Full Tray

Windows 11 will always hide new icons in the system tray. This is a problem for some self-updating packages like Discord and Google Drive.

I used a registry diff tool and found out this registry value:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\NotifyIconSettings\<uint64>\IsPromoted

The value is absent until set in Control Panel. We can automate this!

First Run

• Install the latest Python from the Microsoft Store. As of writing, it's 3.12 (link).
• Get full-tray.pyw and put it anywhere it makes sense for you. Remember where it is.
• Double-click full-tray.pyw.
  • You may be asked to choose Python to open it with.
  • Choose the one you installed and click Always.
• The script runs silently. Any hidden icons should now be visible and nothing else will happen.

This change is not permanent yet.

Scheduled Task

The script needs to run repeatedly to catch those pesky self-updating packages.

• Press the Windows key and type Scheduler. Select Task Scheduler.
• Click Create Task... on the right.
• In General, name it Full Tray or whatever you want. Leave the rest as default.
• Go to the Triggers tab, click New....
  • Set it to what makes sense to you. I chose At log on and Repeat task every: 1 hour.
• Go to the Actions tab, click New....
  • Set the program/script to wherever you put full-tray.pyw.
• Click OK and you're done! You can see your task at Task Scheduler Library.