Windows Desktop Icons disappeared in Windows 10 – Solved

Desktop Icons disappeared in Windows 10 – Solved

Follow the below Steps to fix missing Icons on Windows 7 & 10

I installed F17 software on my laptop. It was working fine with my laptop but after some customization, it started giving some errors. When I restarted my computer, all my desktop program icons were missing like Google chrome, Firefox, My computer Shortcut etc disappeared. Please help to recover my missing desktop icons

Let’s Get started with Tips to fix this missing Desktop Icons Issues on windows

Tip 1: Change Desktop Icon

If you are trying to get Control Panel, Recycle Bin, Network or User file icon back, then you need to right-click on your desktop > Personalize > on the left-hand click Change Desktop Icon > Check the icons you want to show on the desktop.


Tip 2: Restarting Explorer.exe file

Press Control + ALT + Delete button at the same time and select Task Manager. Choose the Start task manager button in Windows 7 or higher

When Task Manager opens, click File > New Task (Run)

When Create New Task box open, type explorer.exe > then click OK

All done, it will restart the Explorer and possibly you will get your desktop icons, Start button and Taskbar icons.




Tip 3: Run CHKDSK

If the above methods do not work, it may be some of the system files that are corrupted. The best method is to run System File Checker, it will check the damaged and missing system files and will repair them.
Go to Start menu > Run > type CMD and then type sfc /scannow

Please make sure to run the command prompt as an Admin.

Tip 4: Disable Sleep Mode

There is another reason for disappeared desktop icons, it might be because of your monitor. If you noticed that after your monitor goes to sleep the problem occurred, you have to change monitor settings.
I noticed this issue comes on full HD Monitors. I used to turn off and on the monitor to fix this issue


Tip 5: Enable show desktop icons

Step 1: Desktop Icon Enable

Click on Start menu and type Settings
In settings, click Personalization, in Left panel select Themes option.
Click Desktop Icon Settings to enable icons visibility
Select icons which you want to show on the desktop and then hit Apply button

Step 2: Show all Windows Icons

Right-click on the desktop > select view
In the View tab, make sure Show desktop icons option enabled.
Then, you will get your desktop missing icons back.

Step 3: Tablet Mode disabled

In Windows 10 there are 2 built-in Modes – Desktop and Tablet. If you enable Tablet mode then the icon will be not showing on desktop.

Open Settings > click System settings
Lon the left-hand side, click on Tablet mode and make it turn off. Then check the desktop if icons come





Tip 6: Recover Desktop Missing Files

If none of the solutions provided above have worked, then it might you have to take another action. You can try one more action, create a new user account on your PC, it might solve the issue. Many times user-profiles corrupted and the only solution to fix it is to create a new user profile.

If you have any question, give me on the comment


Tip 7: Icon cache rebuild

Rebuild system icon cache by following these steps

Step 1: Open command prompt as admin

Step 2: Paste following commands when CMD open

taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe > Press Enter

cd /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local > Press Enter

attrib –h IconCache.db > Press Enter

del IconCache.db > Press Enter

start explorer.exe > Press Enter

Please check if this tip helps to fix the issue.


Tip 8 : System Restore

If desktop still icons not showing, then you can check system restore. Follow below steps to restore system.




Step 1: In Windows search box type recovery

Step 2: Click on Open System Restore

Step 3: Click on Choose a different restore point > then click on Next button

Step 4: Click on check box Show more restore points. In this dialog box you will see a list of restore points with date and time on which it was created. Now, you can select restore point from the earlier date, when your desktop icons disappeared. And then click on Next button.

Check if the desktop icons are showing now.

Tip 9 : Computer Reset

If the above tips not work for you then computer reset can help on this.

Step 1 : Search for settings

Step 2 : Click on Update & Security option > click on Recovery option from the left hand side

Step 3 : Under Reset this PC option click on Get Started button then follow instructions on your screen

This will reset your PC and will solve the problem of desktop icon disappeared.

Tags: desktop icons disappeared  windows 10 desktop icons missing | icons disappeared from desktop

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