Windows Tray Icon Fix

Windows 11 tracks each notification area icon's visibility separately, under HKCU:\Control Panel\NotifyIconSettings. When an app updates, it's often registered under a brand new subkey there and defaults back to hidden, which is why the "Other system tray icons" list keeps needing to be re-checked by hand after updates. There's no supported Windows setting that makes a new icon entry default to visible, so this skill works by sweeping the entries that currently exist and, on request, keeping that sweep running at every logon.

This skill runs Show-AllTrayIcons.ps1, bundled alongside this file, in place of a third party "fix all tray icons" script. Those tend to bundle far more than the job needs (self-updaters pulling unsigned code straight from GitHub, Group Policy machinery, all-users backup and rollback systems) for what is fundamentally one registry value swept across a handful of keys. Keep it that way: don't add features to the script that a specific request here doesn't call for.

When to use

Trigger when the user says a tray icon keeps disappearing or getting hidden, has to be manually re-enabled in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Other system tray icons after an update, or asks to make all system tray icons show by default. Also trigger on an explicit request to run this skill.

Do not trigger for an icon that's missing because its app isn't running, or for taskbar problems unrelated to notification area icon visibility. This only does anything on Windows.

Procedure

1. Work out how you can actually reach the user's Windows machine. This differs by how you're running:

   • Claude Code, running locally on the user's own Windows machine: your own shell already executes directly on that machine. Run Show-AllTrayIcons.ps1 with PowerShell yourself (powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File Show-AllTrayIcons.ps1).
   • Cowork, with a Windows machine linked through a connected folder: the device-bridge shell reaches a Linux VM on that machine with the connected folder mounted, not the Windows host's own shell. You can write or update the script inside the connected folder from there, but you cannot run PowerShell or touch the registry through it. Write the script into the connected folder (or confirm the copy there is current), then tell the user exactly how to run it themselves (see INSTALLATION.md). Only run it yourself, via Computer use, if the user has separately turned that on for the device.
   • Cowork, with no Windows machine linked: you can't place or run anything. Give the user the script's contents to run themselves.
2. Run the sweep. With no arguments, Show-AllTrayIcons.ps1 promotes every current tray icon to visible and restarts Explorer to apply it immediately. Warn the user first (or before they run it themselves) that restarting Explorer closes and reopens any open Explorer windows, resetting them to their default view. That's expected, not a bug.
3. Offer persistence, don't default to it. A one-time sweep only fixes icons that exist right now; a future app update will reset itself again regardless. After confirming the sweep worked, mention -InstallLogonTask as an option that re-runs the sweep at every logon (no administrator rights required), rather than installing it unasked. -RemoveLogonTask uninstalls it later if the user wants that.

Known limitations

• No sweep, scheduled or otherwise, can catch a newly created icon entry the instant it appears; the logon task only catches it at the next sign-in.
• Restarting Explorer closes all open Explorer windows. Closing them first, or running with -NoRestartExplorer and restarting Explorer manually later, avoids the disruption.
• This only affects the current user's icons (HKCU). It does not touch all-users defaults, Group Policy, or anything requiring elevation.