[German]Sometimes users are missing volume control icon in taskbars status area. This blog post addresses this issue and provides diagnostics steps to fix that issue.
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Windows 10 (and also previous versions) shows a volume control icon within the taskbar's status area (see screenshot below).
If that icon is missing, no volume control is possible (only function keys may be useable on notebooks).
Fix #1: Is the icon jus hidden?
Check in a first step, whether the volume control icon is just hidden. This can be done, using the following steps (I uses Windows 10 Version 1607, but similar steps are able in other Windows versions).
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1. Right click left from the date on the taskbar and select context menu command Properties.
2. Click the hyperlink Select which icons appear on taskbar in Settings app. Or use Turn system icons on or off (depending on your Windows 10 build)
3. Check the switch for Volume, the settings must be On.
If the setting for Volume is set to Off, no volume control icon is shown.
In Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise you should also use gpedit.msc to check whether a group policy to hide volume control is set. Go to branch User configuration / Administrative templates / Start menu and taskbar and search for the entry.
In Windows 10 Home launch registry editor and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer. If a DWORD value HideSCAVolume=1 is present, delete this entry or set the value to 0.
Fix #2: Restart, logoff and troubleshooting
In Windows 10 some desktop items fails from time to time. Try to cure this issues using the fixes given below:
- Log of from user account and log in again – check, whether the issue is gone.
- If that doesn't help, restart Windows 10 (press the shift key during selecting the Restart command. This forces a complete restart.
- If that doesn't help, check whether the volume control is present under a new user account.
You can also try to check Windows for damaged files (see Check and repair Windows system files and component store).
Tip: If the volume control icon is missing after each restart, you can try the following fast workaround. Launch task manager (via taskbar's context menu), go to Processes tab and select Windows-Explorer. Then click the Restart button in task manager window. If no tabs are shown, click More details in lower left corner of the task manager.
Fix #3: Change text size settings
I found another hint in Microsoft Answers-Forum within this thread. A users proposed the following steps to repair the missing volume control icon issue.
1. Click in Taskbar to Start and select the Settings icon in start menu.
2. In Settings app click System and select Display within the next page.
3. Drag the slider Change the size of text, apps and other items …. from 100 % to 125 %.
4. Ignore the message that changes are going active after next login and move the slider back to 100 %.
Then log off and log on again and check whether the volume control icon is back.
Fix #4: Check your registry settings
If the fixes provided above doesn't help, try the following steps to check your registry settings.
1. Fire up registry editor regedit.exe (can be done with standard user rights).
2. Navigate in the left pane to key HKEY_CURRENT_USER to the following sub key:
\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
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3. Delete the values IconStreams and PastIconStreams (if they are are present) via context menu.
Close registry editor and reboot Windows. The registry values will be re-created automatically.
Side note: The description given above is for Windows 10 Version 1607, but should also help in other Windows version.
Similar articles:
Windows 10 Wiki
Check and repair Windows system files and component store
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