Question : How do I remove the Volume Control from the system tray/notification area using a reg hack?

We have a GPO in place that restricts users' access to many of the Control Panel's items, "Sound and Audio Devices" being one of them. However, whenever a user logs on to a PC that they haven't already had a profile created on (we aren't using roaming profiles), the Volume Control appears in the system tray, effectively negating the GPO that restricts access to the volume control via the Control Panel.

I would like to include a registry hack into our login script, but I can't find the HKEY_CURRENT_USER key that controls whether the Volume Control icon is present in the system tray.

As an aside, some users are excluded from this GPO to allow them to enable sound because their role requires them to have it (and they may also be hot-desking), so the solution needs to be flexible (i.e. Not just disabling the sound card device or similar).

I also have the frustration of audio and video drivers creating a system tray icon too, but let's not tackle that just yet... One step at a time!

Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer : How do I remove the Volume Control from the system tray/notification area using a reg hack?

Try HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Systray
There's a DWORD called Services. If this is set to 1F it makes the volume contol appear, and on my terminal server 1B is the value when the volume control is not present. Just depends when that value gets read at logon as to whether you can hide the icon before th systray fires up. Maybe try a GP preference...