How To Restore Missing Icons In The Notification Area

Lets understand the situation first, you've either accidentally somehow 'deleted' an icon from the notification area, or you just noticed that one of the most fundamental icons (such as the Volume icon) has suddenly disappeared. What do you do now?

The following method(s) has been tested for Windows 7, all versions. Though this should work in Windows Vista and 8.1, we can't guarantee it.

Checking:

If you are trying to make a non system icon appear, then make sure that the application (such as Skype, uTorrent etc) is actually running, and/or is installed. Restarting the application is a good start. Restarting your PC should also restore a few icons. If these tips don't work, then follow the steps below.

Step 1

Click that upward arrow on the left of the notification area, and click customize from the box that opens.

Step 2

This should open the "Notifications Area Icons". From here, scroll down until you find the icon you were looking for and on the right of it, select the desired option.

Such as Show or Hide.

Thats it! you're done.

If the icon you wanted is greyed out, then follow along. 

The following may harm you PC if done incorrectly. Proceed on your own risk.

Step 3

Open up 'RUN' by either searching for it in the Start menu, or simply tapping Windows Key and R. Then type in "regedit.exe" (or only "regedit") in the box that opens, without the quotes.

Step 4

In the Registry Editor, on the left hand side, click the little arrows to expand the corresponding folders:

‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER’

‘Software’

‘Classes’

‘Local Settings’

‘Software’

‘Microsoft’

‘Windows’

‘CurrentVersion’

Finally, click ON the "TrayNotify" folder, and a bunch of values should pop on on the window on the right, as seen in the image above.

Step 5

Now select both the IconSteams and the PastIconsStream, by holding down CTRL, and clicking on them once each. Then tap on the delete key and confirm their deletion.

Step 6

Now close the Registry Editor, and open up the Task manager, by right clicking the taskbar and choosing the Task Manager, or holding CTRL, Shift and Escape at the same time.

Step 7 

Go to the processes tab, find the Explorer.exe, and select it. Finally, click on the End Process button at the bottom.

Step 8

Now go to the Applications Tab on the task manager, and click on New Task at the bottom, type in explorer.exe and click OK.

You should now have all the icons back :D

Thanks, and comment if you have a problem.