# Battery charge indicator
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 25, 2022, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351 "2022-08-25T20:48:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/1 "2022-08-25T20:48:13Z")
I use W11 on my Surface Pro. Until this morning I had a small bar on the taskbar which showed how much charge was left in the battery.
I have searched through settings but cannot see how to get it back. Perhaps one of the “teeming millions” can help?
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### Author:  [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/2 "2022-08-25T21:16:34Z")
Try this …
- right click on task bar
- select taskbar settings
- In Notification Area, click on “select which icons appear on the taskbar”
- check that the “Power” icon is switched on.
Also … do you have a “^” in your taskbar symbol which shows hidden icons ?
if so, see if it’s in there.
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/3 "2022-08-25T21:29:48Z")
Tried that - there is no “power” icon switch
There is a “^” in the taskbar but power is not there
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### Author:  [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/4 "2022-08-25T21:52:24Z")
…and you have rebooted …?
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/5 "2022-08-25T22:13:25Z")
Always the first resort 😀
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### Author:  [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/6 "2022-08-25T22:16:22Z")
Well, i thought you probably had done !
so i’m out of ideas !
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/7 "2022-08-25T22:56:45Z")
I’m still on Windows 10. Piggybacking on what @pjd said, when you right click on task bar, and select taskbar settings, in the Notification Area, do you have an option to ‘Turn system icons on or off’? That’s where I found the power icon for my Lenovo.
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### Author:  [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2022, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/8 "2022-08-26T00:12:10Z")
Do you have a third-party power manager like PowerChute? If so, that might mess with the taskbar display. In PowerChute at least, you have to show/hide the icon from the PowerChute settings.
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2022, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/9 "2022-08-26T07:49:24Z")
I can’t find “Turn system icons off”
No third-party power managers are installed.
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2022, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/10 "2022-08-26T12:08:05Z")
Here’s something else to try. Appears to be specific to W11.
[How to Restore Battery Icon Missing From Taskbar - 2023](https://mrhow.io/restore-battery-icon-missing-from-taskbar.html#:~:text=Alternatively%2C%20you%20may%20access%20this,icon%20in%20your%20taskbar%20area).
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/11 "2022-08-26T14:04:23Z")
Sadly, most instructions apply to W10 and don’t match W11 screens.
I have read several articles and it looks as if M’soft may have disabled it on the grounds that it was inaccurate.
Not vital I guess, but it was handy.
Thanks for the help anyway.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2022, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/12 "2022-08-26T22:17:57Z")
If it was actually inaccurate, then it wasn’t handy. It was the illusion of handy.
So now when you want to know your battery status, just guess. That may have been all the good the old one was after allowing for all the chicanery by battery and tablet manufacturers who were lying undetected to Win10 & therefore to you.
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### Author:  [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/13 "2022-08-26T22:28:51Z")
Windows 11 didn’t (purposely) remove the battery indicator; it removed the setting that allows you to show or hide it. Presumably without the setting it is supposed to be always displayed, but something weird is happening here.
> [@bob\_2](#):
>
> I have read several articles and it looks as if M’soft may have disabled it on the grounds that it was inaccurate.
They removed the part that showed battery time remaining because it was frequently inaccurate, but it is still supposed to show the percentage.
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/battery-charge-indicator/970351/14 "2022-08-26T22:50:29Z")
> [@TroutMan](#):
>
> They removed the part that showed battery time remaining because it was frequently inaccurate, but it is still supposed to show the percentage.
Which would be right handy.