[Fix] “Input Indicator” Icon Comes Back in Taskbar Notification Area After Restarting Windows

Recently an AskVG reader “Armond” contacted us regarding following query:

I am having a strange issue in my Windows 8.1 Update 1. I added Persian language to my language list in Control Panel -> Language. I don’t need the Input Indicator on the system tray, so I went to Control Panel -> Notification Area Icons -> Turn system icons on or off, and turned off Input Indicator. Now the problem is, when I reboot Windows, the icon comes back and the setting above resets to default! I see this in Windows 7 too. So Windows “forgets” my settings? Odd! Please, How to get rid of it? I even suggest you to write a separate article about it. Thanks so much for your kind work.

Actually its a known bug present in Windows 7 and later. It might also present in Windows Vista and XP but I never saw this bug appearing in those OS.

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What happens during this problem/bug:

1. You add more than one language in Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 and you try to disable/turn off language input indicator icon in notification area (or system tray) of Taskbar.

Input_Indicator_Icon_Taskbar_System_Tray.png

You open Taskbar Properties and click on “Customize” button present in “Notification area” section. Then you click on “Turn system icons on or off” link and set “Input Indicator” icon to Off and apply changes.

Turn_Off_Input_Indicator_Icon_Taskbar_Notification_Area.png

It removes Input Indicator icon from Taskbar notification area.

2. Now you restart Windows and Input Indicator icon comes back in Taskbar notification area. When you check the settings to turn system icons on or off, you find the “Input Indicator” icon has been reset to On.

So you can’t permanently disable or turn off “Input Indicator” icon in Taskbar notification area and that’s the bug.

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SOLUTION:

The solution is simple. If you are facing this problem, follow these simple steps to permanently hide “Input Indicator” icon in Taskbar notification area:

1. Open Control Panel and click on Language icon.

2. Now click on “Advanced settings” option given in left-side pane.

Change_Advanced_Language_Settings.png

3. Enable “Use the desktop language bar when it’s available” option present in “Switching input methods” section.

Enable_Use_Desktop_Language_Bar_Option.png

4. Now click on “Options” button and set “Language Bar” option to “Hidden“.

Set_Language_Taskbar_Toolbar_Hidden.png

Save the changes and it’ll permanently remove “Input Indicator” icon from Taskbar notification area and it’ll no longer reappear upon system restart.

Also check:

Published in: Troubleshooting Guides, Windows 7, Windows 8

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. This method does not work, blame the latest version of the drivers from Intel graphs.
    Are underdeveloped, bugged, better for the moment to use the older version of January.

  2. First let me say a huge thanks to VG for the article… Good job!
    @Slaw, I believe nobody talked about touching the graphics driver here.
    The bug and the fix is clearely specified in detailed here.

  3. VG

    I have issues with this tray app, input indicator. I had Google Input tools (Bengali, Hindi) with normal US_ENU keyboard installed – in Win8. Free update to 8.1 killed it. Now the languages show up in languape applet in ctrl panel, but no way to show the languages and toggle between them using Win+space like before. The input indicator tray app itself is a blank, not even ENG shows up (previously ENG, BEN and HIN existed).

    Any way to correct this, I really miss the ability to switch languages on the fly and start typing in Google Input Tools in emails/documents. Registry hacks/resets are ok with me. I have tried uninstalling the language packs, Google Input tools, and also tried Windows’ own Beng and Hindi keyboards (INSCRIPT and default MS) … and add/removed them to no avail.

    Any help will be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you
    Niru

  4. @Niru
    Uninstalling and reinstalling the software and language packs was the thing which I was going to suggest you but you have already tried it. It might be an issue of upgrade. Sorry but cant help much. You can try to uninstall Windows 8.1 update from Programs and Features -> Installed updates.

  5. hi, win10 forgets vlc mediaplayer notification being turned off, after wake up from sleep.

  6. THANK YOU for this!!
    I’ve been battling with this ever since I installed Pinnacle Studio 19 on my Win 10 laptop. Pain in my a**e!
    I’ve been going into the standard settings menu and removing it with the “Turn system icons on and off”, but it wasn’t permanent.

  7. Awesome. Thanks so so much. This drives me up the damn wall, having to turn it off in system icons every time I startup. I did recall there was this option, I’d done it on another W8.1 pc, but I was buggered if I could remember how, and trying to find out how myself was just impossible.
    So Cheers.
    (Havent tested it yet, but am fully confident its the key):):):)

  8. Thanks for the tips.

    I had bar hidden but the creators update set back and I wasn’t finding where to change.
    Works 😉

    Win 10 64 bit

  9. A few months ago, my Win 8.1 input indicator disappeared. I restored it by customizing the system tray and turning the input indicator back on. But it’s off again every time I reboot. It stayed on during reboots for years, but something changed its behavior.

    Do I understand correctly that it can’t be turned on permanently?

  10. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the language pack months ago, but that didn’t help.

    I don’t want to uninstall the Win 8 to 8.1 update.

    There doesn’t seem to be anything else to try. I just wish I knew what caused this problem to suddenly materialize.

    Is there another possible solution that I missed?

  11. On Win 10 1903 and now is October 2019. Didn’t actually realize that the Language Change thingie was missing and I’ve tried to check on many places which always shows one method or another but nope, didn’t work at all. M$ screwed another update? I’ve no idea but I can’t even change the language to type in now. Sigh!

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