Volume icon disappeared from my system tray, and the option is greyed out (won't let me check it) in the taskbar and start menu properties screen /Notification area

Anonymous
2010-04-21T14:17:02+00:00

I don't know how to get my volume icon back - can anyone help?  Thank you!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2010-04-21T16:39:22+00:00

Hi,

 If any of the system icons are out, you can re-enable them as follows:

Right click on the taskbar and select properties. This will bring up the "Taskbar and start menu properties" tab. This is where you mentioned it was greyed out. That's fine...  From here you can click on customize button in the icons section. Locate the icon that you are missing and check status. The status type should read "Hide  icon and notifications", change this to "Show icon and notifications".

If this doesn't fix the issue you most likely have an issue with a group policy on your machine. This can be fixed by following the instructions on the following link:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/01/fix-network-clock-volume-and-power-battery-system-icons-missing-with-disabled-or-grayed-out-check-box-options/

Hope this helps,

Steve <> Microsoft Partner

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-07-15T09:13:00+00:00

    sad to say that restarting explorer is the best solution. thanks

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-05-20T20:45:18+00:00

    Similar to csiralph's, but one step shorter and faster:

    1. (as per csiralph) Right click the task bar,

    2.                           Click task manager,

    3.                           Click processes tab,

    4.                           Right click Windows Explorer (explorer.exe),

    5. (Dudo)               Click Restart

    DONE!  A touch of patience and your brand new, fully recovered task bear and system tray are back (if you have an older machine give it half a min).  No reboot required!

    A bit hacky, but works for any level of Windows from XP to 10 (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10).

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-05-09T21:06:45+00:00

    Thanks for this..I have another version of Windows than the others were talking about, and I was at a loss..LOL

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-04-12T23:36:46+00:00

    Wow, what a great and easy solution. thank you so very much.

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