A Windows 10 user may encounter a situation where, without any action on his part, icons begin to be deleted from the desktop. To get rid of this problem, you need to find out why it might have appeared.

Why do icons erase themselves?

The main reasons for the disappearance of icons include a system bug or virus infection. In the first case, you need to check some system settings, in the second, get rid of the virus, and then return the icons to the desktop manually.

The problem may also be caused by:

• incorrect installation of updates;
• activated “Tablet mode”;
• incorrect shutdown of the second monitor;
• Explorer process disabled.

If the problem occurs after installing updates, most likely they were downloaded or introduced with errors that caused the icons to be removed. Check your system settings and re-add the icons.

"Tablet Mode" changes some system properties, which may cause icons to disappear. Sometimes disabling it is enough to get all the icons back, and sometimes after disabling it you need to manually add the icons you need.

How to get icons back on your desktop

If you don’t know why the icons disappeared in your case, then follow all the instructions below one by one.

Removing viruses

Before you start checking and changing settings, you need to make sure that your computer is virus-free. Some malware can remove and block desktop icons. Launch the antivirus installed on your computer and conduct a full scan. Remove any viruses found.

Scan your computer for viruses and remove any found

Activating icon display

Check if the system allows displaying icons on the desktop:

Video: How to add a My Computer icon to your desktop in Windows 10

Creating a new element

You can try to create any new element. In some cases, after this, all hidden icons immediately appear.

Deactivating "Tablet Mode"

Activating “Tablet Mode” can also cause icons to disappear. To disable it, do the following:

Video: how to disable “Tablet Mode” in Windows 10

Dual Monitor Solution

If the problem occurs when connecting or disconnecting a second monitor, you need to change the screen settings:

Explorer.exe is responsible for the operation of Explorer, which determines whether desktop icons will be displayed correctly. The process may shut down due to some errors in the system, but it can be started manually:

1. Open Task Manager.

   Open Task Manager

2. Expand the "File" tab and proceed to start a new task.

   Start a new task via the "File" tab

3. Enter “explorer” and confirm the action. Done, the process will start, the icons should return.

   Launch the Explorer process to return icons to the desktop

4. Find the process in the general task list if it was running and stop it, and then follow the three steps described above to start it again.

   Restart Explorer if it was already running

Manually adding icons

If the icons disappeared and did not appear after following the above instructions, then you need to add them manually. To do this, move shortcuts to the desktop or use the “Create” function, called by right-clicking on an empty space on the desktop.

Add icons to your desktop through the “Create” tab

Uninstalling updates

If a problem with your desktop appears after installing system updates, you should remove them by following these steps:

1. Select Programs and Features in Control Panel.

   Go to Programs and Features

2. Go to the list of updates by clicking on the “View installed updates” button.

   Click on the “View installed updates” button

3. Select the updates that you think harmed your computer. Click on the “Delete” button and confirm the action. After rebooting the system, the changes will take effect.

   Select and remove updates that could harm your computer

Video: How to remove an update in Windows 10

Registry settings

It is possible that registry settings have been changed or damaged. To check and restore them, just follow these steps:

What to do if nothing helps

If none of the methods described above helped you fix the problem, then there is only one option left - reinstalling the system or restoring it. The second option is possible if there is a previously created backup copy of the system. Sometimes it is created automatically, so don’t despair if you haven’t created a copy yourself.

System Restore

By default, restore points are created automatically by the system, so most likely you will be able to roll back Windows to the state when everything worked stably:

1. Find the “Recovery” section through the search bar of the “Start” menu.

   Select a restore point and complete the restore

Video: how to restore the system in Windows 10

Icons disappeared from the “Taskbar”

The Taskbar icons are located in the lower right corner of the screen. Typically these are icons for battery, network, sound, antivirus, Bluetooth and other services frequently used by the user. If some icons have disappeared from the “Taskbar”, then you need to first check its settings, and then add the disappeared icons manually.

Checking the Taskbar settings

Adding icons to the taskbar

To add any icon to the “Taskbar”, you need to find a file in .exe format or a shortcut that launches the desired program and pin it. The icon will appear in the lower left corner of the screen.

Pin a program to the taskbar to add its icon to the lower left corner of the screen

If icons disappear from the desktop, you need to remove viruses, check screen settings and settings, restart the Explorer process, or restore the system. If icons disappear from the “Taskbar”, then you need to check the corresponding settings and manually add the lost icons.

After starting the system, icons disappeared from the Windows 7, 8 desktop, a fairly common situation. Depending on the situation, the shortcuts disappear partially or completely. The ways to solve problems are multifaceted. You may observe the following situations:

1. Some shortcuts have disappeared from the desktop, but the rest are still there.
2. All icons are gone, but you can see the taskbar.
3. Icons and other elements are not displayed (only the desktop background or black screen is visible).

In the first case, mainly system icons disappear, such as the recycle bin, my computer and others; read more about restoring system shortcuts for the “recycle bin” here, for “my computer” here. All other cases of icons disappearing can be attributed to the shortcut display settings and problems with launching the graphical interface file.

Enable display of desktop shortcuts

If all the shortcuts on the desktop have disappeared, but the taskbar is displayed and functioning, check for the presence of icons in the user's Desktop folder. Launch “My Computer” from Start or from the taskbar. On the left, select “desktop”, if all the icons are there, then the problem is over.

Right-click (where there are no icons) on the desktop, in the menu, hover over “view”, select the option to show desktop icons so that they appear again. The folks at Microsoft came up with this clever idea to clean up your desktop.

If there are no shortcuts in the Desktop directory and the display option is enabled, then the icons have been moved or deleted due to user action or a virus attack. The first option is unlikely, although the second is more common. Do a system restore, scan your PC for viruses so that this situation does not happen in the future.

Troubleshooting Explorer.exe file issues

The file explorer.exe, which is located in the Windows folder, is responsible for displaying the desktop, taskbar, and start. If, after starting your PC, your Windows 7, 8 desktop has disappeared, it means that the graphical interface file did not start with the system. Most likely the effect of a virus is observed. To resolve problems, follow one or a set of steps below.

1. You can manually make the explorer.exe process work. Call the Windows task manager, click “file” in the top menu, then “new task (run)”. In the input field, enter explorer.exe, click OK. This way you can restore your Windows 7, 8 desktop within this session to easily troubleshoot problems. After manually launching the graphical interface, scan the OS with an antivirus program with the latest database update.

Note: It is not uncommon for malware to block the task manager. The result will be a notification saying “Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator.”

2. Without starting explorer manually, you can start in safe mode. If the desktop loads completely, it means something is preventing it from functioning normally. Scan Windows with antivirus software.

3. The graphical interface file is launched automatically through the corresponding registry branch. When the system is infected with a virus of a certain type, then the path to the executable file of the virus software (often located in the temp folder) is written in the registry in place of the explorer.exe value. If Windows 7, 8 shortcuts have disappeared on your desktop, follow the steps below.

You will need to open the Windows 7, 8 registry and go to the Winlogon section (see the image below for the full path). On the right side of the registry, pay attention to the Shell parameter, the value explorer.exe should be set there. If the path to the executable file of the virus is written there, double-click Shell, in the “value” field, delete the unnecessary ones and write explorer.exe. Next, click OK, but take your time to close the registry.

The virus can take root deep into the registry. Select the name of the malware executable file and copy it. Press Ctrl + F and paste the copied name into the “find” field. Check all the options (see screenshot), then click “find next”. If the name of the virus is found, correct it everywhere. Close the registry windows and restart your computer.

4. Sometimes explorer.exe is modified or damaged, to restore the desktop on Windows 7, 8 and the GUI command (cmd) check system files will help. You need to run cmd with administrator rights, enter the command:

5. Perform a system restore. The most popular problem solving tool in Windows, but not always. In difficult situations it may be turned off and not help you in any way.

Now you know why icons disappeared from the Windows 7, 8 desktop and how to restore them. First of all, it is recommended to check the setting for hiding shortcuts. Otherwise, use the methods to solve the problem with loading the graphical interface; as a rule, the methods work in a comprehensive manner.

If you once turned on your desktop computer or laptop (which runs Windows 7, 10, or XP) and saw that all your desktop icons have disappeared and you don’t know how to get them back, then this article will help you solve this problem. problem.

There are at least several serious and not so serious reasons for this, and now we will look at them one by one:

Function to enable desktop display.

If your desktop shortcuts are missing and not displayed, but the taskbar is fully functional,

check for their presence in the system folder called your account name. To do this, call “My Computer” by pressing the keyboard shortcuts “Win ​​+ E”. Next, go to drive “C” / users / folder with your account name / desktop. And if there are at least some shortcuts there, then you have disabled the display of desktop shortcuts.

Now, in order to restore and pin icons to the desktop, you need to right-click your mouse on an empty space on the desktop, then move the mouse cursor over the “View” section, now you need to check the box next to “Display desktop icons”.

After the manipulations you have done, all your shortcuts should return.

Important: If you do not find any shortcuts in the system folder, then this method cannot return them.

Running the “explorer.exe” subroutine

Explorer.exe is an executing system file that is responsible for launching and displaying the desktop, start menu and taskbar. But it happens that due to virus programs or simply system failures, explorer.exe is disabled. This means you will have to manually make it work. There are two ways to do this:

Via Task Manager

To enable it, you will have to launch the task manager using the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+Shift+Esc”. After that, first click on “File”, then from the pop-up context menu “Run new task”.

Now you just have to enter “explorer.exe” in the task creation menu and click “OK”.

The startup process may take some time, on average 5-10 seconds.

Important: if after this, the taskbar appears, but it was not possible to return the icons, proceed to step “1” - the function of turning on the desktop display.

Using the registry

To enter the registry of your system, press the key combination “Win ​​+ R”, with this action you will call the “Run” task, in which enter the regedit command and click “OK”.

Important: if for some reason this cannot be done, then turn off your PC. Now turn it on and while the Bios is loading, press the F8 key, this will bring up additional boot options for your system, in which you must select the “Safe Mode” option.

Now that you have managed to launch the task registry, go to the folder “Computer / HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon”, now find the “Shell” parameter, open it by double-clicking your mouse and if the value line is empty , enter “explorer.exe” there. Next, click "OK".

After closing the registry, all icons should return to their original place.

Recover accidentally deleted shortcuts using the Recycle Bin

If all the icons have disappeared from your desktop, for example, you accidentally deleted them, then they can be easily restored. The fact is that all the files you delete are stored in a temporary park called the “Trash”. (The “mathcad” program will be used as an example).

And so, we find the trash icon on the desktop and open it. Next, we find the previously deleted program shortcut in it and right-click on it, calling up an additional context menu in which you need to select the “Restore” option.

Important: this method will not work if the shortcut was deleted a long time ago or the recycle bin was emptied.

Reinstall the shortcuts you need

This method is suitable if all previous ones have failed. You just need to place the shortcut on your desktop. To do this, find the program you need in the start menu. And just drag the shortcut to your desktop.

If the required program is not in the start menu, search for it manually. You can do this in two ways:

Open the start menu and find the search command, then enter the exact name of the desired program in the required line (the example is presented on OS Windows 10). When the search returns results, right-click on the icon and select “Open folder containing file.”

When File Explorer opens with the shortcut you want, right-click on it again, then select Send to / Desktop (create shortcut).

System Restore

This method is an extreme one, so if the icons disappeared and you tried to bring the shortcuts back to the desktop, but none of the methods described above helped, then you should run the system restore task. But don’t worry, this method is not as scary as the name might suggest. System Restore serves as a kind of rollback to your system. That is, by running this procedure, say, on the 19th day, all programs that you installed after this date will be deleted, and any changes related to the system will also be canceled.

Important: files, text documents or movies that are on your computer will remain unchanged. Only third-party programs will be removed.

And so, in order to start this procedure, open “My Computer” and right-click on an empty space. Then, from the provided context menu list, select the “Properties” option.

Now that a new window has opened, go to the System Protection section.

Now you are transferred to the “System Properties” menu, in which you need to remain on the “System Protection” tab and click on “Restore”.

The system recovery setup menu will then launch.

Important: you must select a restore point that was created before any problem appeared.

During recovery, your computer may restart several times - this is normal. The recovery itself takes up to 30 minutes maximum, it all depends on the hardware and how long ago the recovery point was.

Conclusion

Do not despair if your desktop icons have disappeared; after reading our article and the methods proposed in it, you will be able to cope with the problem that has arisen. Start from the first point to the last, because let me remind you that system recovery is a last resort method.

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Sometimes Windows 10 clients encounter a problem: they turn on the computer, but their “Desktop” does not have certain icons that they need to work. Why might this happen? What to do in such a situation? Let's consider today how to return the necessary icons and get quick access to services and programs again.

Why do icons disappear from the Windows 10 desktop?

Before you solve the problem with icons suddenly disappearing in Windows 10, you need to consider why this could happen. There are several explanations:

1. Virus infection. They are capable of making changes to system settings, thereby removing icons. In this regard, before returning the icons to the “Desktop”, you need to scan your PC hard drives for malware using an antivirus, so that after restoring the icons, the situation does not repeat itself.
2. System failure. This could be a single bug. In this case, you just need to manually return all the icons.
3. Disabled explorer system process.
4. Activated "Tablet Mode". To return the usual icons, you need to disable this mode.
5. Installing Windows updates with errors. If the icons disappeared immediately after updating the system, the update may have been installed incorrectly. In this case, add the shortcuts again manually.
6. Incorrect disconnection of the second monitor.

Putting the icons back on the “Desktop”

You can correct the situation in several ways: by eliminating the cause itself using the “Task Manager” and “Registry Editor” or by returning the necessary icons manually.

Using context menu options

Utility icons can be removed from the Desktop on their own if their display is disabled. To turn the feature back on, do the following:

If this method does not help, create the program icons again manually using another context menu option:

1. Again, right-click on the free field on the “Desktop”.
2. In the list, click on “Create”. Now click on “Shortcut”.
   Click on the “Shortcut” item to create a shortcut to a specific program
3. In the new window, click on “Browse” to select the desired program file in “Windows Explorer”.
   Click on the Browse button to select the application in Windows Explorer
4. As a rule, all utilities are stored on the system disk in the Program Files folder. Find the desired application, for example, Skype. Open the messenger folder and look for the Skype.exe file, which launches the utility. Click on OK.
   Select the program file whose shortcut you want to see on your “Desktop”
5. Now click on “Next” in the main window.
   Click on the "Next" button to continue the shortcut creation procedure
6. We print the new shortcut name or leave the standard file name. Click on “Finish”.
   Enter the name of the shortcut and click on “Done”

Restore default icons in Settings

If you have lost classic Windows icons on your home screen, such as “Trash” or “My Computer,” you can quickly restore them. Just use the following instructions:

1. First, click on an icon-free area on the Windows main screen with the right mouse button to bring up the context menu that is already familiar to you.
   Select "Personalization" in the context menu of the "Desktop"
2. In the list of options and sections, click on the last item “Personalization”.
3. In the large window, go directly to the “Themes” tab.
4. Now let's turn our attention to the right column with links in the window. Click on “Desktop Icon Settings”.
   Click on the “Desktop Icon Settings” link
5. A small window will open on top of the main one. In it, check the boxes to the left of the shortcuts that you want to see on your “Desktop”. You can install “My Computer”, “Control Panel”, “Trash” and some others.
   Mark the icons you need and click on “Apply”
6. After that, click on “Apply” and then on OK to close the additional window. The marked icons will immediately appear on your desktop.

Video: how to replace standard Windows shortcuts

Fixing the registry to restore the “Desktop”

The sudden disappearance of icons from the “Desktop” can be caused by errors in the registry - the operating system database, which the latter constantly accesses during operation. It stores all system settings, utilities, connected equipment (printers, headphones, etc.), so it is very important that the registry works correctly. What to do if the reason is an error in the registry?

1. On your keyboard, press the Win + R key combination, which will bring up a small “Run” window. In it we enter the word regedit.
   Enter the command regedit in the "Open" field
2. The Registry Editor window will open. Before further manipulations, you need to create a backup copy of the registry in case of incorrect editing. To do this, click on the “File” object in the top panel, and then on the “Export” option.
   Click on "Export" in the "File" menu
3. We print the name and save it in any folder convenient for you or even on the “Desktop”. This file will help restore the registry to its previous state. To do this, you just need to launch it by double-clicking the mouse.
   Save a backup copy of the registry in any convenient location
4. In the left part of the window, open the third main branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
   Open the third main folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE on the left side of the window
5. Now we sequentially launch the following folders: Software - Microsoft - WindowsNT - CurrentVersion - Winlogon.
   In the Winlogon folder, look for the Shell entry
6. On the right side of the window, look for a registry entry called Shell. We launch it by double-clicking and see what value this parameter has. It should be explorer.exe. If there is another one, we change it immediately.
   The Shell parameter must be set to explorer.exe
7. Another parameter in the Userinit list should be C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe.
   The Userinit parameter should be set to C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe
8. After changing the values ​​of these two parameters, a black screen may appear. Don't worry, it will disappear in a few seconds.

Restoring icons through Task Manager

The service process explorer.exe or “Explorer” is responsible for the graphical design of Windows. Icons may suddenly disappear from the “Desktop” due to the fact that it is not working correctly or is not running at all. In the first case, it must be restarted. How to do this?

1. In Windows 10, launching the “Task Manager” is very simple: right-click on the “Taskbar” and select the desired item in the context menu. Open the "Task Manager" through the context menu of the "Taskbar"
2. In the first “Processes” section, carefully look for the “Explorer” item in the list. Select it with the left mouse button, and then click on the “Restart” button located at the bottom of the window.
   Select “Explorer” in the “Processes” tab and click “Restart”
3. If you do not find this process in the list, click on “File” in the top panel and select the first item “Run new task”.
   In the “File” menu, click on “Run a new task”
4. In a new small window, in a single field, type explorer.exe or explorer. Click OK for the created task to run.
   Enter the command explorer.exe in the "Open" field
5. The same launch command can be sent to the system in another way: using the Run window. Press the Win + R combination on your keyboard. Write one of the two commands and click OK.

Turning off tablet mode

Icons do not appear on the “Desktop” if you have “Tablet Mode” activated. How can I turn it off and prevent the system from turning it on on its own?

1. First, you need to make sure that “Tablet Mode” is not activated on your PC. To do this, hold down the Win and A (Latin) keys. An area with notifications and tiles will appear on the right side of the screen. The very first one will be “Tablet Mode”. If it is active (saturated color as opposed to disabled), click on it once with the left mouse button. It will immediately dim and the screen will return to the “Desktop” mode.
2. After all the manipulations, you need to turn on the “Start” system menu and click on the gear-shaped icon, which is located directly above the device’s power off button. This action will open the Windows Settings window. Click the gear icon in the Start menu to open Windows Settings
3. Launch the first section “System” with one click.
   Open the first section “System”
4. In the first drop-down menu, select "Use desktop mode" as the value, and in the second, select "Always ask permission before switching mode."
   In the first drop-down menu, select "Use Desktop Mode"
5. Move the two sliders to the “On” position and then to the “Off” position again.

Turning off the PC using the button on the laptop

A non-standard way to get the icons back is to turn off the device using the power button, rather than through the system Start menu. To do this, you need to close all utility windows and hold down the button. After turning on the computer, the shortcuts should appear on the “Desktop” again.

Scan explorer.exe file

Icons can be removed from the “Desktop” on their own if the explorer.exe file, which is responsible for the windowed interface of Windows 10, is damaged. What can be done in this case? You need to scan the file using special commands:

Video: several methods for restoring desktop icons

System rollback

One of the most effective ways to return icons is to restore the system to its previous state, when all the necessary icons were still on the “Desktop”. This method will help you if all the others fail and you don't want to return them manually. Use the following instructions:

1. Click on the magnifying glass icon on the “Taskbar” located next to the “Start” button. We print the request “Control Panel”. As you type, the system will display expected search results. Left-click on the item with the corresponding name. Open Control Panel using Windows Search
2. Find the search bar at the top and enter the query “Recovery”. In the results, run the section with this name.
   Open the "Recovery" section in the "Control Panel"
3. Now you need to click on the second option “Run System Restore”.
   Click on the second item “Run System Restore”
4. The Recovery Wizard window will appear on the screen. Read the information and simply click on the “Next” button in the lower right corner of the window.
   In the wizard window, click “Next”
5. In the list of recovery points, select the desired one with the left mouse button. Click on “Next” again. The “Search for affected programs” button allows you to find out which utilities and drivers will be removed and which will be restored
6. Click on “Finish” so that the system starts the recovery process - rolling back to the time when the shortcuts were still on the “Desktop”.
   Click “Finish” to start the recovery process

Video: how to roll back the system using a restore point

Restoring icons on the “Taskbar”

You can put back the necessary icons on the “Taskbar” using several methods. In particular, by restarting the “Explorer” process in the “Task Manager” and by rolling back the system through a restore point. Detailed instructions for these methods have been described in the “Restoring icons through Task Manager” and “System Rollback” sections of this article.

You also have the right to manually install the same icons on the “Taskbar” yourself. To do this, do the following:

1. Right-click on a field free of shortcuts on the “Desktop”. In the list, select the very last item “Personalization”.
2. Now switch directly to the last tab “Taskbar”. Scroll down the page to the link “Select the icons displayed in the taskbar.” Let's click on it.
   Click on the link “Choose the icons that appear on the taskbar”
3. Using switches, we add or remove system icons and utility icons. As you enable certain icons, you will immediately see that they appear on the “Taskbar”.
   Use the switches to activate the icons you need on the “Taskbar”
4. Click the back arrow to return to the main tab. Now click on the second link “Turn system icons on and off.” Here you can configure the display of standard Windows icons on the “Taskbar”: power, touch keyboard, network, volume, etc. Turn on the icons you need and close the Windows Settings window.
   Enable the system icons you need
5. If the first list did not contain the program that you want to return to the “Taskbar”, drag its shortcut from the “Desktop”: to do this, hold down the icon with the left mouse button and drag it to the panel.
   Drag the program shortcut from the “Desktop” to the “Taskbar” with the mouse
6. When the icon is within the panel, release the mouse button - the icon will be fixed.
   The Skype shortcut is stuck on the taskbar

If you turned on “Tablet Mode” and all the icons from the “Taskbar” disappeared, this means that you have enabled the “Hide application icons” option in the “Taskbar” tab in the “Windows Settings” window. Find it and disable it using the instructions in the “Turning off Tablet PC Mode” section of this article.

If you suddenly lose the icons you need on your Desktop and Taskbar, first check to see if you have malware on your PC. To do this, use your updated antivirus. You can get the icons back by creating new shortcuts through the context menu options and changing the settings in the Windows Settings window. “Registry Editor” and “Task Manager” will also come to the rescue, in which you can restart the “Explorer” process, which is responsible for the Windows graphical interface and display of icons.

Sometimes users of the Windows operating system find themselves in a rather unpleasant situation in which the entire contents of the desktop, including the “ ” and “ “ icons, disappear somewhere. At the same time, working on a computer becomes extremely inconvenient.

Now we will tell you how you can try to return all the contents of your desktop to its place.

Method one - enable icon display

This method is the simplest and most common. Very often, the user accidentally disables the display of desktop icons in the context menu. The display is also turned on. how to turn it off, namely:

On any free space on the desktop, right-click, select the very first item in the “View” menu that opens, and in it check that “Display desktop icons” is checked. If it’s not there, we’ll install it.

Enable display of desktop icons

Method two - restart the Explorer.exe process

To do this, call the task manager by pressing the CTRL+ALT+Delete key combination on the keyboard and select “Task Manager”.

Then go to the “Processes” tab and find “Explorer” or “Explorer.exe” there.

Terminating the explorer process in task manager

Right-click on it and select “End Process”.

Starting the Explorer process

Method three - recovery with AVZ program

But first you need to check your computer, which you downloaded from the official website of Dr. Web.

Only after this, unpack it and run it as administrator.

Downloading the AVZ utility from the official website

In it, click “File” -> “System Restore”.

Running System Restore in AVZ

In the window that opens, check the following operations:

• Restore desktop settings;
• Restoring Explorer settings;
• Removing system process debuggers;
• Unlocking the task manager;
• Recovering the Explorer launch key.

And click “Perform selected operations”.

Enable the actions you need to restore your desktop icons

When finished, reboot the computer.

If all else fails

In this case, it is possible that someone or a virus deleted the entire contents of the desktop and it is possible to go back several days before the problem with missing desktop icons appeared.