Last Updated:
If you use Windows 10 or 11, you may have noticed that some icons appear on the right side of your taskbar, next to the clock and date.
These are called notification area icons, and they provide you with quick access to various settings and features of your PC.
For example, you can click on the battery icon to see how much power you have left or on the volume icon to adjust the sound level.
Do you want to show the notification area icons in Windows 10 or 11? Hide or show all the icons, if you like!
Some default icons are displayed in this area. You can also hide system tray icons in Windows 10 with ease.
It will resize the notification area in Windows 11 or 10.
It includes Windows Security, OneDrive, battery status, Wi-Fi, and many others. Others are hidden in the up arrow. To open other apps, you need to click twice.
Once you need to click the up arrow and then the app.
If you use Windows 10 or 11, you may have noticed that some icons appear on the right side of your taskbar, next to the clock and date. These are called notification area icons, and they provide you with quick access to various settings and features of your PC. If you’re troubleshooting a similar missing-icon issue on Windows 7, the registry-based fix still applies — see the legacy method near the end of this guide.
Why Show All Icons?
This process is time-consuming, and also the status of apps is not visible in the notification area.
Instead, if you would like to see all the apps in the system tray, you need to make a few changes to the settings.
You can also decide which apps are visible in the taskbar and which are hidden.
The Windows notification area is cluttered with Chrome, Edge, Word, and many others.
This way you have the choice to see only the important apps.
Personally, I would like to see all the apps if there are a few.
In this tutorial, we shall see how to view icons in the Notification area of Windows 10 and 11.
How to Show Notification Area Icons in Windows 10?
But did you know that you can customize which icons appear on your taskbar notification area?
You can also choose to hide some icons or show them all at once. In this blog post, we will show you how to do that in a few simple steps.
Step 1: Open Taskbar Settings
To start customizing your notification area icons, you need to open the taskbar settings. There are two ways to do that:
- Right-click on any space on your taskbar and select Taskbar settings from the context menu.
- You can also open Settings from the Start menu or by pressing the Windows + I keys. Then, click on Personalization and select Taskbar.
Step 2: Select Which Icons Appear on The Taskbar
Once you are in the taskbar settings, scroll down until you see a section called the Notification area.
Here you will discover a link that says, “Select which icons appear on the taskbar.” Click on it to open a new window.
Here you will see a list of all the apps and programs that have notification area icons.
You can toggle them on or off to show or hide them on your taskbar. For example, if you don’t use OneDrive often, you can turn it off and free up some space on your taskbar.
Step 3: Turn On or Off Always Show All Icons in The Notification Area
If you want to see all your notification area icons at once without clicking on the arrow next to them, there is an option for that too.
In the same window where you selected which icons appear on the taskbar, there is a switch at the top that says, “Always show all icons in the notification area.”
Turn it on to see all your icons or off to hide some.
Step 4: Hide or Show All Notification Icons While in Tablet Mode
If you use Windows 10 in tablet mode (for example, if you have a convertible laptop or a tablet), there is another option for hiding or showing notification area icons. To access it:
- Right-click on any space on your taskbar and select Show all notification icons from the context menu.
- Then scroll down until you see an option called “Use small taskbar buttons” under the Tablet mode section.
- Turn it off if you want all your notification area icons to be visible while in tablet mode.
- Turn it on to show only the icons from step 2.
How to show hidden icons on the Windows 11 taskbar?
Just like in Windows 10, you can show all system tray icons in Windows 11.
But the interface is a little different. You can make use of the Taskbar settings.
- Right-click the taskbar and click on Taskbar Settings.
- It will open the Personalization > Taskbar window in the Windows 11 Settings app.
- Scroll through to see the taskbar corner overflow.
- Decide which icons appear in the taskbar corner and which others appear in the overflow menu for the taskbar corner.
- Click the arrow icon to see the list of icons.
- Turn ON or OFF to make the icons visible in the notification area in the Windows 11 taskbar.
Set Hidden Icons on Taskbar Windows 10 – ON/OFF
This tip can make the hidden icons in Windows 10 visible.
- Right-click the taskbar and click on Taskbar Settings.
- Settings > Personalization > Taskbar is another way to do this.
- Scroll through on the right-hand side to see the notification area.
- Two settings are visible.
- Select which icons appear on the taskbar.
- Turn system icons on or off.
Show Hidden Icons
- Apps that you can view in the Notification area are visible in the first option.
- Turn the option to ON to see it in the taskbar.
- Turn it to OFF to see the up-arrow icon items.
You can always ensure to show hidden icons on the Windows 10 taskbar using this procedure.
How to hide Notification Area Icons Windows 10
Move the slider to the OFF option. This will hide the notification area icons, which are visible in the taskbar. To make them visible again, you just have to turn them on again.
If your Windows 10 notification area icons are missing, try turning one ON for one of the apps and check it.
This way you can conveniently see all the required program icons in the notification area. Otherwise, you can hide the unnecessary ones.
FAQ – Notification Area Icons Windows 10
How do I add icons to the notification area in Windows 10?
You can add and hide the taskbar icons by changing the personalization settings in Windows 10. Toggle the switch ON/OFF for each app icon. This option makes the notifications area icons visible. To hide them, turn the switch OFF.
What do the icons in the notification area represent?
The system icons and app icons represent the different programs. You can see the status, notifications, and settings for each app. You can easily navigate through the different options available for each app by right-clicking it.
What icon is visible in the notification area?
The Windows Security Center, OneDrive, Network, and Speaker icons are the most general icons visible in the notification area. The other icons are hidden in the up arrow area. To make them visible, you need to change the personalization settings.
For Windows 7/8 Users (Legacy Method)
On Windows 7, notification area icon settings live in Control Panel → All Control Panel Items → Notification Area Icons, rather than the Settings app used in Windows 10/11. From there you can toggle each icon to show, hide, or “only show notifications,” and there’s a checkbox at the bottom for “Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar” — functionally identical to the modern taskbar settings.
If an icon stays greyed out and unclickable even after adjusting these settings, a few readers confirmed the same issue and found these steps worth trying in order:
- Restart the PC — sounds basic, but resolved the issue for some readers before anything else was needed
- Run a virus scan — a greyed-out, unresponsive icon was occasionally traced back to malware interfering with the relevant system service
- Edit the registry keys covered in this guide’s registry section — this is the step that resolved it for most readers who tried the first two without success
One honest caveat from a reader who tried all of the above: a persistently greyed-out icon doesn’t always resolve, even after the registry fix. If that happens on Windows 7 specifically, it’s worth checking whether the underlying service tied to that icon (e.g., Action Center, a specific driver’s tray utility) is running at all in services.msc, since a disabled or crashed service — not the icon display setting — is sometimes the real cause.
Does this fix work on Windows 7?
Yes, with a different settings path. On Windows 7, go to Control Panel → Notification Area Icons instead of the Settings app. The toggle-per-icon behavior and the “always show all icons” option work the same way. If an icon stays greyed out after adjusting these settings, check the registry fix covered above, or confirm the icon’s underlying service is actually running.
Author: Akshay Jose
Comment: Reports the icon staying greyed out on Windows 7 Ultimate and asks for help.
Reply (Karri Avinash): Confirms following up directly, and notes a restart is worth trying first.
Author: Loukritia Kotoulia
Comment: Reports the same greyed-out icon issue on Windows 7 Home Premium, noting Action Center itself was working correctly.
Reply (Karri Avinash): Suggests trying a restart first, and if that doesn’t work, running a virus scan. Notes that the registry key changes covered later in the tutorial are often what resolves it if the simpler steps don’t.
Author: Shane
Comment: Reports trying all the suggested steps, but the icon remains greyed out regardless.
Reply (Palla Ramarao): Suggests searching specifically for “system icons greyed out in windows 7” to find additional community-reported fixes for that specific persistent variant.
