Making Cisco Secure Anyconnect icon visible in Win 11 start bar (like it used to be)

Question

I used to see an icon for Cisco's Anyconnect VPN program on my task bar next to the clock & date, which let me know if I was/wasn't connected to the network. A few months ago after a software update the Anyconnect icon became buried in Win 11's worthless "Hidden icons" thing, which resulted in my wasting time on multiple occasions trying to figure out what is wrong, only to eventually see that my network connection had been lost. OTOH, Windows 11 insists on displaying the battery icon in the task bar (I believe we can't hide that). Have the same geniuses now decided we aren't allowed to make Win 11 show icons we actually want to see?

And please no recommended fixes that require either hacking the registry or installing some add on program - - it's 2024, and like most users, my IT department has locked us out from doing things like that. Thanks.

Answer 1

Hello,

Based on the information you provided, I suggest you try the following steps:

1. You can try opening Settings, Network and Internet, and click Network Reset.
2. Open cmd with administrator rights and enter the following command

netsh int ip reset

netsh winsock reset

ipconfig /flushdns

ipconfig /registerdns

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

3. Open the Task Manager, find Windows Explorer in the process, right-click and select "Restart".
4. If the network adapter driver is missing, outdated, or incompatible, it may cause connection problems. You can try updating the network adapter driver. You can look in Device Manager to see if there is a yellow mark next to the network device name. Under Network Adapters, if you see a yellow mark, there is a problem with the network driver.

Best regards

Zunhui

Answer 2

Like I said "please no recommended fixes that require either hacking the registry or installing some add on program - - it's 2024, and like most users, my IT department has locked us out from doing things like that." We don't have Admin rights, we can't hack our registries or install some add on. We just want 11 to work. It's stunning that Windows 11 has been out for years, yet hacks always seem to be the solutions recommended to its never ending series of problems. Even Vista was never as bad as 11.

Answer 3

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. Based on your current situation, I suggest you try all the steps except step two.

Best regards

Zunhui

Answer 4

Thanks for trying, but none of those worked either. Not a surprise to me though. That's been my experience with all of Widows 11.

Answer 5

I was talking to our IT department about yet another Win 11 issue and mentioned that I can't get the Cisco network status icon to show on the taskbar. He said that at least we all now have to see the battery status indicator even if our laptops are plugged in and fully charged. We both laughed and said how bad 11 sucks, but then he changed some things and suddenly the network status indicator is back on my taskbar.

Btw, I would share the steps needed to restore the network status icon, but I'm not sure what he did. My head is swimming with all the dumb fixes that are needed with 11. I've used almost every version of Windows, and never have had so many problems (not even with 8) as with 11. Can't wait until it's retired.