Until now, Windows 11 did not have a built-in option to display the battery percentage natively but you could check it by hovering your cursor over the battery icon on the taskbar. Now, Microsoft is changing this with an update that will revamp the battery icon and align it with the design language of Windows 11 while also adding the ability to display the battery percentage on the taskbar.

Right now the feature is available in build 26120.2992 (KB5050083) in the Dev Channel. You can enable the option from the Settings app if you are a Windows Insider, or use a third-party program to enable the battery percentage on the taskbar.

Enable battery percentage from the Settings app

  1. Open the Settings app from the Start menu or the Win + I shortcut and click on 'System' on the left.
  1. On the System page, click on 'Power and Battery'.
  1. Expand the 'Battery' section by clicking on it and then click on the 'Show battery percentage' toggle to turn it on.

Enable battery percentage using the ViveTool

If you do not have the battery percentage option available on your system and do not want to wait for the update that will enable it, here is how you can do so using the ViveTool. Keep in mind that the tool only works on Insider builds, so if you're not a Windows Insider already, you will have to sign up for the Insider Program.

  1. Open a web browser and head to the ViveTool GitHub page.
  2. Scroll down and click on the ViVeTool-v0.3.3-ARM64CLR.zip file to download it to your PC.
  1. Once the file is downloaded, extract it and then open the extracted folder.
  1. Click on the Address bar in File Explorer and copy the path to the extracted folder.
  1. Open the Start menu, type cmd and click on 'Run as administrator'.
  1. When the Command Prompt window appears, paste the following command inside it, replacing the 'path' with the path you copied: cd c:\folder\path\ViveTool-v0.x.x. Then hit Enter.
  1. Then paste the following command to enable the battery percentage option before pressing Enter: vivetool /enable /id:48822452,48433719.
  1. Reboot your PC and open the Settings app to check whether the battery percentage option is now available on your device.

Use Battery Bar to show battery percentage

Battery Bar is a third-party app that lets you display the battery percentage on your taskbar.

  1. Visit the BatteryBar website and download the app to your system.
  2. Open the BatteryBar setup file and install the program. When you reach the 'Select components' page, make sure to click on and select the BatteryBar Toolbar (recommended) and BatteryBar Floating Toolbar options.
  1. Complete the installation and restart your PC. The BatteryBar indicator should appear on your screen. Click on it to change the display from 'time remaining' to battery percentage. You can resize and move the indicator anywhere on your screen.

Things to know

  • The option to display the battery percentage in the taskbar on Windows 11 is not yet available on all devices. So, you may have to wait for an update to get it.
  • You can adjust and customize taskbar icons from the Personalization section in the Settings app to ensure the battery percentage is easily visible.
  • When using third-party apps to display the battery percentage, it is a good idea to back up your system beforehand. This will let you undo the changes in case something goes wrong.
  • There are other tools besides the ones mentioned here that can let you display the battery percentage on the taskbar in Windows 11. However, they may work in different ways, so you should try them out and then decide which one to use.