How to Add or Remove Bluetooth Notification Icon on Taskbar in Windows 11
- 20 steps
- Needs administrator rights
- Includes a restart or sign-out
The Bluetooth notification icon on the Windows 11 taskbar shows that Bluetooth is on and gives you quick access to your paired devices. This guide covers three ways to add or remove that icon: the taskbar menu, the Settings app, and the Registry Editor.
The first two take under a minute. The registry method is a fallback for when the others don’t work, and it is the only one that edits system data.
Open Settings, go to Bluetooth & devices, click Devices, scroll down to More Bluetooth settings, then check or uncheck Show the Bluetooth icon in the notification area. The icon appears or disappears on the taskbar immediately.
What is Bluetooth?
Wireless accessories like mice, keyboards, and headphones rely on Bluetooth (a short-range radio link for cable-free data sharing) to communicate with your PC. The same technology connects mobile phones, wireless headsets, speakers, and fitness trackers. Typical devices include:
- Mobile phones
- Wireless headsets
- Speakers
- Fitness trackers
- Mouse and keyboard
When Bluetooth is active in Windows 11, its icon appears in the taskbar corner as a visual cue. The icon disappears when you turn Bluetooth off, which tells you the feature is inactive.
The icon can also be tucked away. If you don’t see it, click the small up arrow (Show hidden icons) next to the system tray. The icon may be sitting in that overflow area.
Option 1Remove the Icon Quickly
This is the fastest way to remove the icon. It works only while the icon is visible, so if Bluetooth is off or the icon is hidden, use the Settings method instead.
- Look for the Bluetooth icon in the taskbar corner (bottom right of your screen). If it isn’t there, click Show hidden icons to check the overflow area.
- Click the Bluetooth icon. A small menu opens. If nothing happens, right-click the icon instead.
- Click Remove Icon. The icon disappears from the taskbar corner straight away.
That’s it. The Bluetooth icon is gone from the taskbar corner, and nothing else about your Bluetooth setup has changed.
Removing the icon does not turn Bluetooth off, so your paired devices keep working. To get the icon back, use the Settings method below.
Option 2Add or Remove the Icon Using Settings
Windows 11 also lets you toggle this icon from the main system settings. Use this method to add the icon back after removing it, or to remove it when you can’t reach it on the taskbar. It works on both Home and Pro editions, and Settings does not normally ask for administrator rights.
- Press Win+I to open Settings. The Settings window opens.
- Click Bluetooth & devices on the left side.
- Click Devices on the right side. Your paired devices appear in a list.
- Scroll down and click More Bluetooth settings under Related settings. A small Bluetooth Settings window opens.
- On the Options tab, check Show the Bluetooth icon in the notification area to add the icon. Uncheck it to remove the icon.
- Click OK. The change applies right away in Settings.
- Close Settings.
That’s it. The Bluetooth icon now appears in, or is gone from, the taskbar corner, depending on the box you set. To reverse it, repeat the steps and flip the checkbox.
You can also check the taskbar settings page. Open Settings Personalization Taskbar Other system tray icons and look for Bluetooth in the list. If it is listed, switch it on to show the icon or off to hide it. Bluetooth does not appear there on every PC, so use the checkbox method above if you don’t see it.
The quick settings panel (the flyout you open from the network, speaker, and battery icons) has a Bluetooth toggle too. That toggle turns the Bluetooth radio on and off. It does not add or remove the taskbar icon.
If you can’t find More Bluetooth settings, the PC probably has no Bluetooth adapter, or the adapter is disabled or missing its driver. Check that the Bluetooth toggle appears under Bluetooth & devices first. The link’s exact position can also shift slightly between Windows 11 versions, so scroll the whole page before giving up.
One more thing to know: on Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, the Bluetooth toggle on that page could show as on while the radio was actually off. Microsoft fixed this in the optional preview update KB5124010. If the toggle and your devices disagree, install the latest updates.
Option 3Add or Remove the Icon Using Registry Editor
⚠️ Back up before you edit the registry
A wrong registry change can cause problems that are hard to undo. Before you start, create a restore point (a snapshot Windows can roll back to), or right-click the key you are about to change in Registry Editor and select Export to save a copy.
This setting lives under 🗝️HKEY_CURRENT_USER, so it applies only to your own account. Administrator rights are not strictly needed to change it for the current user. Windows may still show a User Account Control prompt when you open Registry Editor, and on a work or school PC your organisation may block the change. In that case, ask your IT department.
To add the Bluetooth icon:
- Open Registry Editor: press Win+R, type
regedit, and press Enter. Select Yes if User Account Control asks. - Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Bluetooth. Paste the path into the address bar at the top of Registry Editor and press Enter. - If there is no Bluetooth key, right-click Control Panel in the left pane, select New Key, name it Bluetooth, and select it. Create any other missing key in the path the same way.
- Right-click an empty area of the right pane, select New DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it Notification Area Icon. If Notification Area Icon is already there, skip this step.
- Double-click Notification Area Icon, set Base to Decimal, type 1 in Value data, and select OK. The value now shows 1 in the right pane.
That’s it. The registry now tells Windows to show the Bluetooth icon. You may need to sign out and back in, or restart, before it appears.
To remove the Bluetooth icon:
- Open Registry Editor: press Win+R, type
regedit, and press Enter. Select Yes if User Account Control asks. - Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Bluetooth. Paste the path into the address bar at the top of Registry Editor and press Enter. - If there is no Bluetooth key, right-click Control Panel in the left pane, select New Key, name it Bluetooth, and select it. Create any other missing key in the path the same way.
- Right-click an empty area of the right pane, select New DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it Notification Area Icon. If Notification Area Icon is already there, skip this step.
- Double-click Notification Area Icon, set Base to Decimal, type 0 in Value data, and select OK. The value now shows 0 in the right pane.
That’s it. The registry now tells Windows to hide the Bluetooth icon. You may need to sign out and back in, or restart, before it disappears.
Summary
If the icon doesn’t change after a registry edit, sign out and back in, or restart the PC. To undo a registry change, set Notification Area Icon back to its previous value, or import the backup you saved.
Once the icon is where you want it, the next task is usually pairing a new device, which you do under Settings Bluetooth & devices.
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About the Author
Richard
Tech Writer, IT Professional
Richard is a writer at Geek Rewind who turns complex IT tasks into clear, step-by-step guides. He draws on years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations, focusing on Windows, Linux and WordPress: the problems people actually run into, and the fixes that work. His server and WordPress guides come from systems he runs himself. Richard builds and maintains the platform behind Geek Rewind, from its Ubuntu servers and Nginx configuration to its custom WordPress plugins. Many new tutorials start with readers' questions, and he's always glad to answer them in the comments.
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