I cannot hide the volume icon in the system tray

Try these:

Ensure the Group Policy setting is correctly applied.

In gpedit.msc:
Go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar.
Find the policy "Remove the volume control icon".
Double-click the policy.
Set it to Enabled to hide the volume icon, then click Apply and OK.
To show the icon again, set it to Not Configured or Disabled.

Run gpupdate /force in Command Prompt or PowerShell to ensure the policy is applied



Sometimes, registry settings override Group Policy

Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
Navigate to the Relevant Key:

Go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Look for the value HideSCAVolume.
If it doesn't exist, create a new DWORD (32-bit) value with the name HideSCAVolume.

1 to hide the volume icon.
0 or delete it to show the volume icon.
Right-click the Taskbar, choose Task Manager, find Windows Explorer, and restart it.




Windows settings can override Group Policy in some cases.
Right-click the Taskbar and select Taskbar Settings.
Scroll to Notification Area and click Turn system icons on or off.
Locate the Volume option and toggle it Off to hide or On to show.



Ensure your system is up-to-date, as outdated builds may contain bugs that prevent Group Policy from working as expected.



If the issue persists, third-party utilities can customize the system tray settings.

If none of the above works, Group Policy may be misconfigured or corrupted.

Reset Group Policy to Default:
Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

RD /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
RD /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force