Volume control icon no longer appears in the taskbar

Question

I'm having a problem with Windows XP where at some point the volume control icon stopped appearing (even if I tick the checkbox in "Sounds and Audio Devices Properties"). There is a a few knowledge base articles on similar problems:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319095

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistamedia/thread/2595fb5d-5c77-4476-a762-b97654589055

But neither of those work. Has anyone had this problem and solved it?

Answer 1

To resolve this issue:

Click Start, click Run, type msconfig in the Open box, and then click OK.

On the Startup tab, click System Tray (SysTray.exe) so that a check mark appears next to this item. Click OK, and then click Yes when you are prompted to restart the computer.

Answer 2

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

In Control Panel, double-click Multimedia.

On the Audio tab, click the "Show volume control on the taskbar" check box to select it. Click OK.

Answer 3

Right click in the task bar near the time display and you will get a pop up menu. Click on properties.

Under system icons to always show, check volume. Click Apply.

Also, if you don't want inactive icons to be hidden, make sure that box is not checked.