Have you ever run into a situation where you want to raise the volume of a downloaded clip to make it audible, only to find that the Volume icon is missing from the Taskbar of your Windows 11 or Windows 10 computer? The problem occurs when the behavior of the system icon selection setting is greyed out. The more general approach to solving this problem is looking for a solution from the Settings program or the Control Panel or manually setting icons on the notification area.
Volume icon missing from Taskbar
If th Volume icon is missing from the Taskbar on your Windows 11/10 computer, the following suggestions will help you fix this problem.
- Turn the Volume system icon off or on
- Restart Windows Explorer
- Log out and log in again
- Change the display scaling
- Check the Group Policy Setting
- Modify Windows Registry
Below, we have explained all these fixes in detail.
1] Turn the Volume System Icon Off and On
In Windows 10, from the WinX Menu, open Windows Settings > Personalization > Taskbar. Here click on the Turn system icon on or off link.
The Turn System Icons On or Off panel will open, where you can set the icons you want to display in the Notification area. Just toggle the slider for Volume to the On position and Exit.
Here you will be able to turn any of the System Icons On or Off in the Windows 10 Taskbar.
To access this panel, you can also right-click on the Taskbar > Properties and click on the Notification areas: Customize button.
There is no such setting in Windows 11.
2] Restart Windows Explorer
Sometimes, this issue occurs due to a minor glitch. In such a case, simply restarting Windows Explorer can help. We suggest you restart Windows Explorer on your Windows 11/10 computer and see if this brings the volume icon back on the Taskbar. You can restart Windows Explorer easily via the Task Manager.
3] Log out and log in again
You can also try logging out of your system and then logging in again. This action will close all the opened applications. Therefore, before doing this save your work. Now, go to your desktop and then press the Alt + F4 keys. After that, click on the drop-down and select Sign out. Click OK. Now, sign in again and see if the sound icon appears on the Taskbar.
4] Change the display scaling
In some cases, this issue occurs after changing the display scaling. If you have recently changed the display scaling, we suggest you revert the changes. If you have not done this before, we suggest you try to change the display scaling and see if it helps.
The following steps will guide you on this:
- Open your system Settings.
- Go to System > Display.
- Under the Scale & layout section, change your display scaling. First, select the Recommended settings. If this does not work, try other options.
5] Check the Group Policy setting
If this does not help, if your version of Windows 11 or Windows 10 has the Group Policy, Run gpedit.msc to open the Local Group Policy Editor and navigate to the following setting:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar
Now in the right pane, search for the following setting – Remove the volume control icon. When found, double-click on it to open the following panel.
Ensure that the policy setting is Not configured or Disabled.
This policy setting allows you to remove the volume control icon from the system control area. If you enable this policy setting, the volume control icon is not displayed in the system notification area. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, the volume control icon is displayed in the system notification area.
Click on Apply/OK and exit.
Hopefully, your Volume icon should be back on your Taskbar.
6] Modify Windows Registry
In Windows 11 or Windows 10, open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following path. Before making any changes to the Registry Editor, we recommend you create a System Restore Point and back up your Registry.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
The easiest way to go to the above location is to copy and paste it into the address bar of the Registry Editor. After that, hit Enter. Make sure that the Explorer key is selected on the left side.
Now, double-click on HideSCAVolume on the right side, change its value to 0 (zero), and then click OK. If the value does not exist on the right side, you have to create it manually. To do so, right-click in the empty space on the right side and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name HideSCAVolume to this newly created value. After making these changes, restart your system.
That’s it. I hope this helps.
How do I add volume control to my taskbar in Windows 11?
The volume control icon is already added to the Taskbar in Windows 11 and there is no way to hide it. However, if you want to add the Volume Mixer to the Taskbar, you can do so. For this, click on Windows 11 Search and type sndvol. Now, right-click on it and select Open file location. Right-click on the sndvol file in the File Explorer and select Pin to Taskbar.
Why does my taskbar not show all icons Windows 11?
You can turn on and off the Taskbar items in Taskbar settngs. Open Windows 11 Settings and go to Personalization > Taskbar. Expand the Taskbar items tab and enable or disable the Taskbar items.
See this post if Turn system icons on or off is grayed out. Towards the end of this post, you will see a registry setting which you may have to tweak.
In the case of the Power and Volume options being greyed out when in Notifications (i.e. can’t turn them on), just open Task Manager, right-click on Windows Explorer and select Restart. Fixed the issue for me.
Thanks m8
Thanks man. It really helped me. :)
I have noticed that I lose the speaker icon when i set my taskbar to auto-hide. If I leave it visible, the icon stays but on auto-hide I lose it within a day or two. Does anyone else have that happen?
My volume option is not only off, it is greyed out. Gee, why can’t things just WORK?
Nice one. (worked)
Hint: Use Control-Shift-Esc to quickly access the Task Manager.
1. Hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete and open Task Manager
2. Click on DETAILS tab
3. Find explorer.exe, right-click, and click on END TASK
4. On the top Menu Bar, click on FILE, RUN NEW TASK
5. Enter explorer.exe in the task entry box and click on OK
6. On the top Menu Bar, click on VIEW and REFRESH NOW
7. Volume icon should reappear after refresh
Thank you, excellent job.
Legendary Angela, that worked a treat for me.
thank you it was driving me crazy win 10 a real learning curve for me
1. Go to Device Manager – Sound, video, & game controller
2. Disable, then enable the audio devices listed (sort of on then off)
3. Restart computer
Same here – thank you!!!
Thanks… That was annoying.
Thanks, I searched the internet only to find this comment that was helpful.
Marvellous! Thank you!
What a help. Thank you.
Thanks! I just went through five different sites with various recommendations and yours is the only one that worked. Took all of 2 seconds.
Thank-you, this one worked for me.!
bingo! Thanks!
Angela, you are a ‘G’. Thank you.
Many thanks.
Another success story checking in. Thanks!
Thanks so much! This actually solved my problem instead of the actual post
yeah it’s funny I saw this because I set mine to auto-hide yesterday and noticed the speaker icon today. Restarting Windows Explorer in the task manager fixed the issue instantly for me
Thanks alot :)
Goddes
XD
Thanks very much.
THIS IS BRILLIANT! Thank you so much!
Worked for me – thank you!
Fixes it every time.
Also, CTRL+Shift+Esc to quickly access task manager.
fantastic, thank you so much for all your help.
I had the problem of the volume icon disappearing from the tray…Did the restart suggested by you and it came back!!! Searched many sites and several solutions…but yours is the only solution that worked…and in seconds..!! Thanks
Thank you worked like a charm
Dude thnx to you i got my volume back TEEHEE ;)!
Mine aren’t greyed out, they aren’t there???
You’ll have to right-click on the task bar, hit Settings all the way at the bottom of the popup window, and then click on “Select which icons appear on the task bar”. If Volume and/or Power are both greyed out, you’ll need to restart Windows Explorer via Task Manager.
Good job! Thanks for the Restart Explorer tip – works for me too!
Good job! Thanks for the tip – works great! If you apply for a job at Mr Gates’ company, I’ll give you a recommendation!
no need to restart computer – read Silent Political Yeoman’s posting above.
Holy Hell! That was easy! Thanks for the tip!!
I can’t believe how Windows 10 can feel like a public alpha test of some software, even though it’s been out a good amount of time. It’s so incredibly broken I’m close to giving Linux a go with a VM for Windows, only for the programs I need it for…
The fix works for me but when I log off my laptop and log back on the volume icon has disappeared again.
Is there a fix that will keep the icon there as it’s very frustrating having to do go through this every time I log off :(
this thing happens to me now after a windows updating, so why do they think it would be good to make it disappear? I don’t get what microsoft is thinking……………………….
it works this way!! thanks! all back
Awesome! It worked for me as well, thanks!
Damn, you sir saved me lot of headache!
how
None of these solutions worked:
1. “turn system icons on or off” does not exist
2. I don’t have explorer, just Chrome and Edge (if you’re wondering, I did have the sound icon before, but after recent update it’s gone)
3. I don’t have windows 10 group policy whatever that is
Wow thankyou it helps for me. Genius. :)
That was really helpful! Thanks a lot, Silent Political Yeoman!
And thanks to AnandK@TWC for writing an article about this, enabling the best and most straightforward solution to be posted as a comment. :-)
wow thank you so much this worked!!!
The sound icon doesn’t show up on the system menu on my computer or taskbar. Other problems I have are that my laptop doesn’t turn off when closed even though I have it set to do that and my battery icon always shows that the battery isn’t present even though it is. I need the charger put in, which automatically turns it on and it works without a battery in.
The “Turn system icon on or off” link is now located in a different place in the 6/18 version of Windows 10.
This is 2018 and this STILL is the one and only solution that worked for me as well! I’ve read and tried many different procedures, but this is the only one that actually works! THANK YOU So MUCH!