Windows Server 2019 Action Center automatically clearing notifications

Question

I’ve got a client running a Windows Server 2019 RD Session Host farm. Via Group Policy domain user passwords expire regularly. There have been reports that RD Session Host users are not getting that notification. I did some testing today. I set Interactive log on: Prompt the user to change passwords before expiration (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/security-policy-settings/interactive-logon-prompt-user-to-change-password-before-expiration ) to one day fewer than the password expiration. I then RDPed to the farm. I left the keyboard and mouse idle. After about 20-30 seconds I got a popup balloon in the lower right, the keys icon appeared in the System Tray, and the Action Center indicated it had one notification. I let the keyboard and mouse idle. After three seconds the popup balloon and keys icon disappeared. In addition to that the Action Center cleared the notification. If you weren’t looking in this corner you wouldn’t know you had a notification and wouldn’t have a way to check for an old notification.

I’ve done some web searches but they have focused on removing the Action Center. I’ve checked the Settings > System > Notifications & Actions but nothing stands out like “don’t automatically clear notifications” or something similarly helpful for this situation.

Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this?

Answer 1

I finally found the answer. I'm posting the resolution here in case another technician runs into this issue as well.

In Group Policy navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar. Enable "Turn off notification area cleanup." This will cause Windows to display all the notification area icons including the password expiration keys icon. By default it appears that icon is one that will be briefly displayed and then hidden. This Group Policy setting will also cause the Action Center notifications to not be automatically cleared.

Source: Windows Chimp https://www.windowschimp.com/show-hide-icons-windows-10-system-tray/?\_thumbnail_id=588344#Enable_or_Disable\_%E2%80%9CAlways_show_all_icons_in_the_notification_area%E2%80%9D_in_Local_Group_Policy_Editor

Answer 2

I have the same issue. I enabled "Turn off notification area cleanup". All that seems to do is remove the caret "^" and the box holding various icons, leaving them spread out along the task bar. The "change password" notification comes and goes, nothing saved in notifications. There is a "1" over the notification balloon for a moment, then it disappears and notification area is empty. A couple minutes later, I got a "Java Update Available" notification. That one persisted. So the issue is that the "Password expired, please reset" notification goes into the bit-bucket as soon as it closes.
Any help with this appreciated. We would like users to be reminded to do this action until it's either done or they "clear all notifications."