Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Windows tries to manage the taskbar icons for you in a way that sometimes causes some to go missing.
On my taskbar, I had a volume icon, which disappeared when I clicked on it. How do I get it back? The volume is at 100.
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Actually, taskbar icons - or more correctly, notification area icons - are by default managed by Windows in such a way that what it thinks are less frequently used icons are sometimes hidden.
We'll look both at how to get at the icons, how to take control of the icons, and perhaps most important of all, tell Windows to stop messing with the icons.
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The notification area
The right-most part of the Windows taskbar is referred to as the notification area. The idea is that running programs can place icons there to notify you of important statuses or events.
If there are a large number of active icons, the notification area is by default configured to only show some and often only some of the time.
The small triangle at the beginning of the notification area is actually an indicator that there are more and when clicked, it causes them to appear in a popup window:
And even though it says customize ... that's not really the customize that we want.
Controlling notification area icons
Right-click somewhere else in an empty area of the taskbar and click Properties:
Click the Customize... button.
In the resulting control panel for the notification area, you can control at an individual level what you want each notification area icon to do:
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Always show the icon and its notifications
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Always hide the icon and its notifications
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Show only the notifications that an icon might generate
Select for each as you will.
My approach is different.
All icons, all the time
Near the bottom of that control panel window, you'll see an option: "Always show all icons and notifications in the taskbar."
I click that.
It's a one-click way to simply turn everything on. That way, I know that I'm not missing anything and I have a full picture of what's trying to notify me or not.
Vista and XP
Vista's controls for the notification area are similar, but in a different location. Right-click the task bar, click Properties, and then click the Notification Area tab:
In Windows XP, things are slightly different yet again. Right-click the taskbar, click Properties:
If "Hide inactive icons" is checked, you can then click Customize... to further control what is and is not shown.
Article C4981 - November 12, 2011 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
November 16, 2011 5:11 PM
Check out the following link for some other suggestions for XP and Vista: http://www.ehow.com/how_4667764_volume-control-windows-system-tray.html. Couple of years ago, I know I was able to restore the volume icon on my old XP machine by downloading a registry fix linked to that site @ http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm.
November 18, 2011 1:22 PM
Your response to the request for help with a missing volume icon didn't go far enough. It didn't address the question of what to do next when your suggestions didn't apply/didn't work, which is my situation.
Any more ideas?
November 20, 2011 5:13 PM
I have tried all of the suggestions, but am unable to turn on the volume control. The box where one does that is grayed out and I am not able to change it from off to on. The volume works fine, the icon is simply missing and I am not able to turn it on.
November 22, 2011 7:03 PM
(Windows XP) EVERY time I start Windows, the volume icon is gone from the notifications area of the task bar. I have to open the control panel > Sounds and Audio devices. Then I un-check the Show Volume Control box, then "Apply" then I re-check the box and click "Apply" and the icon is back. Every - Single - Time. Darned annoying.
November 22, 2011 8:59 PM
Thanks, I chose all icons, all the time. I am still getting used to W7, and take delight in learning these gems that help me regain control of Windows, which wants to do more and more thinking for you, with each new version.