Missing Toolbar in Internet Explorer 9 - Here It Is
Is the Toolbar Disabled?
There can be two scenarios for a missing tool bar in Internet Explorer 9. The first scenario is that you installed the toolbar on the previous versions of IE and it is now missing after you install Internet Explorer 9. The second scenario is that you installed a tool bar on Internet Explorer 9 and it is not showing up anywhere.
Internet Explorer 9 has the tendency to hide your toolbars from previous versions of Internet Explorer. Also, some toolbars do not show up until you enable them after installation. If you have a missing tool bar in Internet Explorer 9, chances are that it may be disabled.
To confirm, right click on the title bar or on an empty space on address bar and see if the toolbar in question is ticked (see image). If the toolbar is not ticked, click to tick the toolbar so that it appears in Internet Explorer 9.
Restart the Browser After Installation of the Tool Bar
If you did the right click on the empty title bar and could not find the missing tool bar in the context menu of Internet Explorer 9, restart the browser.
Close all instances of the Internet Explorer 9 in case you just installed the toolbar. Reopen Internet Explorer 9 to see if the missing toolbar is now appearing on the user interface.
If it is still missing, check again to see if it is disabled as explained in the above section. If the missing toolbar is still not listed in the context menu that appears when you right click on the title bar or address bar, chances are that it may have been disabled by some component of Internet Explorer. You can check it through Manage Add-ons dialog.
Is the Missing Toolbar Present in Manage Add-Ons Dialog?
To open Manage Add-ons window, press ALT+T+A. You can also click on the Tools icon to the top-right of the browser and select Manage Add-ons.
Click Toolbars and Extensions in the left pane of Manage Add-ons window.
You will see all the installed toolbars in the right pane. When you click on the missing tool bar in Internet Explorer 9, you can see the Enable or Disable button towards the bottom-right of the Manage Add-ons window (see image).
If it shows Enable, the toolbar was disabled. Click on Enable and close the Manage Add-ons window.
You should now be able to see the toolbar.
Reinstall the Toolbar to Get Back the Missing Toolbar in Internet Explorer 9
If Manage Add-ons window does not list the missing tool bar in Internet Explorer 9, there can be the following possibilities: 1) the toolbar is not present on the computer/ was not properly installed or 2) the toolbar is not compatible with Internet Explorer 9.
To know if the missing tool bar in Internet Explorer was installed properly, check it out in Programs and Features section of the Control Panel. To do this, open Programs and Features from Control Panel. Look for the toolbar under Uninstall or Change a Program list. If the toolbar is listed and yet is not being displayed in Manage Add-ons in Internet Explorer 9, it might not be compatible or the installation might be corrupt. Check the documentation that came with the toolbar to see if it is compatible.
- If the missing tool bar in Internet Explorer 9 appears in the list, remove the tool bar from the Programs and Features -> Uninstall or Change a Program.
- If possible, download an alternate installation package for the toolbar.
- Shut down your antivirus for the installation.
- Use the installation package to install the toolbar again.
- Once installed, you might need to enable it using the context menu that you get when you click on the title bar or on empty space in address bar of the Internet Explorer (as shown in the image in first section above).
This explains how to get back the missing tool bar in Internet Explorer 9. You cannot however, get it back if the toolbar is incompatible with IE9.
Note that the article is based on Windows 7. The methods are however, applicable to all other versions of Windows that support Internet Explorer 9.
References
Author’s own experience
Image from Internet Explorer 9
This post is part of the series: Troubleshoot Internet Explorer 9
This series of articles on IE9 assist you troubleshoot Internet Explorer 9. It also tells you how to move favorites in IE9. It covers topics such as how to troubleshoot IE9, why won’t IE9 install, and how to get back missing tool bar in Internet Explorer 9.
