Power Notification Icon gone after Windows Updates (Vista)

[Richard Mueller [MVP]]

Has anyone else noticed their power icon (also the network and volume icons)
gone from the notication area after running the recent Windows Updates?

Windows Vista Business on Dell Inspiron with AMD Turion 64X2 TL-56. The
updates I got were KB941644, KB943411, KB890830, KB905866, KB943302, and
KB943899.

If you right click on taskbar and select properties, then click on the
"Notification Area" tab, the clock icon is still selected, but the Volume,
Network, and Power icons are greyed out and can no longer be selected. After
research this problem has been reported on Vista machines, but usually
blamed on something having been installed. A recent newsgroup post:

http://groups.google.com/group/micro...f4586bd800c349

Found information on how to fix this by modifying registry here:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windo...windows-vista/

Fortunately, based on experience of some others, I first tried rebooting.
This did not fix the problem, but now the icons were no longer greyed out on
the "Notification Area" tab, so I was able to select them and bring them
back.

I ran the Windows Updates January 11 and did not notice the missing icons
until the next day. However, I'm sure the icons were there before I ran the
updates, and I have not installed anything in weeks. I can't help but
conclude that one of the updates did this. It took hours of research to
figure out how to get the icons back.

--
Richard Mueller
Microsoft MVP Scripting and ADSI
Hilltop Lab - http://www.rlmueller.net
--

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Richard, you can MS-ESC this problem by posting in the appropriate Private
MVP newsgroup.

[Kev H]

I have noted this same problem, which seems to have only started quite
recently.

Vista Ultimate on a Dell Studio 1735 laptop.

The icons are missing most often when the user is logged in to the domain.
When the laptop is not connected to its home network the icons are usually
present. The user has a roaming profile - maybe the time it takes to sync the
profile with the server has a bearing on this?

I discovered that I can restore the icons by stopping the explorer process
and restarting it using the task manager.

Kev.

[MarkTab www.marktab.com]

My power notification icon periodically disappears on my Dell Latitude D820
running Vista Business (latest service pack).

My solution does NOT require rebooting or registry editing:

Obatin Process Explorer
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896653.aspx

Right click on Explorer.exe, and click Restart
(same as Process menu selection, then Restart)

[jj]

Thank you so much. Great documentation - corrected my problem with greyed
out selections for notification area.

[drg0730]

I am having same problem after the January updates ran...thank you...for the
link...I followed the instructions and had succuss...the battery icon is back
on my taskbar. thanx! Dale Guy, Atlanta, GA

"Richard Mueller [MVP]" wrote:

> Has anyone else noticed their power icon (also the network and volume icons)
> gone from the notication area after running the recent Windows Updates?
>
> Windows Vista Business on Dell Inspiron with AMD Turion 64X2 TL-56. The
> updates I got were KB941644, KB943411, KB890830, KB905866, KB943302, and
> KB943899.
>
> If you right click on taskbar and select properties, then click on the
> "Notification Area" tab, the clock icon is still selected, but the Volume,
> Network, and Power icons are greyed out and can no longer be selected. After
> research this problem has been reported on Vista machines, but usually
> blamed on something having been installed. A recent newsgroup post:
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/micro...f4586bd800c349
>
> Found information on how to fix this by modifying registry here:
>
> http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windo...windows-vista/
>
> Fortunately, based on experience of some others, I first tried rebooting.
> This did not fix the problem, but now the icons were no longer greyed out on
> the "Notification Area" tab, so I was able to select them and bring them
> back.
>
> I ran the Windows Updates January 11 and did not notice the missing icons
> until the next day. However, I'm sure the icons were there before I ran the
> updates, and I have not installed anything in weeks. I can't help but
> conclude that one of the updates did this. It took hours of research to
> figure out how to get the icons back.
>
> --
> Richard Mueller
> Microsoft MVP Scripting and ADSI
> Hilltop Lab - http://www.rlmueller.net
> --
>
>
>