The volume indicator has disappeared from my system tray, how do I get it back?

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All this assumes the sound is working correctly. Sometimes the icon's not there because the drivers are not installed or the wrong drivers are installed, though these days most sound cards seem to be supported "out of the box" this is rarely a problem.

When I go to properties in the notification tab, as shown on your example for Vista, I can see the Volume (and Power) squares to click, but clicking on them to activate them does nothing at all. No check appears in the box. I checked out the "customize" in the top part, which was interesting in itself, but it did not include the Volume.

That thing must have disappeared in the last couple of days with a automatic Windows update or something.

I run anti-virus (McAfee) and several spyware programs, so I don't think it's that.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for any help.
Laura

In XP home my volume icon keeps disappearing. To retrieve it I must uncheck "display icon", check it again, click on "apply" and "ok", log off, log back on...and it is on the task bar...until I shut down the computer. I have to do this every time!! There must be a better solution.

Lee: maybe it's a setting? If you use the classic start menu, right click on start, select properties, click taskbar, select customize and check the setting for the icon. Could be it's on "always hide".

I have the same problem as Laura and the icon has disappeared after updates (one for the modem and at a a different time an update for W-Defender) and as with Laura I am unable to check (or uncheck) the show volume icon as it is greyed out as well as well as the network and power boxes. A system restore is the only way to get the icon back. A bit extreme don't you think?
P.S. Haven't wasted my time searching Microsoft since my time would be better used rearranging my sock drawer.

Marty: Strangely enough all my icons, EXEPT VOLUME, are marked "hide when inactive" but I have indicated "always show" for the volume icon. Strange eh?

I prefer to have the 3 icons for clock, power, network, and volume always on display in my system tray, and my settings are permanently set for this. Hide Inactive Icons is unchecked. However, on my Vista Home Premium based laptop, I have noticed that whenever I do anything that requires me to reboot, the network and volume icons always disappear. Retrieving them is impossible as the settings then show the checkboxes greyed out even though the options are both still checked. The only way to get the icons back is to shut down the machine completely, then power it up again. Even then, this does not always get both of the icons back every time. Very annoying. Id' love to know if there is a solution.

The same thing happened to my Volume Icon in the Task bar. The way I got it back is I went to the Control Panel > Sounds and Auto Devices, The "Place volume control Icon" was checked, I unchecked it then cleared the page and Control Panel, Then went back and checked "Place volume control Icon in Task Bar" It is back in the task bar now.

The problem with the Volume Control Icon I mentioned above occured after the Windows (MSN) October Updates were installed.

When I click on Volume control I get an error message saying "Windows cannot display Volume Control. Volume Control has not been installed. Use add or remove programs"
This happened about a month ago. I understand that the SndVol32.exe is missing, but what can I do to get it back?

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