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normanmlFlag for United States of America

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WIN7 Updated Tray Icon missing

On my WIN7PRO/64 machine, the win update icon has disappeared. It's handy to remind you that updates have arrived. I checked properties in the taskbar,  customize. Windows Update has "show icon and notifications." When I switch it to something else and switch it back, it says "this notification icon is not currently active. It will be show the next time it become active." Since there are updates waiting to be installed, wouldn't that indicate it was active? I did not install the WIN 10 notifiers last time around because I want to stick with 7. Could that be the problem. I refreshed the iconcache, but all that did was restore to the customize screen the small blue winupdate icon next to the drop-down box. (It had been showing the network icon.
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Merete
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At a guess this sounds normal normanml you only see this when they are available.
"this notification icon is not currently active. It will be show the next time it become active."
There is a monthly windows updates  " Tuesday of each month"then there is the occasional critical updates which install automatically. Then there is optional  updates.
When the monthly windows updates arrives and has downloaded then you see windows updates available. notification.
Or the critical updates waiting for you to reboot on your shutdown button.
I see the same as you. When they are available they maybe hidden behind the arrow next to the speaker icon.

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Did you check in Windows Updates for pending Updates? It might have detected none,  you have already installed them,  or the detection has not been triggered meanwhile.
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Thank you, but I should have been more specific. There were 34 updates waiting, the windows update notification in taskbar properties was set for "Show icon and notifications." And until this latest round of updates, it would appear in the taskbar. This time ON TWO WINDOWS 7 MACHINES, there was no icon. So what is preventing the detection of the updates from being triggered? Or to put it another way, why do two machines have more than two dozens updates waiting and no icon notification whatsoever? Could the answer have to do with the several previous updates that were preparing WIN7/8 for WIB10? The only thing that's changed on the two machines is the installation of last set of updates, three weeks ago. Again, this in on TWO WIN7 systems. Clearly there is something going on. And thank you, Merete - I did indeed check the arrow pop-up (down) box. No update icon was there.
Good Grief!
I also have noticed that I no longer have the Windows Update icon in my Notification tray even though I have 25 Updates waiting.  
I see no way to add the Windows Update icon to the Notification area  (as shown in Merete's screenshot.)
So I will be looking for the solution here. :)

Googling comes up with this
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-desktop/notification-area-icons-missing-at-startup-or/54a96d92-35bd-414f-ae34-0f9eb5fe41db?auth=1

See fryer_lawrence's Solution.  It is not clear whether this applies only to missing power, network, volume icons or others.

This reference includes a .bat file that does something similar to fryer-lawrence's solution
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/13102-notification-area-icons-reset.html
Yup, I think you may be right jcimarron -- that fix SEEMS to apply to the standard system icons, though who can say for sure. I think this is a beast of another species. I'm hoping the masters here will think this worthy now that we have three win7 machines with the same "update" icon and notification problem. I've installed all 34 updates so I'll have to wait till next Tuesday to see. But I'm betting there's more WIN7 users out there who, not seeing an icon in the system tray, have not run Win update to see if there are updates waiting.
normanml--
I used none of the fixes above, but proceeded to install the 25 Updates I mentioned.
And the Windows Update icon just on its own appeared in the Notification Tray AND in the list of Notification Tray Icons.  I will just have to see if this is permanent.

Very mystifying.  Maybe the 25 Updates were only offered to me this morning and had not had time to activate the Notification Tray icon.  But that "Windows Update" did not appear in the list is concerning.  (It is there now, as mentioned.)  Maybe all this is normal behavior and I just noticed it because of your post.

What happened when you installed the latest bunch of Updates?
When I began to install the updates the icon appeared. It was there after all were installed and before I rebooted. You might be correct. We'll have to wait until next week to see. Before I installed, I ran this Fix-it:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/troubleshoot-problems-installing-updates#1TC=windows-7

It found two problems, it informed me, and fixed them. So, again, next week will tell the tale.
I'm in Australia and checking my updates there are none available only the optional which wont show this icon.
How your updates settings are may also effect how the pending updates functions,
User generated imageCritical updates wont show the notification they install automatically and I will only see them available on the notification on the Shutdown button.
http://www.windows7library.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Install-Updates-and-Shutdown.jpg
Merete: We're talking about a completely different setting for updates. NOT AUTOMATIC. Many have their updates set to notify and ask...and that's when the notification icon is supposed to show in the taskbar. That's the point of the icon -- to notify the user that there are updates ready to be installed. So the behavior you're seeing is because you have your machine set differently that the ones where the icon notification is failing.
normanml--
Yes, please let us know.
" I ran this Fix-it"
Did you get the Windows Update icon back as a result of running the Fix-it or only when you started downloading and installing the Updates?

Windows Updates is still in my Tray Notification list this morning (after my usual shutdown last night and boot this morning).
jci. . .  I ran the fixit when I still had some 15 updates waiting, but no icon telling me so. No icon appeared. Talked to a tech I've hired in the past. He said install all the updates. Chances are 50/50 the lack of an icon was anomalous. We'll see. The fixit did in fact find two errors to fix. If you have updates waiting and the updates icon appears in the taskbar after bootup, and you8've set notification to show icon and notify, then I guess you somehow have solved your problem. I won't know until the next set of updates. If you have no updates waiting, and no icon, that's normal of course.
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normanml
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normanml--
I hate to tell you that I have KB3065987 installed and as mentioned earlier the problem seemed to go away (independent of KB3065987) when I installed some Windows Updates.
Well, I may just live with it.
I've requested that this question be deleted for the following reason:

Not enough information to confirm an answer.
I feel the answer above does indeed address the question. Clearly KB3065987 Windows Update Client for Windows July 2015 affects many systems. And that answer should be left here for reference. A number of users have reported deleting the update and getting their notification icon back. So can we please leave that as the answer.
"I feel the answer above does indeed address the question"

normanml--
I do not know to what "answer" you refer, but in any event you can Close this question by following the steps here.  
http://support.experts-exchange.com/customer/portal/articles/608621

If you declare an answer you provided as the Accepted Solution, it will, as you want--"be left here for reference".
My comment citing Experts Exchange solution works for many. This should be left for reference.
normanml--
Did you read my last post?  Doing what I suggested will leave the solution you choose for reference.
Got it. Thanks for the last bit.
normanml--
You are welcome.
Yes, but I think it's apparent.