Fix : Network and Sound Notification Area Icons Disappeared After Vista Update
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After updating Windows VIsta yesterday , I found that some icons from my Notification Area is missing. Icons for Network , Volume and Power (for Laptops) icon is also missing. Surely it has to be some registry error. And I found that many people out there are having the same issue. So here is a simple fix for this error. The Notifi
System Icons Disabled in Task Bar Properties
cation area Icons for System Icons ( Network/Power/Volume) can be enabled or disabled through , Task Bar & Start Menu Properties (Right Click on Task Bar > Properties ) . But this option was also greyed out in my condition.So i was left with out any choice except a registry reset.
Manual Method :
What we have to do is a Registry Reset. This can be done manually by,
1. In Regedit browse to : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify 2. Delete IconStreams and PastIconsStream entries.
3. Restart Explorer (Check below).
Through Reg File : (Recommended)
1. Download the fix file : Download
2. Right click the downloaded file and select Merge. ( Select Run and Ok for confirmation/Uac alerts )
3. Restart Explorer (Check below)
Reactivated System Icons
Now you can see the Settings enables in Taskbar & Start Menu Properties.Enable them and the icons will be back!
Before Reset
After Reset
Restart Explorer :
1. Right click on an empty area on start menu.
2. Click Exit Explorer
3. Run Task Manager (Alt+Ctrl+Del)
4. In the application tab > New Task > Type “Explorer.exe”
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Thanks for the guidance. It’s really helpful.
Thank you for posting this. I successfully re-enabled the check boxes.
When I tried to download the .reg file, I got a file that contains “Download does not exist!”. Perhaps that has something to do with my company’s web filters. I had to resort to the manual method.
As for restarting explorer. I couldn’t find the “Exit Explorer” menu item when I right-clicked on a empty area of the Start menu. Instead, I killed Explorer through Process Explorer.
—Shane