Fix Windows Notification Center and Action Center alerts

Troubleshoot missing TechDash banners, Windows notification settings, and incident delivery.

Last checked 21 August 2026

Use a desktop test first. It checks the native notification channel without requiring a website failure, severity, page toggle, or scheduled crawl.

  1. Open Notifications in TechDash.
  2. Confirm Desktop notifications is On.
  3. Select Send test.
  4. Read the status text and any error shown in TechDash.

The test banner says “TechDash test notification.” Clicking a TechDash notification should open the app window. A TechDash success message means TechDash did not detect a failure during the short test window, but Windows presentation settings can still hide the pop-up. Check Notification Center on Windows 11 or Action Center on Windows 10 even if no banner appeared.

Check Windows notification settings

Open Windows Settings > System > Notifications. Windows 11 calls the notification history Notification Center. Windows 10 calls it Action Center, and some controls can appear under Notifications & actions.

Confirm:

  • Notifications are enabled at the system level.
  • TechDash is allowed in the list of apps and other senders.
  • Notification banners are enabled for TechDash.
  • Notifications are allowed in Notification Center on Windows 11 or Action Center on Windows 10.
  • Do Not Disturb is Off, or TechDash is allowed through it.
  • Focus on Windows 11, or Focus assist on Windows 10, is not hiding banners during the current session.

If you changed a setting, fully quit and reopen TechDash, then select Send test again. TechDash reports “Notifications are blocked. Allow TechDash in Windows notification settings” when the system reports a notification failure.

Keep TechDash running

Closing the main window does not stop TechDash. It continues in the system tray, where scheduled monitoring and notifications can run. A full Quit stops checks and new alerts until you reopen the app.

Also confirm the computer was powered on, signed in, and online when the check was due. Sleep or an offline connection can delay the check, so there may be no new result to notify yet. Paused monitoring and a paused website also prevent scheduled results.

If tests work but incidents do not

Desktop tests bypass normal incident policy. Check each of these:

  1. A built-in incident must be Warning or Critical. Built-in Advisory incidents remain in TechDash.
  2. A Custom Check must have Notify enabled. A custom Advisory rule can notify when you explicitly chose that option.
  3. Open the website's Monitored Pages, expand the affected page, and confirm Desktop is On under Notify.
  4. Open Notifications > Ignored Checks and look for the same check at URL, website, or all-websites scope.
  5. Confirm the incident was newly opened or escalated. TechDash does not repeat a banner for every unchanged failing run.
  6. For a missing recovery banner, confirm Notify when a check recovers is On.

For sitewide issues, TechDash uses the / monitored page's channel controls when that page exists. If it does not, TechDash uses the first monitored page for that website.

If no test appears

Restart TechDash after checking Windows settings. If the app is missing from the Windows notification sender list, trigger Send test after reinstalling the current official build. Make sure an endpoint security tool has not blocked the installed app or its notification integration.

If TechDash reports “This computer cannot show desktop notifications,” desktop notifications are unavailable in the current environment. Include that exact message, the Windows version, and how TechDash was installed when contacting support.

Sources

Related articles