I want Network icon in the system tray to disappear when not connected-> how?

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XP Guy

I've got XP installed on a motherboard with 2 ethernet ports.

There is an icon in the system tray for each one. When either of them
(or both of them) is not connected to the network, their respective icon
is shown with a red X across it.

What I want is -> to NOT see the icon corresponding to the disconnected
port.

I want it to completely disappear. To not be present in the system
tray.

So if both of them are not connected, then NO ethernet icon shows up in
the tray. If one of them is connected, then I will see it's icon in the
tray (without the red X).

There seem to be only two settings that govern the behavior of the
network tray-icon:

- Show icon in notification area when connected
- Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity

So you would think that simply enabling the first one, and NOT enabling
the second one would do what I want.

But no. I still see the icon with a red X when the cable is not plugged
in.

Why doesn't disabling the second setting result in making that icon
disappear?

How can I make the network icon disappear when it's not connected?
 
Control Panel\Network\Local area Connection\Properties\General and take out the
checkmarks from both *Show Icon* and * Notify me* at the bottom of the page

--
Peter
Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
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Peter said:
Control Panel\Network\Local area Connection\Properties\General and take
out the checkmarks from both *Show Icon* and * Notify me* at the bottom
of the page
Click to expand...

Cretinous answer, as foldes. To the OP - I don't think what you ask
for is possible. If somebody knows better, please correct me.
 
Cretinous answer, as foldes. To the OP - I don't think what you ask
for is possible. If somebody knows better, please correct me.
Click to expand...

I don't think so, either.
 
Patok said:
I want it to completely disappear. To not be present in the system
tray.
Click to expand...



The OP asked for the above and believe me that is how you make it disappear. He
stated something else in his header and also something else in the body of his
message

JS
 
Peter said:
The OP asked for the above and believe me that is how you make it
disappear. He stated something else in his header and also
something else in the body of his message
Click to expand...

Wrong.

How I wrote the subject line agrees perfectly with what I wrote in the
body of the post.

==========
Subject:
I want Network icon in the system tray to disappear when not
connected -> how?
===========

In the message body:

===========
What I want is -> to NOT see the icon corresponding to the disconnected
port. I want it to completely disappear. To not be present in the
system tray.
===========

I thought I was quite clear as to the situation.

When a network port does not have a functioning connection, I *DO NOT*
want to be notified. By notification, I mean seeing a network icon with
a red X in the system tray.

When a network port DOES have a functioning connection, I *WOULD* like
to see that as an icon in the system tray.

Now tell me Peter, do you have instructions as to how to make this
happen?

Can you explain why this setting:

- Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity

Does not work properly when un-checked?

(I interpret the term "notification" to mean -> show me an
icon with a red X in the system tray)
 
In
XP said:
Wrong.

How I wrote the subject line agrees perfectly with what I wrote in the
body of the post.

==========
Subject:
I want Network icon in the system tray to disappear when not
connected -> how?
===========

In the message body:

===========
What I want is -> to NOT see the icon corresponding to the
disconnected port. I want it to completely disappear. To not be
present in the system tray.
===========

I thought I was quite clear as to the situation.

When a network port does not have a functioning connection, I *DO NOT*
want to be notified. By notification, I mean seeing a network icon
with a red X in the system tray.

When a network port DOES have a functioning connection, I *WOULD* like
to see that as an icon in the system tray.

Now tell me Peter, do you have instructions as to how to make this
happen?

Can you explain why this setting:

- Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity

Does not work properly when un-checked?

(I interpret the term "notification" to mean -> show me an
icon with a red X in the system tray)
Click to expand...

There might be a better way, but I disable LAN and firewire through the
Device Manager and then they never show up in the System Tray. As I only
use the wireless anyway.
 
I've got XP installed on a motherboard with 2 ethernet ports.

There is an icon in the system tray for each one. When either of them
(or both of them) is not connected to the network, their respective icon
is shown with a red X across it.

What I want is -> to NOT see the icon corresponding to the disconnected
port.

I want it to completely disappear. To not be present in the system
tray.

So if both of them are not connected, then NO ethernet icon shows up in
the tray. If one of them is connected, then I will see it's icon in the
tray (without the red X).

There seem to be only two settings that govern the behavior of the
network tray-icon:

- Show icon in notification area when connected
- Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity

So you would think that simply enabling the first one, and NOT enabling
the second one would do what I want.

But no. I still see the icon with a red X when the cable is not plugged
in.

Why doesn't disabling the second setting result in making that icon
disappear?

How can I make the network icon disappear when it's not connected?
Click to expand...

My configuration has two PCs (both Windows XP SP3 Home) connected to a
router that then connects to a cable modem. When I disable the
connection from one of the PCs, the network icon disappears in the same
way that disconnecting through a dial-up modem would make the icon
disappear. The other PC remains connected through the router and modem
to the Internet; it still shows the icon. When I later enable the
connection to the router for the disabled PC, the icon re-appears there.

On the Network Connections window, enabling and disabling the connection
is through "Local Area Connection" under "LAN or High-Speed Internet",
not through "Broadband Connection" under "Broadband".

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Concerned about someone (e.g., the government)
snooping into your E-mail? Use PGP.
See my <http://www.rossde.com/PGP/>
 
BillW50 said:
There might be a better way, but I disable LAN and firewire through
the Device Manager and then they never show up in the System Tray.
Click to expand...

Did you even stop and think that my situation anticipates that both
situations (connected and not connected) are possible? And hence
disabling the hardware is not an ergonomic solution?
As I only use the wireless anyway.
Click to expand...

The desktop system in question will be cloned many times, and those
clones may or may not end up having a network connection.
 
David E. Ross said:
My configuration has two PCs (...)
Click to expand...

David, please tell me what is supposed to happen when this setting is
NOT enabled:

- Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity
 
XP Guy said:
I've got XP installed on a motherboard with 2 ethernet ports.

There is an icon in the system tray for each one. When either of them
(or both of them) is not connected to the network, their respective icon
is shown with a red X across it.

What I want is -> to NOT see the icon corresponding to the disconnected
port.

I want it to completely disappear. To not be present in the system
tray.

So if both of them are not connected, then NO ethernet icon shows up in
the tray. If one of them is connected, then I will see it's icon in the
tray (without the red X).

There seem to be only two settings that govern the behavior of the
network tray-icon:

- Show icon in notification area when connected
- Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity

So you would think that simply enabling the first one, and NOT enabling
the second one would do what I want.

But no. I still see the icon with a red X when the cable is not plugged
in.

Why doesn't disabling the second setting result in making that icon
disappear?

How can I make the network icon disappear when it's not connected?
Click to expand...

Don't know what resources you have available, but the icons are contained in \system32\netshell.dll. If you have the
ability to edit a dll (with what, I don't know), you could erase the red x icon within it. There's your solution; I just
don't know how to accomplish it :-)
 
In
SC said:
Don't know what resources you have available, but the icons are
contained in \system32\netshell.dll. If you have the ability to edit
a dll (with what, I don't know), you could erase the red x icon
within it. There's your solution; I just don't know how to accomplish
it :-)
Click to expand...

You can use ResHacker to open %windir%\system32\netshell.dll and delete
Icon Group 195 if you wanted to go through this route. Backup the file
first. ;-)

Resource Hacker
http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/
 
BillW50 said:
In

You can use ResHacker to open %windir%\system32\netshell.dll and delete Icon Group 195 if you wanted to go through
this route. Backup the file first. ;-)

Resource Hacker
http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/
Click to expand...
I found this one http://melander.dk/reseditor/ easier to work with, and a bit more versatile.

So, for grins and giggles, I decided to edit the two icons in group 195 to be just blank icons. (Had to save it as a
different dll, reboot into safe mode w/command prompt, rename them, reboot, etc., etc.) It came up fine, and when I
unplugged my network cable, the icon went to a blank icon (still there, just like a transparent placeholder), but the "a
network cable is unplugged" message popped up, even though I have Notify Me. . . unchecked in network properties. I'm
sure there's a Registry entry somewhere for that message, but I haven't looked for it. Maybe later- I have to go out for
while now.
 
David, please tell me what is supposed to happen when this setting is
NOT enabled:

- Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity
Click to expand...

I generally have the checkbox checked. I unchecked it and disabled my
connection. The icon disappeared just as it does when the checkbox is
checked.

Note that I have not tried physically disconnecting my PC from the
router or physically disconnecting the router from the cable modem. All
disabiling has been via software.

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Concerned about someone (e.g., the government)
snooping into your E-mail? Use PGP.
See my <http://www.rossde.com/PGP/>
 
David E. Ross said:
I unchecked it and disabled my connection.
Click to expand...

What do you mean - "disabled my connection".
Note that I have not tried physically disconnecting my PC from the
router
Click to expand...

(slaps forehead)

What exactly do you think is the more typical use-case?

Someone "disabling" their connection, or

Someone unplugging their connection?
 
What do you mean - "disabled my connection".


(slaps forehead)

What exactly do you think is the more typical use-case?

Someone "disabling" their connection, or

Someone unplugging their connection?
Click to expand...

To disable my connection, I can either right-click on the icon in the
Windows tray and select Disable from the pull-down context menu or else
I can go to [Start > Settings > Network Connections], right-click on
Local Area Connection, and select Disable from the pull-down context menu.

To physically disconnect, I can either get down on my knees and pull my
PC tower out of its cubby in my computer desk (carefully since some of
the cables are rather short) and disconnect the cable to my router or
else do a do-se-do with my printer so that I can open the door to the
attic storage space behind it and disconnect the cable at the router.
(Both the router and cable modem are in the attic.) Both are a real
bother, and I never physically disconnect unless I am having a hardware
problem. I think the last time I physically disconnected was last
summer, when my router failed and I had to install a new router.

I frequently disable the connection (software disconnect) for various
reasons:

* For new software versions, I download the installer file and then
disconnect so that, while I log the installation, no extraneous Internet
activity appears in the log.

* Some Web sites have very large files that are compressed. A bug in
my browser fails to accept all the Internet packets and decompress them.
This is a timing-related problem that seems to occur only while having
a broadband connection. I disable my connection to my router and use a
dial-up modem to get such Web pages. (My dial-up and broadband services
are through two different ISPs.)

* When I cannot access a Web page at all but <http://www.isup.me/>
says the Web site is not down, I again resort to a dial-up connection,
which requires first disabling my broadband connection.

--

David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Concerned about someone (e.g., the government)
snooping into your E-mail? Use PGP.
See my <http://www.rossde.com/PGP/>
 
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