The battery icon is a beacon when using portable devices like tablets, laptops and mobile phones.
It is what guides us on how much longer we can venture out without tethering ourselves to a power cable.
For many, the battery icon is just as important to check before leaving the house as their car keys and wallet, maybe even more important for others.
It is somewhat difficult to imagine using a battery-powered device without a battery icon to guide you. Knowing how much time you have before you need to find an outlet can be a key part of the work day. So, imagine yourself preparing your Windows 10 laptop or tablet for the coming work day and glancing at the battery icon only to find that it’s no longer there.
This might be pretty unsettling, but don’t panic yet. There can be a number of reasons as to why your battery icon may be missing—and a solution exists for each one of them.
The Icon Is Hidden (Best Case Scenario)
What Happened?
You can’t see the battery icon where it should be, i.e. on the bottom-right side of your screen in the System Tray area. The battery icon should be there, displaying the percentage of charge remaining.
Why?
If you’re lucky, it may be that the battery icon is simply hidden.
How Do You Fix It?
The battery icon could still be in the system tray, but it may be pushed back into the Notification area overflow pane. This iswhere all the rest of the icons are stored when the space in the System Tray is filled.
To see if it’s there, complete the following steps:
- Tap or click the up-pointing arrow button beside the System Trayto open the notification area overflow pane.
Accessing the notification area overflow pane using the arrow button.
- Look through the icons in the small window that appears to find the battery icon.
Battery Icon in the notification area overflow pane.
- If it’s there, simply long-click or long-tap on it and drag it down to the notification area where it normally is.
- You will see that the battery icon will come down, but another icon will be moved to the overflow plane in its place.
The Icon Is Turned Off
The Windows 10 battery icon is missing.
What Happened?
Your battery icon was not in the notification area and you checked the notification area overflow plane and it is not there either.
Why?
It may be that your battery icon is turned off in your taskbar settings.
How Do You Fix It?
You simply need to go to the taskbar settings and turn it back on.
To do that, follow these steps:
- Press the Windows button and type Settings. In the search results, click on the Settings app to open it.
Windows settings app.
- Once the app opens, click on the Personalization option.
Personalization option.
- On the left side of the window, click on the Taskbar option. (Alternatively, you can right-click anywhere on the taskbar and click on the Taskbar settings to access it.)
- Search for the Notification area heading and right under it, click Turn system icons on or off.
Taskbar options and system icons options.
- On the next window, you will be presented with all the available system icons which you can toggle on or off. Search for the Power icon and turn it on by left-clicking or tapping on it.
Options window: System icons on or off.
After following these steps, the battery icon will be back in the System Tray or the notification area overflow pane.
However, if you find that the Power icon is greyed out in the system icon’s window, then you’ll have to take some additional steps to fix the problem.
The power icon option is greyed out.
Windows Thinks You’re Using a Desktop (Worst Case Scenario)
What Happened?
You went through the taskbar settings only to find that the Power icon is greyed out and cannot be turned on.
Why?
This occurs when the Windows OS thinks you are using a device without a battery. If this was the case, there would be no need for a Power icon, but since you’re really using a mobile device, a Power icon is necessary.
So, before you contact Microsoft’s support team, there are a few things you can do on your own to try to fix the problem.
How Do You Fix It?
The problem here may be related to the hardware of your system. There may have been some changes which are either affecting how the system recognizes the battery or it can’t see it at all.
We can test different options to see if they help solve the problem:
A) Check the Batteries
First, let’s check the batteries. We can see if the system’s battery is properly displayed in the device manager by completing the following steps:
1. Go to the Windows Device Manager.
a. Open the Windows Device Manager by pressing the Windows start button and typing Device Manager in the search bar.
b. On the resulting list, click the Device Manager app.
Search for the Device Manager app and click on it in the resulting list.
2. In the Device Manager window, click on the Action menu option right beside the File menu and select the Scan for hardware changes option.
Device manager Action menu and Scan hardware option.
3. After the scan finishes, click on the Batteries option to expand it.
Expanded list of batteries options.
4. Check that the following devices are shown without any problems:
a. Microsoft AC Adapter
b. Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
5. Now, check the System Tray and the notification area overflow pane to see if the battery icon is back.
If it’s not there, then check the Taskbar settings in the personalization options. See if it is now accessible and not greyed out. You should be able to interact with it.
If the icon isn’t available and it’s still greyed out in the Taskbar settings, then it’s time to try another option.
B) Reset the Drivers
In this option, we will be turning the drivers off and then turning them back on, hopefully fixing the problem.
To do this, we will disable the drivers first and then re-enable them to see if that works.
1. Open up the Windows Device Manager.
2. Open the Batteries area/option.
3. Right-click both of the following options and set them to Disabled.
a. Microsoft AC Adapter
b. Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
Disabling the battery drivers.
4. After disabling these options, right-click on them again and set them back to Enabled.
5. Now restart your device and go through all the areas where the battery icon should be. If it isn’t there, then it should be in the Taskbar settings where it should no longer be greyed out.
If it’s still not there or is greyed out, the problem may be being caused by your Windows files system being corrupted or your BIOS being outdated. Each of these issues requires a different approach to fix:
- If your file system is corrupted, you need to recover it from a backup when the laptop or tablet was working without issues.
- If your BIOS needs an update, you need to contact the support team of your device’s manufacturer for the updated version. They should also provide you with instructions on how to install it.
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We’re confident that the information we have provided will help you get your battery icon back so that you’ll be able to use it to plan your day as you did before.If you notice that your battery icon has gone missing again, follow the same steps again to get it back where it belongs.
