Wireless Network Connection icon no longer on System Tray

Hi Rob,

Make sure your drivers and devices associated with the system tray icons are installed and working properly as the icons will not work if the driver or device does not.

Let’s first try to uninstall and reinstall your device drivers to see if that resolves your issue.

1. Open the Start Menu
2. Type Device Manager in the Start Search area and press Enter
3. Click on Continue in the UAC prompt
4. Locate the Network adapters and press + next to it to expand the list
5. Right-click the specific device you want, and then click Uninstall
6. In the ConfirmDevice Removal page, select Delete the driver software for this device if you also want to remove the device driver package from the driver store
7. Click OK to complete the uninstall process
8. Repeat these steps for the sound device
9. Close Device Manager and restart your computer
10. Once you are logged in, reinstall the most up to date drivers for your devices.
11. Once complete, see if the checkboxes are still grayed out or if the system try icons show up

If your issue is still not resolved then let’s continue with the steps below in order to try and fix this problem.

In order for the network icon to work properly, let us check to see if your network services are running correctly. 

1.    Open the Start Menu

2.    Type services in the Start Search area and press Enter

3.    Click on Continue in the UAC prompt

4.    Locate Network Connections, Network List Service, Network Location Awareness, and Network Store Interface Service

5.    Verify that Status is set to Started and Startup Type is set to Automatic

6.    If this is not the case then right click the service and select Start to start the service

7.    Right click the service and select Properties and change the Startup type to Automatic

8.    Repeat as necessary for the services listed in step 4

Now that the services are running, we can enable the system tray icons by going into the registry. 

Note: Modifying REGISTRY settings incorrectly can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the configuring of REGISTRY settings can be solved. Modifications of these settings are at your own risk.

1.    Open the Start Menu

2.    Type regedit in the Start Search area and press Enter

3.    Click on Continue in the UAC prompt

4.    Navigate to:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

5.    To Enable the Volume Icon - Right click on HideSCAVolume and click on Delete

6.    To Enable the Network Icon - Right click on HideSCANetwork and click on Delete

7.    To Enable the Power (battery) Icon - Right click on HideSCABattery and click on Delete

8.    Close regedit and restart your computer to apply the changes

Please let me know if this helps or if you have any questions.

Matt

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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Hi Rob-

I recently had this problem with a new laptop. I hope these steps will help you:

1. Right click the Windows button (Start Menu), and select Properties.
2. In the Properties dialog box, click the Notification Area tab.
3. In the Systems Icons area, ensure that the Network checkbox is selected.
4. Click Apply, then Ok.

Please let me know if this helps!

Barb Winter

Microsoft Answers Program Manager

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