Volume, Battery (Power) or Network Icon Disappear or Missing from Vista Taskbar Notification Area (System Tray)

In Windows Vista notification area (previously known as system tray or simply systray) at the end of the taskbar, there are always a few system icons that show status and allow adjustment control of some system components, such as clock, network connections, sound volume and battery power. If any of these system icons are missing or disappearing from the notification system tray in Vista, users can easily make these invisible hidden icons to unhidden and appear visible again in the Vista taskbar’s notification area.

To fix and restore the missing system icons in Vista notification area or system tray, right click on the black/empty space on the system tray itself, or on the taskbar. In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog window that appears, click on Notification Area tab if it’s not already there.

In the System Icons section, tick the check box for Clock, Volume, Network or Power components to display the corresponding icons in system tray.

Sometimes, the check boxes may be disabled and grayed out probably due to third party drivers that want to show manufacturer’s icon instead. Thus users cannot change the setting to display the system icons at taskbar. In this case, click on Customize button in the Icons section at the end of Hide inactive icons option. Locate the icon items that represents the component or program you want to display in notification area, and then select Show or Hide when inactive from the behavior drop down list. Make sure it’s not Hide that’s been selected.

If the check boxes are grayed out or disabled, there is a fix to show the notification are system icons again.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2007 at 10:38 pm and is filed under Windows Vista. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.