Task Bar icon not responding

[imnotsleepin]

The sound icon at the end of the taskbar (one of the system icons) does not respond by showing me the sound scale so I can adjust the volume. I made two recent changes : 1- I set Google Chrome as my default browser and 2- I added the "Grammarly" extension.

 

[Regedit32]

Hi imnotsleepin,

I'm unsure how your volume scale stopped working, however you could re-add the Registry key which ought to get it back up and running. To do that do the following:

• Press your Winkey + X | then select Command Prompt (Admin)
• If prompted click yes
• Type or copy and paste the following command into the Administrator: Command Prompt window:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\MTCUVC" /v "EnableMtcUvc" /d "00000001"

• Next press your Enter key to execute the command
• If prompted by an overwrite(yes/no) request type y | then press Enter key
• Finally type exit | press enter to close the Administrator: Command Prompt window

That ought to restore the Windows 10 Volume slider (the one that moves left to right).

Note: If you preferred the volume slider from Windows 7 days that went vertically then repeat the above steps but use this command instead:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\MTCUVC" /v "EnableMtcUvc" /t "00000000"


Let me know how you get on. If needed I can upload a REG file that you can just save to your desktop then right click | and select merge if you would find that easier than doing the above via your Administrator Command Prompt.

Regards,

Regedit32

 

[imnotsleepin]

Thanks but I copied and pasted the first command and got this msg : "The system could not find the path specified". I double ckd what you wrote n what I did n I saw that you left out the last quotation mark (closing the Q.mark at the beginning of the comand) so I added it and tried again but still got the same msg. Guess what? Now I cannot get the windows icon in the taskbar to respond either (The windows10 icon that is used in place of previous windows versions "START" button). I'm going to close everything I have open and shut it down n see if that does it.

 

[Regedit32]

I double ckd what you wrote n what I did n I saw that you left out the last quotation mark (closing the Q.mark at the beginning of the comand) so I added it and tried again but still got the same msg.

Hi imnotsleepin,

There are no quotation marks missing in either command. Each command has three pairs of Quotations:

• The reg add " HKEY etcetera "
• The added String "EnableUtcUvc"
• The Strings value: "00000001" or "00000000"

Are you sure you opened the Administrator Command Prompt? When the window opens the prompt in its console will be C:\WINDOWS\system32>

If you accidently opened a standard Command Prompt which is not elevated to Administrator level you would have see the prompt: C:\Users\<What ever your username here>


The Windows icon in the bottom left corner (which you click for Start Menu) for some regularly decides to not open when left clicked. That is a separate issue to your initial request regarding the Volume Icon | Volume scale not displaying. The internet is riddled with suggestions on how to fix that, but to be honest usually the simplest resolution is to restart you computer.

I've uploaded both REG files which you can run to save you having to use your Administrator Command Pompt.

• Windows 7 Style Volume Slider.reg
  • This if run will give you a vertical volume slider (the one present in Windows 7).

• Windows 10 Volume Slider
  • This if run will give you the modern volume slider that comes with Windows 10 by default

How to use those REG files:

• Download the one you want and save to a location you choose.
• Open the location where you saved the download and locate the file.
• Right click the file | now select Merge
• A series of prompts will pop up. When prompted click Run, Yes, Yes, OK

Once done try clicking your Volume Icon on the taskbar. The slider will now appear assuming the issue was a corrupted registry entry in the first place. If the Slider still does not appear, then there is something else going on which we'll have to address.

Report back on your progress.

Regards,

Regedit32

 

[imnotsleepin]

Hi imnotsleepin,

There are no quotation marks missing in either command. Each command has three pairs of Quotations:

• The reg add " HKEY etcetera "
• The added String "EnableUtcUvc"
• The Strings value: "00000001" or "00000000"

Are you sure you opened the Administrator Command Prompt? When the window opens the prompt in its console will be C:\WINDOWS\system32>

If you accidently opened a standard Command Prompt which is not elevated to Administrator level you would have see the prompt: C:\Users\<What ever your username here>


The Windows icon in the bottom left corner (which you click for Start Menu) for some regularly decides to not open when left clicked. That is a separate issue to your initial request regarding the Volume Icon | Volume scale not displaying. The internet is riddled with suggestions on how to fix that, but to be honest usually the simplest resolution is to restart you computer.

I've uploaded both REG files which you can run to save you having to use your Administrator Command Pompt.

• Windows 7 Style Volume Slider.reg
  • This if run will give you a vertical volume slider (the one present in Windows 7).

• Windows 10 Volume Slider
  • This if run will give you the modern volume slider that comes with Windows 10 by default

How to use those REG files:

• Download the one you want and save to a location you choose.
• Open the location where you saved the download and locate the file.
• Right click the file | now select Merge
• A series of prompts will pop up. When prompted click Run, Yes, Yes, OK

Once done try clicking your Volume Icon on the taskbar. The slider will now appear assuming the issue was a corrupted registry entry in the first place. If the Slider still does not appear, then there is something else going on which we'll have to address.

Report back on your progress.

Regards,

Regedit32

 

[imnotsleepin]

ooops! Your right...I'm sooo w/out sleep n tired...my bad. However I did clk the proper option ..Administrator Command Prompt. So not sure why it couldn't locate the path. In any case, shutting down and restarting worked. ...Luckily! Learned that one from my brother. I'm glad I remembered that little tidbit, but you came to the same conclusion so I'm doubly saved. Thanks again for the info. I still learned from the experience. One more thing, since you're being free with your knowledge ....About those Reg files ...

I don't know enough about operating systems to hav thought of doing that myself. Mind you I used to ask my brother for help (he's an ex-MicroSoft hi-tech help desk employee but burned out on it. He doesn't know or wanto know windows10 and works in a very hi-tech position using Linux now. So any mention of windows anything makes him cringe and put his two index fingers up in a cross image. So if I ask something that exasperates and stresses you out just remind me to giv Google a shot.

Not incidentally, I suffer from a good amount of cognitive functioning issues due to having MS and lack of sleep only accentuates my ineptness. And make no mistake, It can be very taxing being on the other side of that! I wouldn't ever wanto be the cause of anyone's stress induced repercussions! SO! That said, what caused you to think it might be an issue with a Reg file, and where does one go to identify which Reg file(s) may be the issue? And if I had run the instruction you gav me,, would it hav actually made a CHANGE to my OS?
Again Thanks so much for your help Regedit32. if you do respond to this at some point, I won't reply anytime soon, Going to sleep now. Keep good.

 

[Regedit32]

That said, what caused you to think it might be an issue with a Reg file, and where does one go to identify which Reg file(s) may be the issue? And if I had run the instruction you gav me,, would it hav actually made a CHANGE to my OS?

Hi imnotsleepin,

I'm the primary caregiver for my mother who has Dementia, so while I've not personally experienced MS I can only imagine how difficult things can be for you at times. If anything I said made you feel I was losing patience with you then please accept my apologies; I certainly was not meaning to convey anything like that.

Over the last year most of the issues with Windows 10 have been incompatible drivers, applications, and third party programs (one's not truly designed to be cross platform or Windows OS friendly). Many of the free programs out there that promise great things actually corrupt the registry (which is Windows way of managing everything effectively without going into overly technical details).

The issue you were describing can be caused by the audio drivers also, but to my knowledge that has not been an issue thus far for the majority of Windows 10 users, with the exception of IDT Audio drivers which Microsoft at one time believed was incompatible and this could cause issues such as flickering screens. The Windows Registry stores relevant data pertinent to drivers, and that is why I thought it may be possible the specific HIVE in the Registry related to your System icons may have been corrupted.

The REG files I posted, and the reg add commands I gave you initially do not add per se to the OS, they simply overwrite what is all ready supposed to be there, and replace the critical information required for the Volume Slider to appear. If you had chosen to use the Windows 7 style, then technically that is a re-write of the Default HIVE, but even then its not a truly brand new action as Windows 10 came ready for people to run programs in compatability mode (i.e. allow some applications to run as if the installed OS was Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, or 8.1) to allow applications to run that currently are not fully supported in the new Windows 10 OS architecture.

Your brother would have no problem merging the REG file for you. In fact it would take him less time to do that than to hold his fingers up in the Cross position .

At the end of the day many issues are resolved with a reboot of the PC, although it may not permanently resolve an issue if something is interfering with the System. However, sometimes the reboot is just easier to do and at the very least cannot change something that you might find hard to change back later if things got worse.

Normally I'd recommend making a restore point, or backing up a Registry HIVE before editing the Registry to allow you to reverse the edit easily if things got worse; but as all ready stated, this was not adding anything new, just overwtriting the pre-existing HIVE with the correct data, in case it was modified via corruption from a third party application. Apart from that the particular edit only affects the display of the Volume Slider and really cannot affect anything else in Windows anyway.

Well I hope things become more stable for you. Microsoft are well aware of various Taskbar, Start, and System Tray issues and eventually they will get to the bottom of the issues and most likely provide updates as they release new builds of Windows 10 to resolve all these.

Life throws us all a few curve balls at times and all one can do is shrug it off ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Regards,

Regedit32