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This tip is about the how to Fix ‘Icons Disappearing from Desktop’ Issue on Windows 10/Windows 11 PC. So read this free guide, How to Fix ‘Icons Disappearing from Desktop’ Issue on Windows 10/Windows 11 PC. If you have query related to same article you may contact us.
How to Fix ‘Icons Disappearing from Desktop’ Issue on Windows 10/Windows 11 PC – Guide
How do I fix the “This PC” icon that is missing or disappeared from the Windows 11/10 desktop? The classic desktop item “My Computer” has been renamed “Computer” in Windows 7 by Microsoft. Also, in Windows 8/8.1, it is renamed to “This PC” and the same name appears on the Windows 10/11 desktop. However, at your convenience, you can rename them to “My Computer” or “Computer” again if necessary.
Renaming “This PC” on a desktop is a good option that Microsoft offers, and most Windows users will be happy. But, the problem is that it also lets you delete it like a normal file/folder. This means that any newbie can delete the “This PC” icon from their desktop. After the “This PC” icon is deleted from the computer desktop, you can still access it using the Windows logo + keyboard shortcut E.
Enabling Desktop Icons in the View Menu
Windows 10 features an option that hides all desktop icons at once. You can toggle this option by right-clicking the menu on the desktop, so you may have unknowingly disabled this setting. Or a recently installed program or puppy may have disabled it.
To re-enable this setting, right-click anywhere on the Windows desktop and mouse over Display. In the menu that appears, look for a checkmark next to Show Desktop Icons. If you see one, then Windows is trying to display icons normally, which means the problem is elsewhere.
However, if you don’t see any checkmarks, click Show Desktop Icons and your icons should reappear. It may take a while for them to do this on slow PCs.
Turn off tablet mode in Windows 10
Microsoft Windows 10 has a tablet mode that allows users with touch-enabled devices to use their laptop like a tablet. You can switch between two different interfaces instantly with a single tap. It’s useful, but it can cause problems in many cases. For example, icons may disappear from your desktop in tablet mode.
Here’s How to turn off tablet mode to make sure it’s not the cause of the problem.
You can prevent this mode from starting automatically when you start using your device as a tablet by changing the setting from When I use this device as a tablet to Ask me before switching modes. You can also set Do not switch to tablet mode here, but you will need to enable it manually when using the tablet.
Run an SFC scan
The SFC scan, also known as the system file checker scan, is a popular Windows scan that removes corrupted files from your operating system before replacing them with their cached versions. In short, scanning helps to repair all corrupted files that hamper your system performance.
Here’s How to run it:
Windows will take some time before starting the scan and it may take several minutes, depending on the amount of data on your system. If the scan returns clean, your computer will report “Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations”.
However, if you see the message “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them”, then there was something wrong that has now been fixed. Explore whether this scan helped bring back desktop icons. Whenever possible, run this scan every few weeks to ensure that none of your system’s corrupt files remain hidden.
Restart Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer is a navigation tool that allows us to easily access files and folders. There are times when this tool doesn’t work as expected or slows down and crashes. This can also cause desktop icons to disappear. So it wouldn’t hurt to make a fresh start. Here it is how to Knife.
Left click on the taskbar and navigate to the Task Manager. Locate Windows Explorer in the list of running programs, click it and click Restart.
If restarting Explorer did not trick, it’s time to update your system drivers.
Update all outdated or old drivers
You can skip this step if you have Windows automatic updating turned on because the drivers will be automatically updated with every update. However, you can manually update specific drivers in device manager if you want to keep this setting disabled.
Go to the taskbar search box and type Device Manager to update Windows drivers. Select the drivers you want to update and left click on them. Click Update Driver and Windows will update your drivers.
An outdated graphics driver can cause desktop icons to disappear in Windows. Before updating any other driver, update this one first. Graphics drivers may have different names depending on the device you are using.
Update your Windows 10
An outdated version of Windows can also be responsible for the disappearance of desktop icons. Although you don’t want to update Windows to avoid bugs, it can solve this problem. So it would be worth updating the system.
Go to Windows Settings and click Update and Security. Then navigate to Windows Update in the left sidebar and tap Check for updates. Windows will find and download the latest updates for your computer. Finally, restart your computer to apply the installed update.
This will only happen if you keep the auto-update settings turned off. Always keep them turned on to avoid the same problem. You can resume updates that you recently paused by navigating to Settings > Update & security > Windows Update and tapping Resume updates.
Perform a factory reset on your system
If none of the above fixes work, you can choose the least desirable option to restore and reset the computer to factory defaults. Resetting your computer removes all your data, uninstalls all your applications, and reverts your settings to previous versions.
On the other hand, restoring it is safer as you are returning your computer to the most recent backup, thus solving any problems you are facing.
Final note
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