Unwanted "Desktop.ini" icons appear on desktop. Windows 7 64bit

Anonymous
2009-12-13T07:16:51+00:00

These icons are not short cuts, but notepad files.  Why are they there?   How can they be eliminated?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Ramesh 181.7K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2009-12-13T09:17:29+00:00

Hi AntipodeamRJ,

Enabling the Hide protected operating system files (Recommended) setting in Folder Options hides the two Desktop.ini files, as well. To access the Folder Options, open Windows Explorer, click Organize, click Folder and Search Options and select the View tab.

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Desktop Experience]

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-11-15T19:58:13+00:00

    That answer is a work around the problem but not a solution.

    I need that folder option disabled but at the same time I do not want to have those 'desktop.ini' file on my desktop.

    It does not serve any purpose, so why it should be there?

    Please find the solution how to get rid off it permanently!

    jas

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-11-17T10:23:51+00:00

    Hi Ramesh!

    I would like to show both hidden and system files---just not on my desktop.  Is there a way to do this?

    Thanks,

    Janet

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-12-19T02:02:57+00:00

    And then ................there was silence!

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-12-26T19:47:14+00:00

    Hello. I had a similar situation as this, except on a larger scale. I had HUNDREDS of desktop.ini files all over my computer for some reason. In my Startup folder, in all the individual bands' folders in my My Music folder, etc.

    My solution was to do this:

    Using the command line with administrator privileges (right click Command Prompt, Run as administrator), I ran the following commands:

    cd\

    attrib /s +h desktop.ini

    exit

    Doing this will make all the desktop.ini files hidden. Not the most "clean" solution, since they're all still there and taking up disk space, but I had around 360 desktop.ini files and they totaled about 1.5 MB on disk, so I can live with it.

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