6 Best Ways to Dim Action Center in Windows 10

The Action Center in Windows 10 houses all the buttons for quick actions and notifications. A quick way to get information and change keys quickly without interrupting the workflow. The Action Center sits in the Taskbar at the far right of the screen. Users reported that the Action Center on Windows computers was grayed out and became inaccessible when needed.

This creates a few problems because of what a useful feature it is. You cannot access app notifications, Android phone updates, and buttons for all the shortcuts we use every day through the Your Phone app. Causes can be as simple as a bug to something more complex like a system files error. We’ll find out soon using the troubleshooting steps below.

Note: Have you tried the Windows key+A keyboard to launch the Action Center? It works and also saves time.

Let’s start.

1. Enable Action Center

A recent Windows or app update may have changed the setting on your Windows computer and disabled the Action Center from the settings. Enabling Action Center from Windows Settings is easy and fast. Check the settings once before moving on to the other steps in the guide.

2. Restart Windows Explorer

Just press the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys on your keyboard to open the Task Manager. You can manage all running processes under the Processes tab here. You will also find Windows Explorer here.

Save all open jobs first, because after this step they will all be closed abruptly. Right-click Windows Explorer and select Restart. No reboot required. Check if Action Center is still greyed out or can you open it now?

3. Rename System File

Renaming the ‘usrclass.dat’ file will force Windows to create a new file after reboot. If the file is corrupt and causing Action Center to fail, this may fix the grayed out Action Center issue.

Stage 1: Press Windows key+R to open the Run prompt and enter the address below and press Enter to open it.

%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows

Step 2: Under the View tab in File Explorer, select Hidden items to show hidden files. Find the ‘UsrClass.dat’ file and rename it ‘UsrClass.old.dat’ instead. Do not delete the file because we may need to restore it later in case something goes wrong.

Stage 3: Restart your computer once and check again if you can access the Action Center.

4. Run the PowerShell Script

PowerShell is the more advanced version of the humble and reliable Command Prompt. It will be changed sometime in the future, but no date has been announced yet.

Stage 1: Search for PowerShell in the start menu or find the hidden menu that you can open by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+X. Either way, open it with administrator rights to run the command successfully.

Step 2: Issue the following command and press Enter.

Get-AppxPackage | % { Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml" -verbose }

5. Enable Action Center Using Registry Editor

We recommend making a backup of the Registry Files before making any changes. Registry Editor is available in all versions of Windows, including Home.

Stage 1: Search for Registry Editor in the start menu and open it with administrator rights.

Step 2: Examine the folder structure below. Double click to open the ‘DisableNotificationCenter’ file and change the Value data from 1 (Disable) to 0 (Enable).

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

Repeat the same steps for the same file but in a different folder as outlined below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

6. Enable Action Center Using GPE

GPE or Group Policy Editor is not available in Windows Home edition. If you have Pro, Education or even Enterprise edition, you can try this in case other methods do not enable Action Center in Windows.

Stage 1: Find and open Group Policy Editor from the start menu.

Step 2: Navigate to the folder below and double click to open the ‘Remove Notifications and Action Center’ file in the right window pane.

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar

Stage 3: Select Disabled to enable Action Center. Yes and select Enabled to remove or disable Action Center.

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The Action Center made its debut with Windows 10 and is a super useful feature for most users. Many underestimate this feature until it breaks down. That’s when we realize how important this nifty little feature has always been.

Hopefully, the Action Center isn’t grayed out and won’t work on your computer now like it was before. We’d love to know if you found another way to fix the problem. It will also help our other readers. Share your method with us in the comments section below.

Next: Want to customize the Action Center even more? Click the link below to learn how to do this.