Now access the Explorer Registry key. Note: If you notice a checkbox next toShow desktop icons,icons should already be enabled on your Windows 11 installation. Deleting a corrupted icon cache is among the confirmed solutions for this issue. Click on "View" in the pop-up menu. Now, right-click the newly made shortcut and select Properties. We understand the situation may seem a whole lot frustrating. Before fixing desktop icons not showing, its worth considering some of the causes for them disappearing in the first place. Fonts can come. As a last resort, you can perform a clean boot or restore your PC to an earlier restore point. Step 2: In the System Properties window that opens, switch to the Advanced tab and click on the Settings button under Performance. Press Win + R to open the Run Command. Thankfully, Windows 11 comes equipped with an SFC, aka System File Checker scan, that can find corrupted system files on your PC and restore them to their previous version. Select a restore point before the issue first appeared and hit. Log off your account and log in to see if the problem is fixed. The missing desktop icons should come back and the right-click problem should also be fixed. The desktop is a lot less useful if you can't put icons on it. Here you can configure which ones should appear. Desktop icons still dont show up after trying the above methods? Download PC Repair Tool to quickly find & fix Windows errors automatically. There are so many different fonts to choose from when working on a project but selecting one can be a big decision. 2023 Guiding Tech Media. Step 1: Right-click on the desktop and go to Personalize. If you see a NoDesktop DWORD in the Explorer key, right-click it and select. He recently joined Guiding Tech as a freelance writer to cover how-tos, explainers, buying guides, tips and tricks for Android, iOS, Windows, and Web. It can be quite irritating if the Windows 10 desktop icons are not showing properly. Created by Anand Khanse, MVP. Windows Start menu always had quick access to folders and settings. How to Fix Icons Not Showing on Desktop Issue. When not composing tech articles, you can find her bringing characters to life in her fictional stories, reading something intriguing, or spending time with her near and dear ones. If Enabled, this setting removes icons, shortcuts, and other default and user-defined items from the desktop, including Recycle Bin, Computer, and Network Locations. Also Read: How to Fix Windows 10 Taskbar Not Working. I just bought this desktop- it is brand new and Im just getting everything set up, and no matter what I do I cannot get my thumbnails to appear. That said, now that Start Menu and Taskbar have evolved, putting icons on the Desktop may not make a lot of sense. To view them, right-click the desktop, select View, and then select Show desktop icons. Click on the Desktop icon settings. On the expanded menu, click Properties. Since the . If you dont want themes to change these icons, uncheck the box next that allows changing theme desktop icons. The Windows Explorer process handles the Graphical User Interface (GUI) for a number of utilities, including the desktop. TheWindowsClub covers authentic Windows 11, Windows 10 tips, tutorials, how-to's, features, freeware. "+String(e)+r);return new Intl.NumberFormat('en-US').format(Math.round(569086*a+n))}var rng=document.querySelector("#restoro-downloads");rng.innerHTML=gennr();rng.removeAttribute("id");var restoroDownloadLink=document.querySelector("#restoro-download-link"),restoroDownloadArrow=document.querySelector(".restoro-download-arrow"),restoroCloseArrow=document.querySelector("#close-restoro-download-arrow");if(window.navigator.vendor=="Google Inc."){restoroDownloadLink.addEventListener("click",function(){setTimeout(function(){restoroDownloadArrow.style.display="flex"},500),restoroCloseArrow.addEventListener("click",function(){restoroDownloadArrow.style.display="none"})});}. This post discusses a different type of shortcut that can. An outdated graphics driver on Windows can also lead to such anomalies. Try checking and unchecking Show Desktop icons option a few times, but remember to leave this option checked. Below are the step-by-step instructions to do it. On the desktop, press and hold Ctrl while you scroll the wheel to make icons larger or smaller. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); If you have a tech problem, we probably covered it! If you're only missing a few desktop icons, such as This PC, Recycle Bin, Control Panel, and others, you may have disabled them in the "Desktop Icon Settings" window. How to Fix Desktop Icons Not Working/Not Showing Properly in Windows 10/8/7. To show desktop icons, ensure that the setting is Not Configured. Double-click the Hide and disable all items on the desktop policy. If youre running Windows 11 Home, check our guide on how to access the Local Group Policy Editor on Windows Home before continuing. Heres how to refresh the icon cache via Windows Terminal: Note: If the icons are still not showing on your Windows 11 installation, follow the next sub-guide directly below. First, you need to check the File Explorer Options on Windows to ensure that thumbnails are enabled on your PC. A number will appear for a second on each monitor. If the above-mentioned steps do not help to restore missing desktop icons on Windows 10 PC, then do the following steps:-. Browse more videos. I'm using Win 10, but I assume there is something similar in Win 11. Report. Weve created sub-guides for both approaches, but our recommendation is to start by deploying an icon cache refresh (since its the easier approach) and work your way to rebuilding the entire icon cache if the first method fail. Restart your computer to make the changes take effect. Instead, most people share that they receive more emails than they want or feel like they can manage well. Next, type 'notepad' inside the text box, then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open up Notepad with admin access. Select Choose a different restore point, and click Next . If desktop icons are disabled from the Group Policy Editor, you wont be able to add or remove desktop icons no matter what you do. This works in most cases, where the issue is originated due to a system corruption. Follow. Usually, this happens if the file associations are messed up. If the issue persists even after updating the driver, your graphics driver may be corrupt. How To Choose Knowledge Management Software For Windows, Under the Processes tab, locate Windows Explorer, Type wt and press Shift + Enter to launch Windows Terminal with admin permission, Click on the Next button, select one of the available restart points, and click Next. Unfortunately, Windows 11 still lacks the "Show all icons" option from Windows 10. We came around an issue, where some users were facing problems trying to disable drop shadows for desktop icon labels. To hide desktop icons in Windows 11/10, do the following: If you find that your desktop icons are missing, type gpedit.msc in the Start menu and hit Enter to open the Group Policy Editor. Once you complete the above steps, restart your PC and see if the desktop icons appear. These are the causes for desktop icons not showing in Windows 11: Now lets get your Windows 11 desktop icons back. Inside the elevated Notepad window, paste the following code inside the empty box: Wait until the file is processed, then reboot your computer and see if your desktop icons are restored on your Windows installation the next time you restart your PC. While they are there for security reasons, it gets annoying to get the prompt every time you run it. Right-click on your desktop and select the, Check the icons you wish to show on the desktop and click on. Once you select it, click on the Apply button, and the icons appear. Now select the Desktop folder, present in the right pane. Tech Rider. If there has been a recent Windows 10 update, it could be that your missing desktop icons are related to a vulnerability patch contained in that update. Select all the checkboxes for desktop icons. If a similar issue is bugging you on your Windows 11 computer, you can troubleshoot and fix it. How to Create & Change Desktop Icons! Install ownCloud 10 on Raspberry PI 3 with Raspbian Installed, How to Restore Windows Photo Viewer Windows 10, Solved: Setup was unable to create a new system partition, Re-install the Windows Store Windows 10, Turn Your Raspberry Pi 3 into a Personal Cloud Storage, Reset Windows 7 Login Password Without Third Party Software. Go to Windows Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar corner overflow. YouTube is undoubtedly a popular video streaming service for many users for various reasons. Go to Windows Settings (Win + I) > Personalization > Themes. Rebuild the icon cache. It is critical that your Windows computer shows the correct date and time. In the Group Policy Editor window, navigate or search for the following path from the left side panel:-. Follow out a detailed guide on how to fix the unclickable desktop icons. Grab the imageres.dll.mun file from the C:\Windows\SystemResources folder on a Windows 10 PC. Hence, below is how to check the operating system files and fix them. If you are having troubles fixing an error, your system may be partially broken. If the device you are using is running Windows 11, you may have recently run into an odd issue where all of your desktop icons were suddenly missing. First, press the Windows 11 keyboard shortcut " Ctrl + Shift + Esc " to open the Task Manager. To open Desktop Icon Settings, input this command and click OK: desk.cpl ,,5. Let's do it together. Select the Outlook icon in the notification area. Readers like you help support MUO. In that case, I recommend accessing WIdgets; Disable all Widgets and leave only Weather enabled; Press Windows key + i and go to Personalization; Click on Taskbars; Disable and enable Widgets; Verify that the icon now appears on the taskbar; See you soon! Pankil is a freelance tech writer from India who enjoys writing how-tos, guides, and troubleshooting tips for Windows, Android, and Internet. Several users have reported that the Nvidia didn't open when the icon was showing up in the search results. Hence, you may activate the same to solve the problem. Step 3: In the Visual effects tab, select Custom and check Save taskbar thumbnail previews and Show thumbnails instead of icons. Many of us prefer using thumbnails over icons. Second, the reason this is an issue in Windows 11 for some users is because a recent update toggled the display desktop icons setting off for some people. If you dont do this, whenever you move the icon, it will automatically arrange and move with the rest of the icons on the desktop. Losing shortcuts is annoying, but losing actual files is far more challenging to recover from. Right-click anywhere on an empty spot on your desktop and select View > Show desktop icons. And, if you think there are other better fixes to the Windows 10 home desktop not showing issue, you may mention the same in the comments section. However, if none of the above solutions work, you may have to reset your Windows 11 PC as a last resort. Go to the desktop and see whether you got the required icons or not. You can download Restoro by clicking the Download button below. Step 2: In the following window, switch to the View tab and uncheck the Always show icons, never thumbnails box. The following may be the reasons Windows 11/Windows 10 desktop icons are not showing properly. Reboot your PC and see if the icons have repeated on the desktop of your Windows 11. 4. How to Generate Art from Text Using Simplified AI Art Generator? Still having issues? Reply. Note: If you notice a checkbox next toShow desktop icons,icons should already be enabled on your Windows 11 installation. You can turn on Bluetooth simply by double-clicking on the "fsquirt" icon . If that policy is set to Enabled, select Not configured. Regardless of what you store on your desktop - application shortcuts, files, folders, etc., it is important to have access to those items when you need them. Right-click a folder on your Windows 11 PC and select Show more options to expand the menu. Rebuild Thumbnail Cache in this tutorial to resolve my issues. Guiding you with how-to advice, news and tips to upgrade your tech life. Q3. Before that, a Registry backup is recommended. Step 1: Press Win + I keys together on your keyboard.. Hide desktop icons. Therefore, rebuilding the cache may fix the issue. This will take you to the folder's properties page. Hello Guys,In this video ,You will learnHow To Show Icon On Desktop In Windows 11 || Windows 11 desktop Icons Not Showing InSecond Method :Check out this vi. Rebuilding the entire icon cache will require you to build a custom BAT file that will automatically run a series of commands that will effectively rebuild the cache associated with every Windows icon. When they made it a mandatory it really soured me on them because of syncing issues. Problems with the cache files might be a reason the Windows icons are not showing. Step 1: Open the Start menu, type file explorer options, and press Enter. Help, please! If checked, then uncheck it and click OK to apply changes made on your device. Note that you can only access the Group Policy Editor on Windows 11 Professional, Enterprise, and Education editions. On the Customise tab, beneath the Folder Icons section, click Change Icon. Here are a couple of troubleshooting tips to fix the problem of Windows 11 desktop icons not showing. We recommend installing Restoro, a tool that will scan your machine and identify what the fault is.Click hereto download and start repairing. Select the icons that you want to display on the desktop, For example, Computer, Recycle Bin, Users Files, Network, or Control Panel. Click User Configuration in Group Policy Editors sidebar. Wait for the scan to reach 100 percent and show an outcome message inside Command Prompt. This problem seems to be primarily affecting Windows 11 users running on insider builds. Visual Studio now has an integrated Accessibility Checker that detects many common accessibility issues for XAML based desktop applications. Here's how to bring the desktop icons back on Windows 11. The easiest way is to Select the Action Center icon in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, then click Tablet mode . So, lets get right to it. Click Apply and then OK to see if the missing desktop icons appear. Pak Tips and Tricks. Press Enter after each command. Thereafter, select a new icon and click the OK . If you are missing some of the desktop icons such as This PC, Network, Recycle Bin, you can manually add them, appearing on the Desktop. Select the file search tool on the taskbar by clicking its box or button. All rights reserved. Up until September 14, 1995 domain registration was free. Run the following command to terminate the Explorer process: Finally, type in the following text and hit, Right-click on your graphics driver and select. So, you need to delete it. In the pop-out menu, look to see if there is a check mark next to the "Show desktop icons" setting. Thumbnail previews on Windows give you a glimpse of your files without opening them. To remedy that, you can force Windows to rebuild that thumbnail cache. IT WORKEDThank you so very much for your tutorial!! The right way to fix it is by using the System File Checker. There may be times when you might want to quickly show a clean desktop by hiding all the icons. 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Losing actual files is far more challenging to recover from way to fix the desktop. Restoro by clicking its box or button options on Windows 10 PC allows changing theme desktop,.