wtf, Vista

Does anyone know how to make the sound icon show on the notifications taskbar in Vista if the "volume" checkbox under "properties" is greyed out? Why would it be greyed out in the first place? How is it even possible for a UI to suck this damn much?

ETA: Figured it out. The solution was not only extremely unintuitive, it was also needlessly complex and time-intensive. Jesus, I hate Vista.