"Unplug/Eject Hardware" Icon won't appear in tray?

[vikenk]

Hi all,

Ever since I reinstalled Win-XP Pro Sp1, the "Unplug/Eject Hardware" icon does not appear in my System Tray. It used to appear on startup because my Epson 785EPX Printer sets up what the computer thinks is a removable HDD. Also, when I plug things like flash memory key devices and scanners I have no way to "stop" them before unplugging.

BUT...(there's always a "but" isn't there?) when Windows Explorer crashes, as it sometimes does, the taskbar seems to reset and the "Unplug/Eject" icon appears.

Anyone know how to remedy this? I've looked around the MS Knowledge base, but with no luck. Thanks in advance for any replies...

VikenK

 

[tpark]

Did you check if it is hiding or not.
Start menu- > right click

-Tom-

 

[vikenk]

Yes, I did. The "hide inactive icons" checkbox is unchecked. Coincidentally, I noticed that my sound/speaker icon does not show up either, unless Explorer crashed and resets.

 

[vikenk]

Thanks for the reply, Microbell. As far as the Sound icon is concerned: Yes, the "show icon..." checkbox is checked, and always has been. If I uncheck it and recheck it and click "apply", the icon will appear, but again, not on reboot.

Right now, the LAN icon and my Microsoft Mouse Icon appear in the system tray, but not the speaker icon or the "unplug/eject" icon. If I go to Task Manager-->Services and stop Explorer then restart it, both the speaker icon and the unplug/eject icon will appear, but the mouse icon won't. This is a real head-scratcher!

In any case, neither icon appears on inital boot-up. I wonder if it has anything to do with icon cache, but I'm not sure where to check for that. Also, I don't know where to find the "unplug/eject" icon settings. Surely there must be a place where I can find any applicable settings for this.

Thanks again for the reply.

Viken K.