When you start your Windows Vista computer, the Volume Control icon may be missing from the Notification area. Also, in the Taskbar properties – Notification tab, the checkboxes for Clock, Volume and Network may remain grayed out.
Simply logging off and logging on to your user account helps in most cases, if this is not caused by a Policy setting. Alternately, you may try terminating and restarting Explorer.exe to see if that works. If that does not help (and your computer is not part of a domain), use the instructions below to unlock the Notification area icons.
Registry Fix
Download trayicons.reg and save to Desktop. Right-click on the file and choose Merge. Click Yes when prompted for confirmation.
Note that the previously mentioned REG file removes the following Registry-based Policy values in your system:
- HideSCAVolume
- HideSCANetwork
- HideClock
- HideSCAPower
Additionally, it clears the IconStreams & PastIconsStream values as suggested in Microsoft KB945011.
Important: After running the .REG file, you need to terminate and restart Explorer.exe for the change to take effect.
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Hi, i just did exactly what the instruction said and it still hasnt work for me. What do you suggest i should do?
Many Thanks!
trayicons.reg didn’t work for me
i can’t get my power tray icon back and my laptop dies randomly…stupid vista.
Thanks, finally I have my trayicons back. trayicons.reg did the trick!
This is wonderful! Just logging off my account for a few seconds did the trick! Thanks so much!
thanks alot =) it works
Thanks! Ive just passed it onto a friend!
Terminating and restarting explorer worked. Thanks!
Thanks for that very helpful solution. It helped me get all of my icons back cheers!!!!
Thanks! Worked great!
@Billy: Right-click trayicons.reg and and choose “Save Target as” in Internet Explorer or similar option if you’re using a different Web browser.