Windows 11 may soon get a new feature in Taskbar

The Taskbar in Windows 11 is where users get quick access to important apps running in the background, network indicators, and many other things. Soon enough, a new VPN indicator might be residing on the Windows 11 Taskbar to make it easier for you to spot whether you are connected to a VPN connection.

When connected to a VPN, a shield overlay on the network appears. It also respects your accent color and has a design consistent with Windows 11. However, it is currently a hidden feature in Windows 11 Dev build 25247. In other words, you can not check it out even if you have a VPN setup and are running the latest Dev build.

However, the new VPN indicator, in its current form, is far from perfect. It will work only if you connect to a VPN from the quick setting or the Network & internet > VPN page in Settings. The indicator will not appear on the Taskbar for WiFi connections, either. But these drawbacks are justifiable since Microsoft may be internally testing it, which might also explain why it kept it hidden from Windows 11 Insiders. It will not be wrong to expect that Microsoft will make it better once they release it to all Insiders and eventually to the general public.

Microsoft is also testing another Taskbar feature. As we reported earlier, the company is also working on “Never combine Taskbar buttons.” for Windows 11. Unlike the VPN indicator, “Never combine Taskbar buttons” is one of the most requested features in Windows 11, and you can not enable it via the ViveTool.

The good news is if you are running the latest Dev build and have a VPN running, you can certainly enable the VPN indicator by using ViveTool. Twitter user PhantomOcean3 has described how to enable it by using the ViveTool.

Another neat hidden change in 25247, a minor one – when you are connected using a VPN, there will soon be a small 'shield' overlay on the network icon to indicate that. (also, it respects your accent color!)

Left: enabled
Right: disabled

vivetool /enable /id:38113452 pic.twitter.com/smYqizgUOy

— PhantomOcean3 ? (@PhantomOfEarth) November 20, 2022

ViveTool GUI is available for users to download on GitHub. After installing the app, all you need to do is search for feature ID 38113452 and enable it. If you have enabled it, you can share your experience with us by hitting the comments section.