For security purposes, it is quite important to be able to see at a glance, if you are connected to the network through a VPN or through an unsecured connection, especially when you are using a laptop on public wifi.
I cannot find any native setting in Windows 10 which would allow me to see if a VPN is active in the Notification Area. I first have to hover over the network icon or click on it to see more details.
This question has been asked in similar ways in 2017 on the on Microsoft Community site, but never received a satisfactory solution:
Display VPN connection status?
Windows 10 - Show VPN on taskbar?I am not using any third party application to connect to the VPN, but using a native Windows VPN profile (IKEv2 profile from an Algo VPN server).
What is the best way to show an active VPN connection icon in the system tray of the taskbar?
2 Answers
After searching for a while through the various discussions, I realized, that the current editions of Windows 10 are lacking this functionality.
I eventually came across a small freeware utility, which does exactly what I was looking for. It has been around for a few years and is still compatible with Windows 10:
VPN Connection Indicator
VPN Connection Indicator displays a VPN indication icon in the traybar. Whenever there is a VPN connection active, the icon changes to the connected state.
This utility is a standalone executable that is installed (by default) in the current users startup menu. This means that every time you log on to your computer this utility is started automatically and is visible in the traybar.
You can right-click on the icon and select which VPN connection to monitor (or any if you just want to know of any VPN connection).
The author's website is: In case this becomes unavailable, it should still be downloadable from MajorGeeks at
Well, I had some problems with the new vpn solution we use at my firm. Especially while using the train. I simply could not see if it was just slow or all the way out and i needed to reconnect. So I spend some time and made a python script(my first actually) and and exe from it. It just shows an icon in the system tray. I just published it for anyone to use how they choose. It connects to the dns server which can only be reached when the vpn is on. And changes the icon depending on how it goes. Its at:
