a regression affecting how Edge profile windows are grouped on the taskbar. Could you confirm:

Your exact Windows build from Settings > System > About
Your Edge version from edge://settings/help
Whether the affected profiles show different profile directories under edge://version, such as Default, Profile 1 or Profile 2

As a first step, close all Edge windows and use Task Manager to make sure no msedge.exe processes remain. Then unpin the affected profile icons, open each profile separately, right-click its active taskbar icon and select Pin to taskbar again.

If that does not help, please let me know whether newly pinned icons still open the wrong profile when another Edge profile is already running. This will help confirm whether the issue is with the pinned shortcuts or taskbar grouping on the preview build.

Vikas Sagi 20 Reputation points

2026-11-01T10:34:09.2866667+00:00
Thanks Clary!
Your solution worked perfectly.

But to answer your questions,

Edition Windows 11 Home Single Language
Version : 25H2
Installed on : 1/‎21/‎2025
OS build : 26200.9711
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.372.0

Edge Version 156.0.4314.58 (Official build) (64-bit)

Well i checked this one after following your fix. now they show different ones. not sure if they were same before
Clary-N 18,695 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-11-03T00:08:43.2366667+00:00

Hi Vikas Sagi,

Thanks for confirming, and I’m glad the fix worked!

Seeing different profile directories now is a good sign, as each Edge profile should have its own directory, such as Default, Profile 1 or Profile 2. No worries if you’re not sure what they showed before.

Since everything is opening correctly again, there’s nothing else you need to change for now. If the profile icons start opening the wrong profile again, feel free to update the thread.

Kind regards.