Can't move shortcut icons on my desktop to different locations on the desktop

Great I hit esc 3 times then magic happened . never met this kind of weired stuff before.

Thank you! Good job bro!

I have exactly same problem. I did right click and unchecked Auto Arrange - I still cannot move the icons, cant even move anything to the existing folders. New Microsoft sucks!!!x

Maybe some issues I had with the same problem would help to find more common causes and answers. I have the same problem with icons on my Windows XP, but there are some more problems that are probably associated with it. 

First of all - I have KVM switch with few PCs attached (one keyboard, one mouse, multiple PCs) with different OSs (all are Windows XP and Windows 7), so the keyboard or mouse definitely are not the source of the problem, as everything works fine on other PCs. Also, nothing of the options like "auto arrange" or similar did not help. Multiple ESC nor multiple (any) mouse button clicks did not help too. I've also uninstalled some program like "Fences" I used (for Start menu only, not for desktop icons) - did not help. Explorer.exe - end task - run, did not help. Restart, too. Shortly, nothing mentioned in this topic did not help.

But, I have to point to more problems that appeared at the same time:

-icons can't move on the desktop or any folder opened throught explorer

-cut/copy/paste don't work too in explorer, but works in Total Commander

-there are no users in Control Panel/User Accounts (although there is user in start menu, so I couldn't create a new user with potentially new desktop that would be ok)

-there is no main area of taskbar where are placed minimized icons (actually there is, but it is empty). I can place/replace language bar od quich launch bar, but there are no minimized icons of active programs. Nothing helped to restore taskbar (I've tried

• many forum discussions and advices)

All problems started after I had to switch boot drive from PCI-slot SATA controller to MB because it starts to make problems, firstly with certain files, and finally with blue screen with no chance to reboot (every next reboot immediately showed blue screen). Swithing the boot drive's SATA cable to MB resolves and Windows rebooted well again. It is possible that some system files are damaged...

Anyway, I'm getting ready to replace this Windows XP with Windows 7 or Windows 10, but the problem was interesting and unique as I didn't have anything similar earlier.