Windows Update Icon Not Appearing in System Tray

I am also having this very same issue.

I have updates configured to alert me when there are new updates, but le me choose when to download and install them.

Beginning with the standard August updates, I am no longer receiving the little blue square icon which appears to alert me that new updates are available - and the option to configure that option no longer appears in my system tray configuration menu.

Just to be clear - this is NOT the Windows 10 upgrade icon - but rather the little blue alert icon which appears every month when Microsoft releases new updates and security patches.

I have gone through the steps of resetting the system tray icons and all that - but that has not solved the problem. Any feedback and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks!

I've been having the same issue with both of my Win 7 PC's since about the same time frame, around the 2nd week of August.

Desktop PC: Win 7x64 Home Premium OEM. WU setting has been the same for several years, "Download Updates but let me choose whether to install them."

Desktop PC doesn't have any of the "Win 10 prep" updates installed, no GWX folder, services, etc.

Laptop PC: Toshiba L655 Win 7x64 Home Premium OEM. The same WU issue present (no WU icon appearing in Sys Tray when WU's are available).

Laptop PC did have one "Win 10 prep" update installed but I disabled it with "Autoruns".

WU's are being sensed in the Win Shutdown menu (using the Start Button shutdown options or with the Shutdown dialog window (<alt>F4 at Desktop idle mode).

I haven't tried downloading the latest WU Agent version or a MS "Fixit" download since everything's working ok except for the Sys Tray icon not being present with WU's available.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

I've been having a similar problem. The little icon comes and goes while there are updates available. I finally just put a shortcut to the Windows Updates in the Launch Menu in the taskbar.

Good idea :)

I added a WU reminder into my daily user-login script to run the WU update screen on Wed - Fri ( Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update ) .

AddRAM said:

Scoop, why do you have it set to download updates ? You should be checking the description of each update before it even gets downloaded.

Good point. I'll probably change it to that setting. The reason I hadn't selected that in the past is that until recently, I was comfortable with WU's not installing (when selected as "download but don't install") as that hadn't happened since I started running Win 7 in 2010.

With the recent Win 10 / Sys Tray icon questions, I'll change it to the setting you recommend since I don't get notified anyway in the Sys Tray as it seems have stopped working since August.

I check the WU's before installing them. When the Tray icon was working correctly, I'd uncheck any WU that I didn't want to install and the WU Agent would download (but not install) the corrected list.

Same issue here. All 3 of my desktops set to "notify me of updates, but do not install automatically" stopped giving me the normal update notification icon in the lower left tray when updates are available.

I have to manually right click on either the GWX icon or the Action Center flag icon to get me to the "open windows update" to find the available updates that are all listed but of which I was no longer notified starting in August.

Any fix for this yet?

This might work but I haven't tried it yet. It's one of the MS "Fixit" downloads that's supposed to reset the WU components.

Reset Windows Update components

I might try it after my next routine HDD backup (cloning).


I added this CMD (.bat) content to my login script as a workaround. It launches the WU screen and asks if I want to check for updates.

Code:

@echo off
cd \
wuapp
timeout 4 >nul
set /p wu_check=Check for Win 
Updates? [N]
if "%wu_check%"=="" exit
echo ...Checking for 
updates...
timeout 4 >nul
wuauclt /detectnow 
Exit

hi guys,

it seems a common issue for those of us which didnt accept the telemetry updates and the win10 notifications too

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