After using Windows 10 for a while, and installing/uninstalling programs, you may end up with many unwanted icons showing up in Settings -> Taskbar. There is no way to remove these icons from the list; certain icons remain there even if you have already removed their app. Another issue which users commonly report with the notification area (system tray) is that System icons like Network, Sound, Power get turned off and the 'Behaviors' dropdown which allows turning them on is greyed out. Let us see how to fix these two problems - both issues have one solution.

In this tutorial you can find detailed instructions on how to fix the Volume, Network, Clock or Power icon disappeared & disabled problem on Windows 7 or Vista OS. How to fix Volume, Clock, Power, Network icon missing (Grayed Out) problem on Windows Vista & Windows 7. Scan your computer for viruses and malware.

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There, click the link Select which icons appear on the taskbar to manage tray icons:

If it gives you some unexpected behavior or you need to clean up the list of icons, do the following.

1. Press Win + R keys together on the keyboard to open the Run dialog and type the following into the Run box:

   This will open the Registry Editor app for you.

2. Now, press and hold Ctrl+Shift and then right click the taskbar. You will see a new item Exit Explorer. Click it.For more details about the command Exit Explorer, refer to the following article: How to properly restart the Explorer shell in Windows.
3. Now, return to Registry Editor.
   Go to the following Registry key:
4. In the right pane, delete the IconStreams Registry value.
5. Now delete the PastIconsStream Registry value.
6. Close Registry Editor.
7. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager.Use File -> Run new task menu item in Task Manager. Type Explorer in the 'Create New Task' dialog and press Enter to restore Desktop.

This will fix your tray icons issues. The Registry values mentioned above represent the notification area icon cache which stores the tray icons for all apps. If this cache is corrupted, it may also prevent system icons from appearing in the tray.

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Last updated on February 3rd, 2016

Problem description: One or more of the following tray icons Volume, Clock, Power or Network, are suddenly missing from System Tray and when you try to re-enable them from system tray settings, you notice that the corresponding check box for the related system icon is grayed out.

The easy solution to fix the missing notification area icons is to restart your computer and if the same behavior still occurs after the restart, then you have to re-enable them from the taskbar properties. However, in some cases, when you try to re-enable notification icons using the taskbar properties, you realize that the corresponding checkboxes are not available (grayed out).

In this tutorial you can find detailed instructions on how to fix the Volume, Network, Clock or Power icon disappeared & disabled problem on Windows 7 or Vista OS.

How to fix Volume, Clock, Power, Network icon missing (Grayed Out) problem on Windows Vista & Windows 7.

Solution 1. Scan your computer for viruses and malware.

Solution 2. Run the Microsoft HotFix 50229.

Solution 3. Remove Invalid Registry Keys & Customize Notification Area Icons.

Solution 1. Scan your computer for viruses and malware.

Important: Before following the steps below, make sure that your computer is 100% clean from harmful programs like rootkits, malware or viruses. To accomplish this task, follow the steps from this Quick Malware Scan and Removal Guide, and then try to check for updates again. If the problem persists, then continue to the next instructions of this article .

Solution 2. Run the Microsoft HotFix 50229

1. Run this Microsoft FIX. (MicrosoftFixit50229.msi)

(Source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/945011)

2. Restart your computer.

Solution 3. Remove Invalid Registry Keys& Customize Notification Icons.

Step 1. Open Registry Editor & Backup Registry.

Open Registry editor. Next generation gaming roleplay. To do that:

1. Simultaneously press the 'Win' + 'R' keys to load the Run dialog box.

2. Type regedit and press Enter to open Registry Editor.

IMPORTANT:Before you continue, first take a backup of your registry. To do that:

• From the main menu, go to File & select Export.
• Specify a destination location (e.g. your Desktop), give a filename to the exported registry file (e.g. 'RegistryUntouched'), select at Export range: All and press Save.

  Step 2. Delete invalid registry keys.

  1. After you have backed up your registry, navigate (from the left pane) to this key:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClassesLocal SettingsSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionTrayNotify

• 2. At the right pane delete the following two (2) registry keys:

• IconStreams
• PastIconsStream

  3. Restart your computer.

  Step 3. Customize notification area icons.

  A. How to customize notifications icons in Windows 7:

  1. Right click on an empty space on your taskbar and choose Properties.

  2. Click Customize.

  3. Click Turn system icons on or off.

  4. Set Clock, Volume, Network, and Power system icons to ON and click OK.

  B. How to customize notifications icons in Windows Vista:

  1. Right click on an empty space on your taskbar and choose Properties.

  2. At Notification Area tab select (check) the icons that you want to be displayed at the taskbar notification area & click OK.

  That's it.