Win 11 - cannot hide system tray network icon. Not in Taskbar Personalisation list

tpriest · Oct 31, 2025

Win 11, 25H2 (26200.7019), desktop PC. The network icon is permanently visible in the System Tray, I do not want it showing, it's unnecessary, PC is ethernet connected and ultra reliable internet.

In Personalisation/Taskbar/Other System Tray Icons there is no network icon in the list. So no option to hide. For me it's an untidy irritant. There's no relevant setting that I can see in Internet Options either.

Any suggestions how to hide it?

OAT · Oct 31, 2025

tpriest said:
Win 11, 25H2 (26200.7019), desktop PC. The network icon is permanently visible in the System Tray, I do not want it showing, it's unnecessary, PC is ethernet connected and ultra reliable internet.

In Personalisation/Taskbar/Other System Tray Icons there is no network icon in the list. So no option to hide. For me it's an untidy irritant. There's no relevant setting that I can see in Internet Options either.

Any suggestions how to hide it?

Windhawk can give you what you are looking for & more.
Natively, Windows does not give you that option.

Taskbar tray system icon tweaks - Windhawk

Allows hiding system icons: volume, network, battery, microphone, location/GPS, Studio Effects, Recall, language bar, bell (always or when there are no new notifications), and the "Show desktop"...

windhawk.net

tpriest · Nov 1, 2025

Thanks. Shame, Windows 10 didn't show it

Try3 · Nov 1, 2025

tpriest said:
Any suggestions how to hide it?

What about the dialogs shown by these shortcuts?
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
and its subordinate
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}\SystemIcons
Network appears in both of mine.
I made no note of other routes to display these dialogs so I don't know if they are ones you have already tried.

All the best,
Denis

OAT · Nov 1, 2025

Try3 said:
What about the dialogs shown by these shortcuts?
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
and its subordinate
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}\SystemIcons
Network appears in both of mine.
I made no note of other routes to display these dialogs so I don't know if they are ones you have already tried.

All the best,
Denis

Denis,
The second option is good but no longer works in Win11 for me.

Try3 · Nov 1, 2025

Denis

Try3 · Nov 1, 2025

System icons, Network, On

System icons, Network, Off

System icons, Network, On again

I have ExplorerPatcher in order to have Taskbar Toolbars; perhaps that affects the network icon behaviour.

Added later - I did not restart explorer or anything else inbetween these screenshots.

Denis

OAT · Nov 1, 2025

Try3 said:
I have ExplorerPatcher in order to have Taskbar Toolbars; perhaps that affects the network icon behaviour.

Denis

Thanks Denis.
Could be ExplorerPatcher, we will see what the OP says. That could be another incentive to use it.
I have Dev, Beta & Canary and sadly, all choices are in the OFF position and turning them ON does zilch.
I am OK with that as my main system is using Wi-Fi and I want to see the Network icon.

dacrone · Nov 1, 2025

its EP. that replaces the taskbar. in windows 11 you cannot separate the Control Center natively, thus cannot hide those icons individually. SAB and WH will allow you to do so too.

OAT · Nov 1, 2025

dacrone said:
its EP. that replaces the taskbar. in windows 11 you cannot separate the Control Center natively, thus cannot hide those icons individually. SAB and WH will allow you to do so too.

Thanks @dacrone. I just installed EP & indeed that functionality is restored.

dacrone · Nov 1, 2025

if my notes still stand from windows 10 (should for EP taskbar)... powershell:

Volume Icon:

Code:

# Hide Volume Icon from the system tray
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "IconStreams" -Value ""
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "PastIconsStream" -Value ""

# Restart the Explorer to apply the change
Stop-Process -Name explorer
Start-Process explorer

Code:

# Show Volume Icon in the system tray
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "IconStreams"
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "PastIconsStream"

# Restart Explorer again to apply the change
Stop-Process -Name explorer
Start-Process explorer

Network Icon:

Code:

# Hide Network Icon from the system tray
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "IconStreams" -Value ""
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "PastIconsStream" -Value ""

# Restart Explorer to apply the change
Stop-Process -Name explorer
Start-Process explorer

Code:

# Show the Network Icon in the system tray
# Reset "IconStreams" and "PastIconsStream" for the Network icon.
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "IconStreams" -Value ""
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "PastIconsStream" -Value ""

# Restart Explorer to apply the change
Stop-Process -Name explorer
Start-Process explorer

Bluetooth Icon:

Code:

# Hide Bluetooth Icon from the system tray
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "IconStreams" -Value ""
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "PastIconsStream" -Value ""

# Restart Explorer to apply the change
Stop-Process -Name explorer
Start-Process explorer

Code:

# Show Bluetooth Icon in the system tray
# Reset "IconStreams" and "PastIconsStream" for the Bluetooth icon.
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "IconStreams" -Value ""
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TrayNotify" -Name "PastIconsStream" -Value ""

# Restart Explorer to apply the change
Stop-Process -Name explorer
Start-Process explorer

dacrone · Nov 1, 2025

here, made it easier. just make this run as admin and pin wherever. then you dont have to go into any programs' settings to change them...
.bat is attached

tpriest · Nov 3, 2025

Try3 said:
What about the dialogs shown by these shortcuts?
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
and its subordinate
%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}\SystemIcons
Network appears in both of mine.
I made no note of other routes to display these dialogs so I don't know if they are ones you have already tried.

All the best,
Denis

Thanks but sadly, no effect. I'll have to live with it.

Win 11 - cannot hide system tray network icon. Not in Taskbar Personalisation list

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