How To Fix Windows Vista System Tray Icons Disabled Or Greyed Out Problem?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I’ve been looking for a solution to this problem (my power icon had been removed from my system tray) for about a year now!

I’m definitely bookmarking this page in case it happens again.

THANK YOU!

Hi my network icon was missing. I did this process and it did not fix it PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

Thanks for this! It solved my problem. Whew!

Omg thanks for that, so quick and easy to do. I tried finding other solutions and they were long and complicated and didnt work.

Didn’t fix it…now there is a blank area on my system tray…and volume is still not back….

Hey guys does anyone know how to fix a toolbar or taskbar, whatever its called. I have windows Vista Basic and my toolbar is frozen or something. Only my start button works and nothing else. Everytime i go to click on a window i have open down the bottom of the screen it makes a error beep. I’ve tried restarting my computer but still nothing has changed. Does anyone know how to fix this???
pls

THANK YOU! This happens to me on occasion and started when I started using a USB headset. I usually randomly start changing sound settings, rebooting and it eventually comes back.

Thank you for taking the time to post this fix.

Add Another Thank You To The List

Thank you very much for taking the time to post this fix.

cheers….

Thank you so much!

Thanks!! I have seen a much more complicated solution elsewhere (http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/01/fix-network-clock-volume-and-power-battery-system-icons-missing-with-disabled-or-grayed-out-check-box-options/), involving change group permissions and editing registry, but that didn’t work for me. Your solution was simple enough and worked like a charm. Now, any hints as to why that happens?

For those of you that didn’t have it work right click in your system tray and then go to properties and then notification area and the grayed out options should be able to be selected again, worked for me thanks for the fix walker

Props

Thanks a lot!! It really worked. I had tried all the other ways, and this is the easier and the only one that worked.

Thanks a lot! It worked and was super easy. I wonder why it just disappears like that

Wonderful fix. U really gave life to my tray icons ;)

Sweet, thanks for the fix

Yea!!! Yippeee….. YUREKA!!!!

Thank you so much!! This has been plaguing me for a few months.

Thanks very much for the clear explanation and for pointing to such a straigtforward solution. Had looked at quite a few other proposed solutions before finding yours. Thanks again.

Thanks so much. This worked like a charm!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Very clear instructions, and my icons are working again!

Awesome post. Thanks so much!

Amazing solution and it works … :) Thanks a lot !

THANK YOU!!!!

Thanks dude, that worked wonders!

THANK YOU! I have had so many problems with the stupid icons. This was the 4th time I’ve had to fix it and your method was the easiest. Thanks again.

Excellent! Thanks.

Thanks. Icons didn’t appear straight away, had to go to properties to they weren’t greyed anymore. Thanks heaps, other registery things didn’t work for me. Way easier than all the other processes.

Mine didn’t work, not even in the properties tab. Infact, I didn’t even have explorer.exe in my processes. What in the world is wrong?

Oh ok you have to open explorer.exe first then you End Process! It worked thanks so much!!

Wonderful Yeah ! It is a miracle. Many many thanks

Wonderful !!!!

My network icon disappeared about 3 days ago. I did all the registry edit stuff and it didnt work but yesterday my volume and power icons disappeared. I followed what you said and my power and volume came back but my network icon is still greyed out ?

Help !!!

thanks man worked like a charm!!!!

i never leave comments but this problem was so frustrating and you helped me fix it so easily i just had to say thanks!

Thanks mate. This fixed it when the registry fix thing found elsewhere does not.

Thanks so much! Quick and easy fix, and in plain English! Many thanks!

thank you SO MUCH.!!!!

This is by far the easiest way to bring back the system icons. This actually happened to me several times and I keep on forgetting what I had done before since others are too complicated. Good thing that you posted this..thank u thank u!!!!

it works thanks alot

Thanks a buch, it did work!!!!!

Bundle of thanks…

The process worked and I can see where it would work for most things but I must have another issue still. The switch is grayed out in the media area. hmmmm. I like the taskbar shortcut. Thanks!

you saved my life, that was getting so annoying

Good soln – I have used the hotfix from MS a couple of times to fix this problem but for some reason the problem persists and I found this through trying to find the fix again.

Thanks a million. I have to admit I was quit anxious when I had I warned that doing what you said “could make my system unstable”. I backed up everything and tried your solution VOILA!…….it worked just fine. Thanks a million. It is so nice when someone takes the time to find and then offer solutions to some crazy, crazy, issues.

You are appreciated!…..thanks and God Bless

thanks buddie very very much…… may god bless u….. tc,…..

Thanks man! It was so frustrating without the network icon. Your article really helped me. Thanks once again.

Vista Sucks!!! Thank you SO Much!!!

DUDE YOUR A LIFESAVER I LOVE YOU

Thanx alot my friend.i spent a lot of time searching in windows help but i didnt find anything.and now with your help i solved my problem so quick.thanks again

THANK YOU! I have been searching for this solution and your webpage is the first to actually provide something that works and doesn’t require me to go into the registry. I would say I love you, but that is not original, so I will say I respect you in a professional way. Thanks!

Wow… this was the simplest thing/solution out there! i was skeptical about others but the up to date reviews made me do it n now the icons are active n back on the task bar. thanks again!

Neat trick.

thank u very much that help me

Thank you so much for posting this quickfix. You’re a life-saver!

THANKS!! it really helps me alot with my boss’s PC, make me a hero!! THANKS again!!

Thank you! A little scary when the Windows Taskbar, Desktop icons and wallpaper all disappear. But the fix works, is simple to understand, and even simpler to implement. I’m keeping this bookmarked. Thanks again

thanks this is the best. A little frightening when my task bar disappeared but thankss so much :) it took me ages to find a decent web page like this im totally bookmarking this ! :D

have to reccommend this to my mates if it ever happens to them!

I did exactly what you said and did not think it worked at first. However, when I went to the taskbar system icons notification area, the grayed out area had miraculously been removed. All I had to do was to check the boxes and they work fine now. Thanks so much for the info.
Agape<,
R. Hash

Kudos!! I freaked out when my info disappeared and was getting ready to tear apart my Control Panel and all sorts of other settings but I searched for a fix first and found you – so glad I did! Thanks for the easy instructions – much appreciated.

Jane.

Just tried it and worked great! Thank You so much!

OMG! Thank you! After installing Windows VIsta SP2, my network connection and volume control icons had disappeared from my taskbar. Even after several restarts the problem persisted.

After searching extensively I found this blog and your instructions did the trick!

Thanks!

I tried your solution but it didnt work.. but then some one responded saying its the USB headset.. thats the culprit.

In anycase, visiting this page was helpful.

thanks!
Np

OOOOOOOOO
thanks thanks thanks thanks
thank you so much!!!!!
:D
Congratulations!!!!
:D

OMG OMG OMG Its fixed :) :) :) :) :)
Thankyou sooo much :)

Great stuff, thanks very much!

Thanks so much, that was quick, easy and painless ;-)

OMG. I have been trying to fix this for days. Everything I did never worked!
Who would of known it was so simple!
Thank you so much! You are amazing

I’m in no way computer minded but with your straight forwarded no fuss solution it was a walk in the park. Had spent bloody ages trying to find a solution. I really am very grateful. Many Thanks.

I’ve been looking for a way to fix this without rebooting my CPU. This is perfect! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Thank you. Vista sucks but your information was right on. Thanks again.

Nice one dude!!! Pretty stoked, been battling for ages!!!

Thank you!! :)

Simple fix for an endlessly irritating problem, thanks a bunch.

THANK YOU MUCH, YOU HAVE ACQUIRED SAINTHOOD IN MY BOOKS.

Thanks. Worked first time!

Thanx…it was very very simple

For those still stuck with grayed out…. after you followed the posted steps… you can try this after restarting the process Explorer.exe For new task enter the following into the new task block window (run line)…. c:\Windows\System32\gpedit.msc then find under User Configuration Category… select the Administrative Templates Folder and then open the Start Meny and Taskbar Folder… On the right hand pane of the Local Group Policy Editor… you will see a list of settings… find the “Remove the volume control icon” setting line and right click on that line… another window will popup … make sure it is selected as “Not Configured” if not change it to that setting and click on Apply… You should see the icon appear in the properties window from the taskbar… and you can select it to show….

Thank you so much! I have looked at quite a few other ways to fix this problem and none of them worked or was as simple and easy as you described it! My icons are back, thanks again!

Glad I bookmarked this page. It happened again, but I only lost my power icon. Went through the steps again and presto.

Thanks ever so much. I’m not a nerd but never considered myself a slouch when fixing errors on my computer. One day the volume icon in system tray had disappeared. I went all over Microsoft help, and then the internet. I emailed my brothers who know a bit also. I don’t know how I found this page, but it was a godsend. Had the very same problem with greyed out icons. Followed the directions and BINGO. I now have the volume icon back in my system tray.

All the other websites talked about this huge complex process but this was so easy! Thank you so much :)

OMG worked like a charm thank you or gracias! :)

This was simple and it worked!
So many other sites talked but posted non-working or nonsense advice.
Thanks very much.
This problem, encountered by so many people, is a cogent reminder that Vista, when all is said and done,
really does suck.

Me too, thank you so much for this easy fix!!!!
My speaker icon disappeared and the Volume property was disabled in the System icons notification area. Restarting explorer.exe was the fix!

Just adding my “thanks:! :) It didn’t work at first, until I read your comment to go back to the task bar properties and check the icons to always show… no longer grayed out. This is the second time it happened to me, but I forgot how it was fixed the first time. THIS time, I’ll remember!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this worked soo well. im just soo glad tht im actually leaving a comment (which i never do btw) :D
thankssssssssssssssss

TYTYTYTYTY SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!! I have been looking for a solution to this problem for a long time! tyvm =D

Thanks a million. Like many post have stated before me….it was very simple. I too searched other forums/sites and the directions they were giving was tedious and still didn’t work. Thanks again

Thanks 10000…..0000.
:D
:))))

This was wonderful fix. I work in tech support and this fix really works !

Thanks for a quick & easy solution to this frustrating problem! -e

thanks mate…. works like a charm

Thank you. This works perfectly!

Thanks..superb solution..:-)

A million, ker-trillion thank yous! I’ve bookmarked this page on my laptop and in my heart! I <3 U!

Thank you so much! Not having a precise volume control was getting annoying! <3

Thank you!

Easy and lifesaving (…or somewhat)

Thanks! Fixed my issue:) Great step-by-step instruction.

Thanks a million! I did a quick search in Google and this tutorial was all I needed to restore my volume and power icons. It works perfectly fine with Windows 7 as well :)

Worked straight away. thanks

Thank you, so annoying when this happens!

THANKYOU. foolowed the simple instructions and they were back
Cheers

You rock.

Thank you, i finally found a website that works! :-)

Worked for me after I when back to Properties and checked the boxes for network and sound. Thanks

Thank you so much!

I’ve been searching for this solution for decades,

This totally worked. I can’t believe it. Vista sucks but this fix enables me to tolerate it for another day at least.

Thank you Thank you Thank you

Brilliant !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for sharing this, worked fine, items no longer greyed out.

Worked like a charm. Thanks! :D

Excellent fix……………whats really get me is that this post is old and their are still so many of us still getting this problem. What happens that keeps causing this?
Thanks again

Great fix (I’m one of the ones who posted above), but has anyone else noticed this? Ever since using this method to fix the disappearing tray icons or grayed out problem, my tray icons (battery meter for me) disappear a lot more often than they used to. It seems the more I go back to using this to fix it, the more it happens. My battery icon disappears at least once a day now. Before it was about once a month.

thank you very much it worked…this was easier than other options.

oh thank you
thought i had broken laptop!
all fixed now – yippee

Thank you. I had that thing bothering me all the time. Good tip!

Thanks! This worked for me! :)

Its perfect.. Thank you so much

omg..Thanx!! 4 days with this prob n ive been to all kinds of sites looking to fix this prob. This did it! i bookmark the page just in case this prob reoccur

Another bookmark here!!! I’ve been trying, and trying, using so many options i found through google, but yours really worked!!!! THANKS!!!! :)

THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY MUCH! one after one they were all going, and now you’ve come to the rescue!

thanks.

Thanks a ton, man you are a genius. It was so irritating to go to control panel to adjust the volume but now your super duper solution ended this misery in a flash.

Thank you very much. This is so far the simplest fix for this problem. I have had intermittent missing of these icons, and have tried other suggestions, but this one works very well. Thank you again

Thanks so much…It worked! and simple too!

Also thanks to Nick for adding that you still need to go back and check the boxes that were previously greyed out! You guys rock!

I work 12 hour shifts and have little time for complicated or tedious troubleshooting of minor annoyances such as this.
The fix was fast and hassle free.
It’s great to have people like yourself that are able to contribute their time and knowledge to the internet community.
Many thanks!

Perfect and Bang on. Worked immediately…

so, good this solution many times happens when i install anykind of software, computer got crazy and icons gone, many people say have solution but this one is the best when is also grayed out on system tray notification area, thank you a lot.

Such a stupid problem and what an easy way to fix… thanx for the tip…

Thank you thank you thank you i have been looking all over the internet and its kept telling me too open regedit.exe its stupid and this is so easy thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

worked.. thanks a lot!!

Thanks! After suffering through a lot of posts suggesting registry editing, downloading registry hack files, standing on your head with one eye closed while rebooting, etc., this simple solution works like a charm!
Bookmarking this for next time.

Many thanks for such a well presented solution to my notification area issues. I was able to restore all of my grayed out icons in just minutes.

This link is now in my “How To” folder.

It worked; Excellent! Very fast & safe. Thanks for the tip. I thought my wife was to blame, but now I need to go and apologize:)

Woo Hoo! Worked like a champ! Finally got annoyed enough that I googled the solution and found your site!

Adding to the other 6 billion posts about how this saved me plenty of annoying search for fixes.. thankfully its the first result in google nowadays…

This might be entirely unrelated, but for me this issue started when i enabled windows search indexing service, besides taking forever to actually start-up the icons were gone too.. randomness

YAY!!! Thank you sooo much. I’ve been going nuts trying to figure this one out.. and such an easy fix too. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Worked for mi, thanks so much.

omg – thank you SO much for taking the time to post this. I had no luck at all finding a fix on the Microsft support site. Worked great! (Too bad you can’t get a fraction of a percentage of the Microsoft profits for every person who was helped by this.)

Thank you very much!

You totally rock! Thank you!

damn thanx alot worked like a charm didnt know so many people had this problem

thanks alot, it worked for me too. a nice n a simple solution to one of my long term problems. need to check whether this is a permanent solution or not. thank you.

Many thanks! So good of you to share!

This was a fast and easy way to fix the problem! Thank you.

Post is over 2 years old but still Right on!! Tried the regedit fixes etc.,etc. This one finally worked!! Well done & thanks. Vista SP2.

Thanks for this fix, the first one I’ve seen that doesn’t need a reboot :)

thx for the instructionz…it worked hehe :)

The fix worked, simple and good, thanx!

Thank you so much !!!!

By far the simplest & easiest solution I found anywhere – simply followed them and the results were just as described – Many thanks

Thank you! I needed this to re-enable sound for Firefox!

Two years & eight months after your original post I can vouch that your fix still works. Thank you for your help!

Thanks!! At first my volume icon still did not show….then I read on down and sure enough the volume box was not grey and I was able to check it this time. This fixed my problem.

It is still the best solution that I have found. Many thanks for your hep.

too easy – that rocks!

Yo!! I am such a techie dinosaur but this worked for me! bookmarked for future reference because it happens quite a lot, thanks a mill

WONDERFUL

THANKSSSS!!!

one more stupidity of Microsoft is solved

I just had that happen where the volume control was grayed over and so I researched it and found these instructions. You are awesome and thank you so much!

Mark

simple, effective, and straight to the point. thanx…

Thank you! Very easy effective fix!

merci enormement.

Hey dude,

Knew that this works for several other problems .. but fixes this notification icons too … !! that’s amazing .
Thanks !

And it works on Windows 7 !
:)

Still works on 2/19/12 for WinVista SP2…like a charm.

Thank you so much! This irritating problem has been plaguing me for so long. Every time I power up my laptop I dread looking at the taskbar because I know that most of the icons will be missing and grayed out, and then having to endure the lengthy process of having to reboot several times just to get my icons back. Well, no more, thanks to you :) Who knew the solution would be so straightforward?!

Thank you:)

Perfect!!! thanks for the help

Dude, you totally rock! And thanks, Nick above for adding what to do if it didn’t show up right away!

Great guide!

Quick and easy to follow.

Thanks

Hi

I tried this but I am unable to get back my power icon on the task bar.

Is there a way to put back grayed out power icon back on task bar?

Thanks in advance

This worked great! Thank you. I have been so annoyed by not having my volume and power icons there. All fixed.

Thank you so much, for the much needed information. Worked like a charm. All icons are back.

Thank you so much! Simple directions that worked perfectly.

My heart was beating faster when I show unusual task bar tray icons. I thought my computer was infested with virus. My computer automatically updated to SP2 the other night since then. When I started this morning all changed. I wasted quite a valuable amount of time trying to search for solutions. I eventual got it fixed by following through this site. Thanks a lot for the owner of this site.

PERFECT! Way better than the other sites that had me going through the regedit.exe route. This was a quick and simple fix. Now let’s just figure out a way to get you to the TOP of the search results :)

thank you. big help.

AWESOME! FANTASTIC! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Thanks, it worked perfectly. But why did it disappear in the first place!???

Thanks, worked perfectly. I rebooted after adding a new hard drive. Not sure if this had anything to do with it, but this solved the problem. Thanks!

Wow!! You are the Master Genius!! Other forums give you a thousand things to do that might or might not work. You went right to the point and it worked effortlessly. Thank You very much.

thanks a TON~~~~~ I’ve been messing with this for days, and finally found your FIX!! It worked like a charm. Blessings,
Karen

thanks a lot…. Great minds with a big heart sharing important info… cheers !

These icons disappeared on my taskbar overnight after having only run an Areca backup. It never has been a problem before! IT was probably and explorer crash that lost the settings in the first place. This simple solution reset these settings. Thanks!

Brill. Simple and worked very quickly.

OMG!!!!!! You Rock! You are my laptop God. I LOVE YOU!!! :)

I just googled and found you.
who knew I would find my Laptop Knight in Shining Armor.

SweetDreams
Signed: WalkerNews.net Lover :)

Thanks for this great and easy fix. Windows updated, then crashed on restart, went back to previous time to try to fix it. Volume disappeared and was a pain to go to media center to turn volume off and on. I too am bookmarking this page if it happens again.

i just tried and it worked .Thank you.big help.

Thank you very much… I’ve tried many things, and this is the only one that works… :D

thanks very much it worked first time, very easy to follow instructions

FANTASTIC! Thank you SO much!

dude, i think it goes without saying that you are fricken awsome. i’ve been working on this problem for over a year. thank you, it works like magic. so simple.

THANK YOU! :-)

Thank you – works & is so easy to do!!
:o)

Another thank you. I can’t believe how long it took me to google for the answer to why the volume icon was grayed out. Thanks a million times.

Only real solution I have found :D
Thanks!

You are wonderful, with a little more help from the commenters and it worked like magic. The universe smiles upon you.

OMG THIS WORKED GR8 THANKS

Awesome fix….thanks!!!

it works Thanks friend

Thanks so much – good little fix ! Any idea why this works?

Thank you!

Thank you for posting this very useful bit of information. Instructions were concise and only had to apply them once. Why did this happen is the first place?

YAY thank God! thank you :)

ending explorer.exe then restarting it got my icons back.thanks

WooHoo I got my system icons back! Thank you for sharing this information. God Bless You!

Thank you so much for sharing this easy fix! I am not very computer savvy and found other “solutions” did not work or were to complicated for me to follow.
Wishing you a happy festive season and a great New Year.

Worked perfectly, very simple. Thanks a lot

This solution didnt work for me at first.
I opened task manager and end process explorer.exe
But instead of restarting clicked new task and typed explorer.exe clicked ok.
Worked a treat.

So simple, yet so helpful…and for so long! 2009 – 2013 and it still works like a charm. Thanks so much!

Thanks, their latest update greyed my network icon. Way to go MS, always keeping the customer in mind…NOT!
It is so great that so many people act as FREE tech support for them otherwise they would have gone out of business or improved their product. Hmm?

Hi,

The fix worked like a charm. Was not able to see volume and battery icon but this issue got fixed thanks to your easy explanation.

Many thanks. It saved my laptop from a beating!

Thank you. Much, much easier way to correct this than the old way I found. Quick and easy instructions. You have “the knack”.

even worked on my windows 7 , like a charm!
thank you sir!

Thank you,problem solved.

Bravo!! Great instructions…thanks.

Many thanks, perfect fix

Thanks you, Its works for me…

Thanks much…I cant thank u enough!

thanks. it worked

thanks so much mate. that was so easy, once i found this site. all other forums i tried were useless. cheers

Thank you SO much. I have been searching the internet for HOURS on how to restore the volume control icon in VISTA. Nothing worked and I tried your solution as a last resort and then I was going to give up. I followed your instructions and WALLA! That darn icon reappeared! Thank you!

Thanks, it worked better and easier than the other complicated ones. :)

What a beauty! Had this problem before and spent ages trolling for an answer. How easy.
Thanks.

Worked like a charm, buddy. Thanks!