Enable Notifications Bell Icon in Windows 11

This article explains how to show or hide the notifications bell icon on the taskbar in Windows 11.

A hidden feature in Windows 11 build 22635.3790 (Beta Channel) found in the latest Windows build allows enable or disable showing the notifications bell icon on the Taskbar.

The notifications bell will display when notifications and alerts arrive. You can click on the bell to view and manage your notifications in one place. The bell will be empty when there are no notifications, and the clock is visible.

This feature isn’t visible in the beta version of Windows. One must use the ViveTool, which enables or disables hidden features in Windows to turn it on.

The command to turn it on is vivetool /enable /id:49082522.

Enable or disable the notifications bell on the Taskbar in Windows

As mentioned, users can enable a hidden feature in Windows to display the notifications bell on the taskbar.

Here’s how to do it.

First, read the post below to install ViVeTool on Windows 11.

Once the ViVeTool is downloaded, run the command below to enable the hidden feature to display a shortened version of the date and time.

vivetool /enable /id:49082522

Go to Settings -> Personalization and select the Taskbar tile on the right when enabled.

Select the Taskbar behaviors tile on the Taskbar settings pane to expand it.

Then, check or Uncheck the box next to the “Show notifications bell icon” to turn it on or off.

Close the Settings app when you are done.

Show or hide notifications bell on Taskbar using Windows Registry

Another way to display or hide the notifications bell on the Taskbar is to use the Windows Registry Editor.

First, open the Windows Registry editor as administrator.

Then, navigate to the registry key below.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Next, double-click the ShowNotificationIcon (REG_DWORD) name on the Advanced key’s right pane to open it.

Then, type 1 to show the notifications bell on the taskbar. Type 0 to hide the notifications bell on the taskbar.

If you do not see the “ShowNotificationIcon” item, right-click a blank area and create a new DWORD (32-bit) registry item.

Then, type the name “ShowNotificationIcon” and enter 1 or 0 to enable or disable it.

You may have to reboot your computer to apply the changes.

That should do it!

Conclusion:

• The notifications bell icon on the Windows 11 taskbar can be enabled or disabled using the ViVeTool application.
• Alternatively, users can utilize the Windows Registry Editor to show or hide the notifications bell icon.
• Depending on user preference, the notifications bell icon can be customized to display a shortened time and date format on the taskbar.