Desktop icons move- multiple monitors

Anonymous

I am using Windows 7 64-bit on a laptop that I connect to an external monitor each day at work. Because the external monitor is higher resolution, the desktop extends beyond the area of the laptop monitor. When I arrange my icons on the external monitor desktop, and then later restart my computer without the external monitor, my icons get completely jumbled around. When I then plug in the external again, I have to spend 5 minutes rearranging my desktop. This is getting very aggravating. The only partially successful solution I've found so far is to hit F8 to change the monitor selection and then put the computer to sleep, rather than shutting down. This works sometimes, but is not optimal and occasionally fails. What I want to do is lock the icons in place so they don't move around when I change monitors. Any suggestions?

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Anonymous

Hi Genefreak,

This issue might occur if the “Auto Arrange Icons” option has been checked.

Step 1: Let’s try to uncheck this option first and then arrange the icons by grid and check if the issue persists.

Follow this step to do the same.

1. Right click on an empty space on the Desktop-> Click on View.

2. Uncheck the option “Auto Arrange Icons”.

3. Check the option for “Align the icons to grid”.

Check if the issue persists now.

Step 2: Also I would suggest you to reduce the resolution of the monitor so that it will not extend beyond the display area.

Change your screen resolution

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Change-your-screen-resolution

Additional reference on:

Work and play better with multiple monitors

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/work-and-play-better-with-multiple-monitors

Regards,

Divya R – Microsoft Support.

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42 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-09-13T18:22:45+00:00

im on windows 10

2 screens identical

auto arrange is off

as soon as i turn off both screens when i turn them back on, computer never powered off the main screen now has all the icons lined up on the right side of the main screen.

one screen is hooked directly to the computer, the other runs through my denon amp to the screen, even if the denon remains on and both the screens are turned off, the rearrange happens
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Anonymous

2015-11-17T19:22:22+00:00

Link http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/work-and-play-better-with-multiple-monitors does not work.
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Anonymous

2015-12-03T03:58:23+00:00

Stop holding your breath, I've got Win 10 and it hasn't changed. I unplug my desktop monitor and plug in my 43" hd tv screen via a HDMI cable to watch movies from my desktops VLC media player app for movies ive downloaded from torrent sites. When I plug my monitor back in (because I only have one output HDMI from my PC ) all the icons are either scatterd or all shifted in a grid to the far left and up in a box/grid pattern and mixed up so I have to hunt and slide them back. I wouldnt mind exept my desktop picture is a very hard to find pic and it looks like **** when the icons are bunched up on one side of the cats face. Good luck, lets hope MS gets there head out of there ****.
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Anonymous

2016-01-04T03:37:23+00:00

I fixed the the problem by restarting my docking station. You can also try restarting your computer or (if you have one) the switch you are using. Good luck.

-Gene
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