How to fix System Tray icons do not work in Windows 10

[manliya]

If the Notification Area or System Tray icons do not open or work in Windows 10 then follow these suggestions to resolve the problem:

1. Restart File Explorer
2. Remove old notification icons
3. Run System File Checker
4. Run Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
5. Repair Windows Apps using PowerShell

1] Restart the Windows Explorer

You may not necessarily have to scramble for a complicated fix to this issue if this works out for you. The first thing you can try is restarting your Windows Explorer via the Task Manager. Here is how that can be done:

Right-click on your Taskbar and from the list of options select Task Manager. You can alternatively press the Ctrl, Shift, and Esc keys together to open it.

Here, find Windows Explorer. If you see a toggled list of programs upon opening the Task Manager, click on ‘More Details’ to expand it.

Find Windows Explorer and click on it. You will see a Restart option where there generally is an option that says ‘End Task’. Click on it and Restart your PC to see if the issue has been resolved.

2] Remove old notification icons

Remove old notification icons from the notification area and see if that helps

3] Run System File Checker

Run System File Checker and then try again and see.

4] Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Another thing you can try out is to run the DISM tool to service your Windows image and, overall, rid your computer of any harmful, corrupt files.

In order to do so, go to your search bar and search for ‘Command Prompt’ and run it as an administrator.

Here, type the words sfc /scannow. This will begin a scan of your computer’s files, which typically takes a few minutes to complete.

After the scan is through, open your Command Prompt as an administrator again and type out this command.

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

The process will start and you can monitor its progress on the command prompt itself. After it is completed, restart your system and try to click on your system tray icons to check if the issue persists.

5] Reset Taskbar using PowerShell

If none of the above solutions fit the bill for you, you can give a final try to repairing Windows apps via PowerShell. The process to do so is similar to the DISM tool in the Command Prompt.

• Search for PowerShell in the search bar and run it as administrator.
• Copy this line of command and paste it onto your PowerShell before pressing Enter.

Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

• If the PowerShell then shows errors, it may be because the package installation failed since the resources that they modify are currently in use. To counter this, users can perform a clean boot and try running this command again.

You may also download use our portable FixWin to run suggestions, 3, 4, and 5 mentioned above with a single click!

[Silent Watcher]

Avoid unnecessary posts such as 'Thank you', 'Welcome', etc. Such posts will be deleted and user will be warned if it happens again. If caught spamming, the following actions are applicable -

• First time - Warning
• Second time - 5000 Points will be deducted
• Third time - Ban for 7 days
• Fourth time - Permanent Ban

If the post helped you, reward the user by reacting to the post like this -