# What the hell is wrong with my Windows XP taskbar? (Volume icon missing) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2007, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035 "2007-05-30T06:34:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/1 "2007-05-30T06:34:24Z")
All of a sudden, the volume icon to adjust or mute the volume has disappeared from the far right hand side of my taskbar (the notification area.) I have no idea how to restore it. I went into Toolbar Properties and into the Customization part for the notification area, and enabled “always show” for the volume icon - it still won’t show up. Enabling “always show” or “always hide” for any of the other icons also does nothing, making me think that there’s a larger problem with the notification area and not just the volume icon. What can I do here? I downloaded the registry script from Kelly’s Korner that’s supposed to restore the volume icon to the taskbar - it didn’t work. This is frustrating the hell out of me. Any solutions? ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/2 "2007-05-30T06:59:15Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] All of a sudden, the volume icon to adjust or mute the volume has disappeared from the far right hand side of my taskbar (the notification area.) I have no idea how to restore it. I went into Toolbar Properties and into the Customization part for the notification area, and enabled “always show” for the volume icon - it still won’t show up. Enabling “always show” or “always hide” for any of the other icons also does nothing, making me think that there’s a larger problem with the notification area and not just the volume icon. What can I do here? I downloaded the registry script from Kelly’s Korner that’s supposed to restore the volume icon to the taskbar - it didn’t work. This is frustrating the hell out of me. Any solutions? [/QUOTE] Did you go into control panel and open sounds and audio devices, and is the volume icon checked off ? not to mention is your sound card showing up. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/3 "2007-05-30T07:01:15Z")
[QUOTE=Declan] Did you go into control panel and open sounds and audio devices, and is the volume icon checked off ? not to mention is your sound card showing up. Declan [/QUOTE] Yes on both counts. By which I mean, the volume icon check box is checked, so it’s supposed to be showing up. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/4 "2007-05-30T07:07:25Z")
Mine intermittently appears and disappears. It is rather annoying. It’s not an elegant solution, but you could drag a shortcut to the “sounds and audio devices” dialogue on to your … whatever the part is in the taskbar where you can put shortcuts (I don’t think it’s called the tray…I think the tray is the part where the icon SHOULD be…this is something else). ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/5 "2007-05-30T07:08:33Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Yes on both counts. By which I mean, the volume icon check box is checked, so it’s supposed to be showing up. [/QUOTE] I realize your talking about the little horn thing in the taskbar, but other than the above, Rebooting to see if your drivers went south , then checking to see if you have accidently set it to always hide on taskbar customizations. If thats already been done , all I can do is bow out and not cause any more anquish regarding stuff you already did , and good luck. Declan ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/6 "2007-05-30T07:13:31Z")
[QUOTE=Garfield226] Mine intermittently appears and disappears. It is rather annoying. It’s not an elegant solution, but you could drag a shortcut to the “sounds and audio devices” dialogue on to your … whatever the part is in the taskbar where you can put shortcuts (I don’t think it’s called the tray…I think the tray is the part where the icon SHOULD be…this is something else). [/QUOTE] Already did this. It’s ok as a temporary solution but it drives me _crazy_ to know that something on my computer isn’t working as it should! I already checked the “hidden” status in the customization. I set it to “always show.” ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/7 "2007-05-30T07:17:41Z")
Make sure that the “Place volume icon in taskbar” button is checked in your sound and audio devices settings. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/8 "2007-05-30T07:41:59Z")
uncheck it and recheck it ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/9 "2007-05-30T08:18:44Z")
[QUOTE=Baraqiyal] Make sure that the “Place volume icon in taskbar” button is checked in your sound and audio devices settings. [/QUOTE] Already been suggested, and already tried it. Didn’t help. Checking and unchecking it didn’t help. Thanks for the advice, everyone, anyway. Hope a solution is found eventually. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/10 "2007-05-30T09:01:28Z")
I had the same problem about two weeks ago, combined with missing sound in some (but not all) applications. Although I tried everything suggested so far I never found out why that happened or how to solve it properly. Eventually I just did a system restore to a restore point a few days earlier and everything has been fine since then. ---
**Author:** ![Queuing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Queuing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queuing)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/11 "2007-05-30T13:37:09Z")
I second the idea of a system restore to a time when it as working. Maybe a windows update or some other software update messed it up. System restore will remove those, but not any files you may have created in the meantime. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/12 "2007-05-30T14:16:04Z")
I realize it’s been said, but _just in case_ the detail was missing … When you check/uncheck the “Place volume button” box, make sure you hit “Apply” between steps. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/13 "2007-05-30T14:46:51Z")
Also, under Taskbar options, make sure “Hide inactive icons” is not checked. That will hide _anything_ that Windows determines isn’t clicked on very often. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/14 "2007-05-30T15:17:01Z")
uncheck the box, hit apply and then recheck the box and hit apply… ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/15 "2007-05-30T15:36:17Z")
XP disappears and reappears my tray icons constantly: volume, battery, wireless connection. It resizes my windows. My only consolation is that at least I don’t have Vista. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/16 "2007-05-30T20:07:53Z")
And don’t forget to uncheck and recheck that box! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-my-windows-xp-taskbar-volume-icon-missing/406035/17 "2007-05-31T14:36:42Z")
Just a complete WAG, but you are you using a remote access program for that PC (e.g. “[GoToMyPC.com](http://GoToMyPC.com)”)? I don’t know why, but sometimes after using GoToMyPC, my volume button gets automatically and mysteriously muted. Obviously, that’s more than easy to fix, and not the problem you’re describing, but still thought it could be of some relevance to you.