Can the volume indicator no longer be hidden in the system tray?

The title pretty much says it all. (Windows 11 23H2).

Bob Coleman said:

Can the volume indicator no longer be hidden in the system tray?

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Nope..., unless you use a 3rd party app.

Get yourself a multi-media keybord which includes volume controls. You won't ever have to use volume indicator in task tray again. Hit a keyboard key,it pops up on your screen. Plus it's worth it alone to quickly mute sound with the tap of a key.

And the keyboard doesn't have to be expensive, I've been using Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600 for several years, has a row of keys dedicated for the audio controls above the row of Fx keys. It works on Win7, Win10, Win11 and Linux through a KVM switch.

I recommend to use ExplorerPatcher for this purpose.


As an alternative, you could decide to go with the Windows 11 Taskbar Styler mod of Windhawk.

Note: To hide the volume notification icon instead, use [2] instead of[1].

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The main reason why I recommend to use ExplorerPatcher is that it can completely replace the Windows 11 taskbar so it effectively eliminates all the ongoing limitations, annoyances, quirks, bugs. Even after more than 3 whole years Microsoft still acknowledges that the Windows 11 taskbar (aka the Panos Panay aftermath..) can sometimes cause the explorer.exe process to crash, but some people seem to love it when their computer keeps acting up. So, your choice.. lol

Or..., StartAllBack.

Natively, an inseparable, unmovable cluster of items called Control Center:



StartAllBack:

Edwin said:

Or..., StartAllBack.

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...Which costs money, whereas Windhawk is Free Open Source Software (FOSS) and lets you do the same.

hdmi said:

...Which costs money, whereas Windhawk is Free Open Source Software (FOSS) and lets you do the same.

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True dat!
I purchased StartIsBack, when it was first released, for, I think, $1.99..., then upgraded to StartAllBack for $1.49, so, it didn't really break the bank.

I'm already using StartAllBack (thanks to Edwin) primarily to move the taskbar to the top of the screen and and incorporate an address bar into the task bar. Didn't discover a way to hide the volume indicator and, at least for the moment, don't want to get into a full fledged comparison of StartAllBack, ExplorerPatcher and Windhawk even though the idea is intriguing. Possibly someday. Too busy right now moving things from Windows 10 to Windows 11 and having to constantly look at the volume indicator is only a minor irritant.

Thanks for confirming that it can't be hidden normally though.

Edwin said:

True dat!
I purchased StartIsBack, when it was first released, for, I think, $1.99..., then upgraded to StartAllBack for $1.49, so, it didn't really break the bank.

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To me, it isn't about how little it costs. It's about why I should pay money for something that already is free, as that just doesn't seem very logical to me at all TBH. Especially when also considering the fact that ExplorerPatcher, which also is Free Open Source, fixes many more problems some of which are really important to me. Whereas StartAllBack adds less than nothing for me, as it still doesn't let me completely replace the abomination known as the Windows 11 taskbar. It would be kind of like dropping my pocket change straight into the sewage pit, purposefully. No exaggeration.

That being said, I don't actually even use the Windows 11 Taskbar Styler mod in Windhawk either, even though it is free. That's just because it also doesn't let me completely replace the Windows 11 Taskbar so it has the same type of problem that StartAllBack has. Rather, I use Windhawk for some of the other mods that are available in it, and use it alongside ExplorerPatcher and several other customization programs like Open-Shell, for example. Also, SystemTrayMenu. That plus a bunch of registry tweaks. And a few small scripts and programs that I wrote myself.

Edwin said:

Or..., StartAllBack.

Natively, an inseparable, unmovable cluster of items called Control Center:

View attachment 120427

StartAllBack:

View attachment 120428

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I somehow overlooked that you were telling me that StartAllBack can hide the volume indicator until I just stumbled across that fact on my own and came back here to report same only to see that you told me that in the first place, so thanks again for your expertise.