'Emoji and More' system tray icon not appearing while using Intel graphics drivers

Michael Kemmet 0 Reputation points
2026-05-21T01:19:00.88+00:00

I have a laptop running Windows 11 Home (Insider Preview Build 26300.8493). The laptop has both integrated Intel Arc Xe-LPG(Meteor Lake) and discrete Nvidia RTX 4060 Laptop graphics systems. When I'm running the Nvidia graphics, the Emoji and More icon is displayed in the system tray. But when I'm using the Intel graphics(most of the time to lower power consumption and heat generation), the icon doesn't appear and the option is greyed out on the Settings>Personalization>Taskbar page.

I can still bring up the Emoji and More box using the Win + (.) keyboard shortcut or through the icon in Touch Keypad, but I can't get it to appear in the system tray.

Is there any way to get the icon to appear while using Intel graphics? I tried manually adjusting the setting using regedit, but that only seems to have an effect when running the Nvidia graphics.

Both graphics have the most current drivers installed.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Windows Insider program | Windows Insider preview | Personalization and accessibility
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  1. AI answer

    2026-05-21T01:19:17.5333333+00:00

    This behavior is tied to how the new “Emoji and more” system tray experience is being rolled out and exposed in Windows 11, not to a registry tweak or driver-only setting that can be forced.

    According to the documented feature rollout, the new experience that adds the “Emoji and more” system tray icon is controlled from:

    • Settings > Personalization > Taskbar
    • There, the icon can be set to Always, While Typing, or Never.

    However, this feature is still in gradual rollout for Windows 11 Insider builds and is part of ongoing “Windows 11 PC experiences” work. The feature’s availability and behavior can differ between configurations and builds, and it is not documented as something that can be forced on via registry edits or per‑GPU settings. The context only states that:

    • The icon and experience are “starting to roll out to more users”.
    • The control is exposed in Taskbar personalization when the feature is available.

    There is no documented method in the provided material to:

    • Force the “Emoji and more” system tray icon to appear when it is greyed out in Taskbar settings, or
    • Tie or override its availability based on which GPU (Intel vs. NVIDIA) is active.

    In this situation, the only supported path from the available documentation is to use the feature when it is exposed in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and continue to access the emoji panel via:

    • Win + . (period), or
    • The Touch Keyboard icon,

    until the rollout and any related issues for the system tray icon are fully addressed in future Insider or servicing updates.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. CrazyKats 19,245 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-05-21T01:39:52.0466667+00:00

    Hi Michael,

    I'm on Dev build and have Intel and

    I have the option to have the Emoji and

    More icon on the Taskbar.

    User's image

    Do you have the above option?

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