Forum Discussion
Why Does Windows 11 Keep Hiding My System Tray Icons? (Taskbar Icons Missing)
Has anyone figured out why Windows 11 keeps hiding system tray icons? My taskbar icons go missing constantly, and I can’t get certain apps to stay visible. Sometimes they show up under the taskbar overflow menu, sometimes they completely disappear from the notification area, and sometimes they only show up after a restart.
I’ve searched everywhere for answers like:
“Windows 11 taskbar icons missing”
“system tray icons keep disappearing”
“hidden notification area icons”
“apps not showing in system tray Windows 11”
“Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/Volume icon missing”
“Windows 11 keeps auto-hiding tray icons”
It seems like this issue happens after Windows updates or changes in the settings menu. I’ve already checked Select which icons appear on the taskbar, but Windows still hides them. Restarting Explorer sometimes fixes it, but the icons eventually vanish again. I’ve also seen mentions of registry keys like IconStreams and PastIconsStream, but I’m not sure if editing those is safe.
Is there a reliable fix to stop Windows 11 from auto-hiding system tray icons?
Why do my notification area icons randomly disappear, refuse to stay pinned, or only show when clicked?
Any solutions or troubleshooting steps would be greatly appreciated.
3 Replies
I'm seeing the same behaviour in Win11 26220.7271
Solution:
Open PowerShell as Administrator and run the following command:
$RegistryPath = 'HKCU:\Control Panel\NotifyIconSettings'
$Name = 'IsPromoted'
$Value = '1'
Get-ChildItem -Path $RegistryPath -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
New-ItemProperty -Path $_.PSPath -Name $Name -Value $Value -PropertyType DWORD -Force
}
This forces Windows to treat all tray icons as “promoted,” which makes them stay visible.
After running it, all your system tray icons should appear, even after a restart. Enjoy it!I found this solution:
Open PowerShell as Administrator and run the following command:
$RegistryPath = 'HKCU:\Control Panel\NotifyIconSettings'
$Name = 'IsPromoted'
$Value = '1'
Get-ChildItem -Path $RegistryPath -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
New-ItemProperty -Path $_.PSPath -Name $Name -Value $Value -PropertyType DWORD -Force
}
This forces Windows to treat all tray icons as “promoted,” which makes them stay visible.
After running it, all your system tray icons should appear, even after a restart. Enjoy it!
