Get your volume icon back (Win7 and Vista) After removing some spyware, restoring my preferences that it hijacked, and giving my computer a good thorough cleaning, I discovered that my volume icon had disappeared from the system tray. After checking my settings and seeing that they were correct, I found this video that involves editing the registry, and it worked.
In case the video is ever taken down, here are the steps:
Check the settings
Click on the ▲ next to the system tray, then click 'Customize'. The video shows a different way to get there, but this is easier.
Next to Volume, make sure it's set to 'Show icon and notifications.'
If it's already set to this, you'll need to take these additional steps...
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Step 1: Edit the registry
Click on the Start button, then type regedit into the search box and hit enter. If it asks, click on 'yes'.