Manage and Show all System Tray Icons on Windows 10

Some of you might be wondering about what is the system tray icons and where to find them? System tray icons are the set of icons that are located at the right side corner of the Taskbar. You will find many essential functional icons here. Those icons are very useful and can be easily accessed without having to use the settings or the control panel.

The system tray icons are exclusive icon sets present only in the Windows OS. with the Tray Icons you will be able to access features like Volume, Network, Power, Microphone, Task manager, Location details, and much more.

Microsoft has made their OS so versatile that the user can access many features easily without having to go through a lot. There are many shortcuts and icons that can be accessed instantly from the desktop or the Taskbar. These features let users access features quickly and efficiently. The OS also offers customization features that allow users to hide or keep the required icons and shortcuts to make their working easier. The Windows 10 OS comes with a new and updated user interface with all the display elements changed and improved in looks and functions.

The system tray icons have also got updates in the interface and have been made using minimalist design to make the con clear and easy to access. The designs are flat and easy to identify. With these tray icons, the users can access different features of the OS from the taskbar and need not search for the menus to access these functions. With the versatility in usage, the OS is one of the best and is being used by millions to run their computers at home and their professional places.

In this article, you will be taken through the process of enabling Windows 10 OS to show all the System Tray Icons in the taskbar. The process is quite simple and needs no complications. Anyone with basic computer knowledge can make the taskbar show all the System yTray Icons. You will be guided with a step-by-step guide to making all the System tray Icons to be shown on the Taskbar of your Windows 10 computer.

How to Make the Taskbar Show All the System Tray Icons on Windows 10 OS

To Make the Taskbar Show All the System Tray Icons on Windows 10 OS, follow the below-mentioned steps. The process is straightforward and you just need to know where to look for the options. Here you will find the exact guide to Make the Taskbar Show All the System Tray Icons on Windows 10 OS:

• On your Windows computer. Right-click on the Taskbar and select the Taskbar settings.
• Now, the settings app will open with the options on the left window pane, choose the taskbar option from the bottom of the left window pane.
• Here, on the right side, you will find many options that will allow you to customize the Taskbar.
• Scroll down to the Notifications area and select the option “Select which Icon Appear on the Taskbar”.
• Now, you will find the list of Icons and can choose the desired Icons to be shown in the taskbar by default. If you want all the Icons to be shown on the Taskbar, toggle the switch on near the option that says “Always show all icons in the notification area.
• Now, all the System Tray Icons will be showing on the Taskbar and you can access them without having to look for the settings,

Here you go, you have made the Taskbar Show All the System Tray Icons on Windows 10 OS. the only drawback would be that the Taskbar can seem to be crowded. You can uncheck the button anytime to disable showing all the System tray icons on the taskbar of Windows 10 OS.

The method mentioned above is the one that is easier to follow and is time-saving, the other method is to use the registry editor to Make the Taskbar Show All the System Tray Icons on Windows 10 OS and that process is a bit tedious and can end up wrong for some people. You better use the settings to Make the Taskbar Show All the System Tray Icons on Windows 10 OS.

Hope the information provided above was helpful and you were able to Make the Taskbar Show All the System Tray Icons on Windows 10 OS. feel free to customize the Windows 10 OS as Microsoft had put in so many customization features, just to make computing easier for professionals as well as common computer users. If you feel the taskbar is too cramped, you can disable the show all icons from the settings and make your computer user interface look clean and easy to use.

Show All Icons And Notifications In System Tray In Windows 10

This tutorial explains how to show all icons and notifications in system tray in Windows 10. System tray is the name by which the notification area of the Windows taskbar is popularly known. Unobtrusive yet incredibly useful, the System Tray consists of the system clock and status icons that provide important notifications about everything from network connectivity to system updates.

By default, the System Tray shows only the default status icons (action center, volume etc.) and consolidates all the others into a small pop-up box, accessible by clicking an upward pointing arrow. While that’s not much of a problem, having to click an arrow and then go through the icons collected in the pop-up box every time to check an important notification can be pretty frustrating.

Thankfully, you can easily have all the icons and notification displayed in the system tray. Wanna know more? Jump over the flip side of the break to know how to show all icons and notifications in system tray in Windows 10.

How To Show All Icons And Notifications In System Tray In Windows 10?

Having the System Tray display all the icons and notifications is a pretty simple task. In essence, all you have to do is tweak the notification area settings from the Windows Control Panel. Here’s an illustrative tutorial, detailing how to get this done:

Step 1: Bring up the good ol’ Windows Control Panel. If the settings in the Control Panel are displayed by Category, click on the View drop down menu on the top right, and choose either Large icons, or Small icons.

Step 2: Now that the Control Panel items are a little easier to find out, click on the one called Notification Area Icons. This will launch a window having settings for configuring the notification area. Simply click the checkbox against the option that says Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar, and click the OK button. Here’s a screenshot:

And we’re done! The notification area of the taskbar (or the System Tray) will now always show all the icons and notifications, without consolidating them in a not so intuitive little pop-up box. Neat little thing, don’t you think?

Conclusion

The notification area of the Windows taskbar (or the System Tray) is one of those elements of Windows that we don’t really pay much attention to in our day to day computer usage, but there’s no denying the fact that it’s an essential component of the desktop, and the functionality it serves is crucial to the entire Windows user experience. So why not show it some love and fill it up with all those nice little notification icons, right? Do give it a try, and let me know what you think in the comments section.

How to Fix System Tray or Icons Missing in Windows 10

Plus what to do as a last resort

The Windows 10 System Tray (Notification area), is located on the right side of the taskbar and provides access to system notifications, functions, and apps.

The system tray also holds shortcuts to some important settings like network, power, volume, and Action Center icons.

If you hover over the system tray and notice that the icons you use are missing, there are several reasons why this happens. You may have installed a Windows Update, which caused a glitch, or there are corrupted Registry entries that seem to conflict with Windows 10, making the system tray or icons disappear.

Here’s how you can fix the system tray or icons missing in windows 10 problem.

How to Fix System Tray or Icons Missing in Windows 10

There are two ways to show hidden icons in the system tray: Using the mouse and using Windows 10 Settings.

Use a Mouse to Show Hidden Icons in the System Tray

To do this using your mouse, select the arrow next to the Notification area to open the system tray and reveal the hidden icons. You can also drag the icons with your cursor and drop them on the taskbar.

Use Windows 10 Settings to Show Hidden Icons in the System Tray

If you want to see all your icons in the system tray all the time, remove the arrow and expandable pane, and enable the Always show all icons in the notification area setting.

1. To do this, right-click your taskbar and select Taskbar Settings.

1. Next, go to the Notificationsarea and click the Select which icons appear on the taskbar option.

1. Toggle the Always show all icons in the notification area setting at the top of the list.

Note: Icons in the system tray only appear when their corresponding apps are running.

Turn System Icons On or Off

If you still don’t see icons on your system tray, use the Turn system icons on or off setting and see if it helps.

1. To do this, right-click the Taskbar > Taskbar Settings.

1. In the Taskbar Settings, go to the Notification area and select Turn system icons on or off.

1. Find the system icons you want to show on the system tray and toggle their sliders to On (if they’re Off).

Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Restart Windows Explorer

Restart Windows Explorer to reload it and restore the missing system tray or icons on your computer.

1. To do this, right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager.

1. Select explorer.exe under the Processes tab, right-click and select End Task.
2. Next, open the App History tab, click File > Run New Task.

1. Type explorer.exe in the message box that appears and select OK.

Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) will reload and the icons will appear in the system tray. If there’s an icon you don’t see, go back to the Taskbar settings, select Turn system icons on or off and check the box next to the missing icon.

Reset or Delete the IconCache

The icon cache database contains the icons you see on apps and files so that the operating system can display them on your screen. Caching icons keeps your system from slowing down by not having to look up icons every time.

However, as the icon cache database grows, corruption may creep in and the icons may not render correctly, may appear broken, or missing from the system tray.

To resolve this problem, try to reset or delete the IconCache to resolve the problem.

How to Reset the IconCache Database on Windows 10

1. To reset the icon cache database, close all running applications, and then open the command prompt. Type CMD in the search bar and select the Run as administrator option.

1. Type this path in the command prompt window and press Enter:

cd %homepath%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

1. Next, type dir iconcache* and press Enter (a list of database files will appear).

1. Stop File Explorer by typing the command: taskkill /f /im explorer.exe and then press Enter. You’ll notice your taskbar and desktop background disappear after terminating File Explorer, but it’s temporary. Closing File Explorer helps delete the icon cache files.
2. Next, type del iconcache* and press Enter.
3. Type dir iconcache* to confirm that you have deleted the icon cache files, and then press Enter. Start File Explorer by typing explorer.exe and press Enter.

Close Command Prompt to complete the process, and Windows will recreate the database files with new icons.

How to Delete the IconCache Database on Windows 10

1. To delete the IconCache database file, right-click Start > Run and enter %appdata% in the Run window to open the Roaming folder.

1. In the Roaming folder, select Appdata in the address bar.

1. Select the Local folder.

1. Select View and check the Hidden items option.

1. Right-click IconCache in the Local folder, and select Delete.

1. Close Windows Explorer, reboot your PC, and check whether the system tray and icons are visible again.

Disable Controlled Folder Access

Controlled Folder Access is an intrusion prevention feature in Windows 10 that protects your valuable data from modification by threats like malware, viruses, and ransomware. If you find system tray or icons missing in Windows 10, try disabling the Control folder access option and see if they’re restored after that.

1. To disable Control folder access, select Start, type Windows Security in the search box, and select Virus & Threat protection.

1. Scroll down to Ransomware protection and select Manage ransomware protection.

1. Next, toggle the Control folder access option button to turn it off or disable it.

Reinstall the Taskbar

If the system tray or icons are missing on your computer, chances are the taskbar may not be working properly. To resolve this, reinstall the taskbar using Windows PowerShell.

Right-click Start > Windows PowerShell (Admin).

Copy and paste this command and press Enter:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers| Foreach

Check if your system tray and icons are back in the notification area.

Edit the Registry

Editing the Windows Registry helps correct errors or corruption, or prevent undesired system activity. The process can be dangerous, especially if you make a wrong edit in the wrong entry, so make sure you backup the registry before proceeding with the steps below.

1. Select Start > Run and type regedit in the Run window to open the Registry Editor.

1. Next, navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\LocalSettings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify key.

1. Select the Tray Notify folder, and then right-click IconStreams and PastIconsStream to delete their values.

If nothing else works, try a System Restore as this protects and repairs your computer’s software. It saves the Windows Registry and some system files as restore points for use in case of data corruption or an install failure.

A System Restore returns the system to working condition by reverting back the settings and files saved to the restore point.

Get Your System Tray and Icons Back

We hope these steps helped you get your missing system tray and icons back. Make sure to search the rest of our site for more troubleshooting tips and tricks to help you fix other issues in different operating systems and devices.

Elsie is a technology writer and editor with a special focus on Windows, Android and iOS. She writes about software, electronics and other tech subjects, her ultimate goal being to help people out with useful solutions to their daily tech issues in a simple, straightforward and unbiased style. She has a BCom degree in Marketing and currently pursuing her Masters in Communications and New Media. Read Elsie’s Full Bio