Battery and volume icons not showing, greyed out in options

Question

I just started my laptop, running on battery, and these two icons aren't showing up.

In the settings, they're greyed out.

Screenshot:

There's probably a registry key controlling this, but I don't know which one that is. Plus, I don't know what caused this.

Answer 1

ref: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19085-system-icons-enable-disable.html (I've reformatted)

1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.

2. In the left pane, click on an expand User Configuration, Administrative Templates, and Start Menu and Taskbar.

3. For the Volume Icon - In the right pane, right click on Remove the volume control icon and click on Edit. Select Disabled or Not Configured and click on OK.

4. For the Power (battery) Icon - In the right pane, right click on Remove the battery meter and click on Edit. Select Disabled or Not Configured and click on OK.

5. When done, close the Local Group Policy Editor.

6. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to fully apply.

Answer 2

For me, something had set the registry entry HideSCAVolume under:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

I fixed it by removing this entry and restarting Windows Explorer.

Fix for When Volume Icon is Missing and Grayed Out in Windows

Answer 3

Chances are your power management settings have been turned off, so...

1. Click start, in the search bar type msconfig and press Enter.

2. Select the Startup tab and scroll down until you see power management or anything similar - look for your computer's manufacture name in the manufacturer tab. Tick it and restart your computer.