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Show or Hide System Tray Icons in Windows 11 (4 Ways)


The Notification Area (previously called System Tray) is located at the bottom right side of the screen for displaying recent notifications and icons for programs running in the background.

It seems that you don’t want to show all the apps minimized on the system tray, and, instead of showing them in the notifications area, you want to hide them.

notification area (System Tray) and overflow corner in system tray on taskbar in windows
Notification Area (System Tray) and Overflow Corner

By the end of this article, you’ll be able to show and hide notification area (system tray) icons in Windows 11:


Step 1: Open the Windows Settings from the Start menu.

windows setting app in windows 11
Windows Settings App

Step 2: Select the “Personalization” tab from the left sidebar and click the “Taskbar” option on the right pane.

click the personalization option and select the taskbar option
Taskbar option

Step 3: Expand the “Taskbar corner overflow” tab. Toggle on the icons that you want to hide from the system tray. To hide icons from appearing in the system tray, toggle off the icons.

toggle on and off the system tray in windows using windows settings
Toggle On or Off the System Tray

Step: Drag the icon from the notification area on the taskbar, drop it in the overflow menu and the icon will be hidden from the system tray and moved to the overflow corner, like in the screenshot below.

drag and drop icon from notification area to overflow corner in taskbar
Drag and Drop Notification Area Icons
icons added to overflow corner from notification area in taskbar
Icons Added to Overflow Corner

Step 1: In the Start menu, search for Registry Editor and run it or press the “Windows key + R” key combination to open Windows Run, type: regedit and hit the enter key.

registry editor icon in windows 11
Registry Editor Icon

Step 2: Navigate to the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer, right-click and create a 32-bit DWORD value named NoTrayItemsDisplay.

right click explorer policy settings in registry editor and add 32 bit DWORD value
Value: NoTrayItemsDisplay

Step 3: To hide the system tray icons, double-click the recently created DWORD value and set its value data from 0 to 1.
To show the system tray, set the value data from 1 to 0 or delete the NoTrayItemsDisplay value.

show or hide the system tray icons using registry editor
Show or Hide the System Tray using Registry Editor

Step 4: Restart your computer to make changes take effect.

restart device to make changes take effect in windows
Restart the Device

Suggested Article: Completely Backup and Restore Registry in Windows.


Step 1: Press the “Windows key + R” key combination to open Windows Run, type: explorer shell:::{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9} and hit the enter key.

command to open notification area settings in control panel using windows run
Open Notification Area Settings in Control Panel via Windows Run

Step 2: To show or hide system tray icons (depending on your requirements), set the icon behavior from the dropdown menu to
“Show Icon and notifications” option to display both the icon and its notifications while the app is running,
“Hide Icons and Notifications” option to hide both the icons and notifications even while the app is running, and,
“Only Show Notifications” option to hide the app icon, but keep displaying the notifications and press the “OK” button to save changes.

Show or Hide the system tray using control panel in windows
Show or Hide the System Tray using Control Panel

Next Steps

The system tray is designed to allow easy accessibility to your computer’s system settings, but it may grow crowded with app icons. Following the ways in this article, you may hide or unhide the system tray or reduce its size in a few simple steps.

Further, customize your device’s settings by following the related articles below.


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Stop Background Programs in Windows 11

Save some memory on your computer by stopping apps from running in the background.

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Turn off Notifications in Windows 11

Disable the notifications in Windows to work distraction-free and increase productivity.

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