How to Show / Add Accidentally Removed Bluetooth Icon in System Tray in Windows?
Today we are going to talk about one of the most annoying problem in Windows! As we know Windows shows “Bluetooth” icon in system tray and if you click on it or right-click on it, it shows a menu. The problem starts when “Remove Icon” option is listed at the bottom of the menu and you click on it accidentally and BOOM!!! The bluetooth icon disappears from system tray and you don’t find any option to bring it back.
IMO “Remove Icon” should not be listed at the bottom as there are very high chances a user will click on that option accidentally as most of the time the last option in a menu opens the icon Settings. And the worst thing is that it even doesn’t ask for any kind of confirmation so that user can cancel his action.
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Anyway, if you are also among those frustrated users and have accidentally removed the icon from system tray, here are 2 simple methods to bring the icon back:
- Method 1: Using Hidden Bluetooth Settings Window
- Method 2: Using Registry Editor
Method 1: Using Hidden Bluetooth Settings Window
If you look into Control Panel to change Bluetooth settings, you’ll not find it. You can follow following simple steps to access it:
1. Type bluetooth in Start Menu searchbox and it’ll show a few entries in result set. Click on “Change Bluetooth Settings” entry.
2. It’ll open Bluetooth Settings window where you can enable bluetooth icon by selecting “Show the Bluetooth icon in the notification area” option and apply it.
3. That’s it. It’ll restore the bluetooth icon in system tray.
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Method 2: Using Registry Editor
If the above method doesn’t work for you, you can follow a very simple registry trick to bring it back:
1. Type regedit in RUN or Start Menu searchbox and press Enter. It’ll open Registry Editor.
2. Now go to following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Bluetooth
3. In right-side pane, look for a DWORD value Notification Area Icon. It would be set to 0. Either set its value to 1 or delete it.
4. That’s it. Restart or log off your system and bluetooth icon will be back in system tray.
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you…..
These two solutions didn’t work for me.
I eventually released that I had installed a WINXP on Samsung easy display manager on my laptop. Somehow this must have conflicted with my bluetooth. Once I uninstalled it bluetooth magically worked again.
So that’s something to try: if it suddenly stopped working, try removing any new programs that you’ve installed.
That was like taking me out of hell…thanx a lot!!!
yes, i too got the bluetooth icon thank u so much
thanks for this… It was easy! been looking for this so bad! 😀
The second option helped after over 12 hours brainstorming. Thanks.
Thanks so much!! You helped out where I didn’t know where to look to reset the option.
Thanks again and may your IT troubles be light.
USING THE ABOVE STILL I AM UNABLE TO GET BLUETOOTH ICON
i cant find any of the option to revoke my Bluetooth option. i am using windows 8.1. plz tell any other way to get bluetooth back on
unfortunately method 2 does not work for me either. “Notification Area Icon” is not listed under the default option explained in point 3. I’m using Windows 8.1. Is there another option?
You are a lifesaver. I accidently brushed be mouse and saw the icon go away. I was piiiisssed! What an annoying little bug. Thank you!
Thank you so much, method no2 worked like a charm
my laptop is lenovo g50-45 series and os is windows 8.1. here my laptops have bluetooth but it is hide so i can’t turn on or off. please help me.
Thank you so much,incidentlly icon was removed had recoverd using method 1
Thank you very much. I am able to recover the Icon using Option 1
Thanks man, i have seeking it for few days =_= now it sloved (Y)
Thanks for the information!
But…. is not necessary to restart the pc. You can do the trick with restart of the explorer with task manager.
couldn’t find start menu search box and
there was no bluetooth under control panel, so this was not helpful.
I’ll be ever greatful for you… Great to have your suggestion…
both methods not working.no bluetooth name showing in control panel
Both the methods did not work. Please suggest something else.
Thanks alot method 1 worked as of 8th of Feb 2018 on windows 7
i removed it by mistake by right clicking it and pressing remove icon…
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some people might have the problem in the task bar section solving it by
pressing the arrow going upward near the clock and other notifications then pressing customize then searching for Bluetooth and changing that setting
.. again thanks alot
Thank u so much,this method worked for me.
I followed these steps to bring back Bluetooth icon to my taskbar, but it resulted in startup error, my pc is not starting.
Displays
“A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart”
and repeats this after Restart.
But why did you fool me???
I used second method
^^ Both methods have nothing to do with the startup error. There should be some other reason behind your issue. Make sure correct hard disk drive is selected in BIOS settings.
Many thanks for the assistance. Method one worked for me
Neither worked for me. Almost destroyed my day until I tried to run the troubleshooter.
First, type Troubleshooter in the start menu or go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Troubleshoot Problems
Find “Bluetooth” under “Find and fix other problems”.
Click it and and poof, YOU’RE DONE!
Oh my gosh I have been searching for 2 days! Thanks so much
Hey VG, hope you and your family and friends would be alive and well amidst this damn SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic period.
Well, I wanted to thank you for providing this suggestion as the Bluetooth icon was essential for me.
Since I’m in Windows 11, currently in preview builds, MS Support Live Agent listened to my plea, not understanding the logic that the framework base code of Windows NT OSs are almost 30 years old, and settings are in same place from Windows XP. Yours solution gave me relief from this stupid option of Remove Icon presence.
Thnx a lot!