How can I lock desktop icons?

Anonymous
2009-12-08T03:27:27+00:00

I am unable to LOCK the icon items on my desktop. I have clicked right on the desktop and via properties checked lock items, yet they are easily moved and NOT locked. I've tried locking them thru 'Appearances and Themes', yet they will NOT lock. How can I get them to stop moving around and stay put by locking. Any help would be graciously appreciated. And, no I am not changing my resolution which I know moves them.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2009-12-08T12:17:08+00:00

Hi there,have you tried this?Right click an empty space on your desktop,highlight desktop icons,place a check  on 'lock icons in place' and uncheck'auto arrange,?

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  1. Anonymous
    2009-12-08T05:17:36+00:00

    When you say "LOCK the icon items on my desktop" I'm assuming that you mean to keep them from re-arranging themselves with a reboot? If that is what you mean, then just copy then paste whats below to notepad, then click on "File>save as..." at the top, save it to the desktop. when you go to save it change the "Save as type" from "Text Documents (*.txt)" to "All Files" and name it anything with a .reg extension. then close everything and click on the file and choose "merge". also you want to make sure to add the part " Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00". that registry setting saves the position of items on the desktop when you shut down

         Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

    "NoSaveSettings"=hex(3):00,00,00,00

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-01-31T06:16:17+00:00

    "Hi there,have you tried this?Right click an empty space on your desktop,highlight desktop icons,place a check  on 'lock icons in place' and uncheck'auto arrange,? "                    that's not an option in vista and windows 7.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-09-21T20:35:35+00:00

    I tried:

    right click on empty space on desktop

    click on "personalize"

    click on "themes"

    click on "desktop icon settings"

    delete checkmark before "allow themes to change desktop icons"

    hit "apply"

    rearrange your icon the way you want

    restart computer

    This worked for me so I hope it works for you. I looked at a lot answers before I found this fix on another person's answer. So if they read this answer, THANK YOU!!!

    I saw your posting yesterday and drilled down through and did your settings.  We'll see if that stops this.  Microsoft did not make it easy to change settings on alot of things unfortunately.  Thanks for the post and alot of people hopefully will try this out before using third party software.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-03-15T18:03:25+00:00

    Darn! I didn't mean to "propose as answer" my previous reply; that was a mistake. I do propose this as an answer: Get Amelix Icon Manager, free version (1.0), from http://download.cnet.com/Amelix-Icon-Manager. I've tried this on my system, and it works just fine, and is quick and painless.

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