Missing system tray icons in Windows XP SP2

Abstract

This document describes how to fix the problem of missing system tray icons under Windows XP SP2. The symptoms are: the system tray icons for battery status, ejecting hardware, sound volume, network status, etc. disappear one by one over a period of weeks, and rebooting or restarting the computer does not bring them back.

Introduction

This document describes how to fix the problem of missing system tray icons under Windows XP SP2. The symptoms are: the system tray icons for battery status, ejecting hardware, sound volume, network status, etc. disappear one by one over a period of weeks, and rebooting or restarting the computer does not bring them back, although logging off the current user and logging back in, or stopping the "explorer.exe" process then restarting it, provide a temporary solution. This more permanent solution was derived from the information in [1].

The problem appears to be that when enabled, the uPnP service, whose task is to discover universal plug-and-play devices on the local area network and configure them appropriately, consumes so many resources during the boot-up sequence, that the systray.exe process does not have enough time or enough resources to load all the system tray icons. The corresponding processes are however still running.

Method

1. This article only applies to WinXP SP2. If you have not already got SP2, but you do have Win XP, consider upgrading.
2. If you have any uPnP devices on your local area network which you wish to keep using, this solution cannot help you and you are referred back to [1].
3. Go to the "My Network Places" folder, and look in the left-hand side information column. There is a link which either says "Show icons for networked UPnP devices" or "Hide icons for networked UPnP devices".
4. If the link says "Show", or you do not have either of the two links, this article cannot help you further, and you should read [1] or contact Microsoft support.
5. Otherwise, click the link to "Hide icons for networked UPnP devices". Windows will proceed to uninstall several components which are no longer used; if you are given a choice, choose to remove all unused components. The resulting process may take a few minutes while Windows reconfigures itself.
6. Reboot. Your system tray icons should now all be visible. If they are not, this article cannot help you further, and you should read [1].

References

[1] http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1034225301

Here finishes the article.