Roaming profiles: System Icons disappear when user change computer from Window 11 to Windows 10 (icons for clock, network, battery)

Question

Hello, I have troubles in company with 200 computers. We have mixed operation system Windows 10 and Windows 11.

We are using Active directory with roaming profiles.

A problem occurs when user logoff from Windows 11 and then log to Windows 10 computer.

When user log to computer then disappear system icons for clock, network and battery.

When user manualy change Taskbar setting / "Turn system icons on or off" it's ok, but when user next time change computer from Windows 11 to Windows 10 is the same problem.

If I change GPO setting to prevent changing setting it doesn't help

(User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar: "Remove the Clock from the system notification area"

If I change regedit setting to prevent changing setting it doesn't help

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

DWORD (REG_DWORD): HideClock > which is set to 0

This registry or GPO settings just enable or disable option for switch on/off.

When you disable clock in registry or GPO, the clock disappears - this is ok.

But when you enable the clock back in the registry or gpo, than must enable manualy switch to show clock - not auto show.

Is there any command promt or other solution (gpo, regedit, powershell)?

Manualy change setting isn't solution, I have to solve this with a policy.

Answer 1

W moim przypadku pomogła aktualizacja Windowsa do wersji 22H2.

In my case, updating Windows to version 22H2 helped.

Answer 2

W moim przypadku pomogła aktualizacja Windowsa do wersji 22H2.

In my case, updating Windows to version 22H2 helped.

Answer 3

So, after much searching and testing this is what I have found...

• The visibility of the Windows 10 taskbar system tray icons such as 'clock', 'volume' and 'network' is controlled via: "Settings, Taskbar, Turn system icons on or off".
• Setting changes made by a user via that GUI are applied instantaneously.
• The underlying registry values are stored within the combined BINARY 'Settings' registry key value under: "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3"
• If a user with roaming user settings logs onto a Windows 11 PC, Windows 11 'walks all over' that 'Settings' registry value for no apparently good reason
• Windows 11 has no equivalent settings GUI to 'Turn system icons on or off' & the 'network', 'volume' & 'clock' appear to be displayed by default no matter what the registry value is
• The result is that all of the system icons are set to 'Off' when a roaming user returns to a Windows 10 PC

Workaround:

• I have created a Powershell script assigned to users via a 'User Configuration, Policies, Windows Settings, Scripts, Logon' Group Policy filtered to only apply to Windows 10.
• This checks if a roamed user's 'Settings' registry value has been 'affected' by Windows 11 (seems to be changed to common and reliable starting pattern), and if it has:
  • deletes the 'Settings' key and restarts Windows Explorer (unfortunately needed in order to inform the system of any direct value changes here and/or have the key recreated with it's default Windows 10 values)
  • most of the system tray icons are set back to 'On', as most Windows 10 users will be used to
  • might also write a specific 'Settings' BINARY value, with values skimmed out of a correctly setup reference user's registry, but I noticed slight differences in the values created between different users with the same configuration, so I prefer to delete the whole value and let the system recreate it as it sees fit.
• The required Windows Explorer restart occurs between 30 and 60 seconds after Windows desktop has loaded which unfortunately kills any open File Explorer windows (but happily not any running application windows).
• The script is only needed if user has just previously used a Windows 11 PC, so if they stick with and area of shared Windows 10 PCs or Windows 11 PCs they will not be impacted.

This has taken many days of searching and testing to achieve and seems like a ridiculous situation to be in. It's as if Microsoft are not interested in or are not considering roaming users of shared devices, or the possibility of service managers needing to run a mixed Windows 10 / Windows 11 environment whist transitioning services to Windows 11.

#
# Windows 11 tramples over Windows 10 'StuckRects3' value causing all Win 10 system icons to be hidden if this setting roams.
# Resetting this key at Windows 10 login ensures all the expected Win 10 system icons are displayed.
#
# Unfortunately, any 'Settings' value change requires a Windows Explorer restart to regenerate it properly.
#
#
# Edinburgh Napier University - 22/07/2024
$RegKey = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3"
$ValueName = "Settings"
# If a 'Settings' value exists but starts with a 'Windows 11' value pattern, delete it and restart Windows Explorer to have new default Windows 10 value created.
if ((Get-Item $RegKey).property -contains "Settings" ){
    $Value = (Get-ItemProperty -Path $RegKey -Name $ValueName).$ValueName
    $Hex = ([System.BitConverter]::ToString([byte[]]$value)).Replace('-','')
    if ($Hex -like "30000000FEFFFFFF7AF4*") {
	    Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects3" -Name "Settings" -force
	    get-process -Name "Explorer" | kill
    }
}