It doesn’t matter what type of latest Operating System you have on your computer, sometimes something goes wrong always. If you encounter that the volume icon is missing from the taskbar of Windows 10 or 8.1 computer, this post going to be useful.
For some reasons, the sound icon on the notification area may not appear. This could be possibly by system registry/files corruption or sound driver issues by Windows updates or even it was accidentally disabled by someone.
There are several methods available to fix this issue, but we will start with the basic method and then move to the advanced steps. Recently I faced this same issue after upgrading my Windows 10 and one of the following methods helped to solve it.
Methods to Show Missing Volume Icon on Windows 10 or 8.1
Method 1: Let’s try from the Settings up
Search for ‘Turn system icons on or off’ from Windows search and click on it. This will directly open the control box where we can enable and disable the icons in the notification bar.
Make sure that the volume icon is set to show in the notification area.
This is a straightforward method to bring back the missing volume icon from the taskbar if someone or system settings disabled the view. In most cases, this method should work on Windows 10 or earlier Operating Systems.
Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 users can try below method.
Right-click near the clock on the notification area and select Properties.
Make sure Volume icon is set ‘On’ as shown below, if not, enable it.
If this step doesn’t help, click on ‘Restore default icon behaviors’ which may bring back the missing icon.
Read Also: How to get back missing language bar in Windows 8 or 8.1
Method 2: Restart the Windows Explorer
If still the volume icon is missing and you are not able to enable it from ‘Turn system icons on or off’ area as mentioned in the earlier step, then that could be an issue with the explorer process. The following two steps can solve the issue.
a) Kill the explorer.exe from Processes or Details tab under task manager.
Find out all explorer.exe and kill/terminate them, make sure no explorer.exe is running in the task manager. By this time, your desktop will go blank as the explorer service is not running at the moment.
After that, on the File menu select the new process or Run (or new tasks).
Type ‘explorer’ and press OK. It will start the new explorer process. That should bring back the volume icon.
If none of the above methods helped for you, follow the below registry modification.
b) Registry modification- It’s recommended to take a backup before modifying the registry.
Open registry editor in Windows and find out;
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify
Once clicked the TrayNotify, look for IconStreams and PastIconStreams at the right pane.
Delete both keys. Right-click and select Delete.
More information about modifying above registry value is available here at Microsoft site, please visit.
After modifying registry keys, you need to kill and restart the explorer.exe process to take effect.
Few Additional General Steps you Can Try
Here are some of the best practice and general steps you can try to fix this missing volume icon issue on a Windows computer.
- Restart the computer
- Log in with the different user profile and check. This can help in verifying whether the problem is for this particular user profile or all users on the computer.
- Recreate the user profile – if only one user is facing this issue on the computer.
- Do Windows update
- Uninstall and reinstall the sound driver. Better install the latest driver.
I hope one of the above methods would have helped you in getting back missing volume icon on Windows 10 or 8.1 desktop/laptop.
109 Comments
Great fix! Thanks!
Thanks. Method 2 worked perfectly.
After working with every fix mentioned anywhere on the
internet for recovering missing power, network, and volume icons, I
consolidated the ‘repair’ into this procedure…
Either manually edit each of the registry keys below or make
a .reg file with EXACTLY the content between the dashed lines and run it
==========================================
Put ALL below in a text file named (for example)
“NotificationsFix.reg”
—————————————–
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify]
“PastIconsStream”=-
“IconStreams”=-
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
“HideSCANetwork”=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
“HideSCAPower”=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
“HideSCAVolume”=dword:00000000
—————————————–
The first one deletes two keys that Windows will restore on
boot.
The last three tell Windows to NOT hide the icons…the zero
value disables hiding.
Restart or reboot after editing/creating the keys, or
running the reg file.
Works reliably every time in my Windows 8.1, and I’m sure it
will work in Windows 8;
not sure about earlier ones.
thanks. Killing Explorer method worked out.
Awesomeness!! Method 2 worked for me!! Thank you!
Method 2 help resolved my problem. Thanks!
I have now bookmarked this page as this is the second time I have had to go through Method 2. Great fix. Thanks for the info.
Method 2 worked on my windows 8.1. Thanks a ton!
Method 2 works perfect – kill explorer.exe in windows 8.1 and restart
Thank you so much! No luck with method 1 , but method worked like a charm.
Worked! Thanks. I had to use Method 2.
I usually use Chrome but used for Explorer for something specific. When I went back to Chrome, the icon was missing. I just restarted my laptop and the icon reappeared.
Thanks a million! I was thinking about doing a system restore, but that was a last resort…. Method 2, Killing explorer in task manager; details worked.
Thanks, Second method worked well.
Bringing up Task Manager in Windows 8.1, and then highlighting Explorer allowed me to hit the bottom “Restart Explorer” button. Voila! The volume icon reappeared in the taskbar. No other method mentioned worked until I did this.
Method 2 worked like a charm. Thanks!
tx 2nd method worked for me
I did as instructed, but my sound/volume icon will not respond to the “on” click. It remains off and I clicked the “restore default icon behaviors” and still nothing. I also rebooted the computer and still no response. Any other suggestions?
Method 2 helped, thanks!
Thanks 🙂 , Method 2 working for me
Thank you for the help the problem is fixed I sincerely thank you. <3 Syd
Thanks a million! The second option fixed the problem. I was going mad for a while! Thank you for posting the steps here! The first actually helpful tip that I’ve found, no one ever suggested killing the explorer!
Thanks! Method 2 worked for me
Great ! Thanks !
Method 2 works perfectly
😉
thank u so much the method 2 worked for me 🙂