All my desktop icons disappeared from my Windows 7 desktop

Anonymous
2009-11-30T08:07:29+00:00

I created several icons on the desktops of 4 computers after clean installed the computers with Windows 7 Profession (either with 32 bit or 64 bit versions). After a few days, some of the desktop icons disappear. However, when I click on the Desktop toolbar at the bottom of the Windows desktop, the icons that disappeared from the desktop were still present and available in the Desktop toolbar listing. I saw many users have the similar problem on the Internet but no proper solution for the problem. Any suggestion for the fix.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Anonymous
2010-03-26T16:06:25+00:00

There is an issue with an application called InfraRecorder, this is a CD\DVD recording software. When you install this software the Windows option to Show Desktop Icons is unselected. To Fix this just turn that option back on. To turn the option back on , do this:

  1. Right click the desktop
  2. Select View -> Show Desktop Icon
  3. Make sure the option is checked.

I hope this helps.

Kevin


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Anonymous
2010-02-21T11:51:42+00:00

Hi guys,

I found the cause of the misteriously disappearing Windows 7 desktop icons and the reason why Show desktop icons now and then gets unchecked.

It's INFRARECORDER !! Try for yourselves, when you start Infrarecorder and close it again, go have a look at "Show desktop icons", it is unchecked (but the icons are still  there). Check it on again and start Infrarecorder.... it is unchecked again.

This Windows 7 "bug" is irritating me since the beginning and now I found the cause: It's Infrarecorder which is causing this problem.

Test it and please let me know and spread the news :-)

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-07-08T23:25:56+00:00

    I found the reason ...It is a problem where the computer thinks that you have two monitorsand the icons are on the displaying on the invisible monitor ... in my case the computer had both the VGA and the Digital VGA cables connected to the same monitor causing the windows 7 program to think that there were two separate monitors when there was only one. Disconnecting one of the cables caused all my icons to reappear. I hope this helps.

    Your monitor-unplugging fix totally makes sense, Joey... too bad I missed your suggestion, the first time I read thru. 

    Note the similar fix, that I discovered tonight: 

    right-clicking the desktop,

    selecting "Screen resolution",

    clicking on the picture for the 2nd monitor, and

    *DRAGGING THE 2ND MONITOR* to another position. 

    In my case, I dragged it from being TO-THE-RIGHT of the laptop monitor (where it is at work),

    to being ABOVE the laptop monitor (where it is at home). 

    And then... all the desktop icons reappeared on the primary monitor! 

    Good luck,

    -- Doug

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-06-22T04:39:36+00:00

    This is the official "fix" until SP2

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2642357

    Thanks, of course, for sharing that, PepsiMan -- perhaps it will help somebody. 

    However, I do not believe that link is pertinent to this issue. 

    Note these key differences: 

    1)  at that link, in both "Issue 1" and "Issue 2", the objects are actually *REMOVED* from the desktop.  For example, if you opened Windows Explorer, and then clicked on Desktop, those desktop objects would no longer appear on the list. 

    2)  at that link, in both "Issue 1" and "Issue 2", *SOME* objects are affected.  In my situation and other people's described here, *ALL* desktop objects are affected. 

    (If you understand the link's issues differently, please say so.) 

    In my situation, and many peoples' described here, the objects are NOT ACTUALLY REMOVED -- they simply do not appear. 

    So, when I open Windows Explorer and click on Desktop, the icons & shortcuts & other desktop objects are ALL still there. 

    Furthermore, if I select all the objects in Windows Explorer, in that Desktop "folder", and drag them onto my visible Desktop, (off the Windows Explorer window), SHORTCUTS for all of them will appear on the visible desktop... while in Windows Explorer, the total count of objects in the Desktop "folder" will immediately double!!!

    As I've said before, this "empty desktop" problem appears when I startup at work, after last using the machine at home,

    or when I startup at home, after last using the machine at work. 

    Consider, again, that this same laptop, at work, connects to a 2nd monitor to the right,

    but at home, this same laptop connects to a 2nd monitor *above*...

    ... and I've noticed that certain application windows that were last opened on the 2nd monitor will be OFFSCREEN when the laptop starts in the other environment....

    ... and I'm guessing something similar is happening to my Desktop icons:  they're being moved to a monitor that is not currently connected.


    So, when it happened to me again tonight,

    I found a NEW FIX: 

    I right-clicked on the desktop, and selected "Screen resolution",

    and then DRAGGED THE 2ND MONITOR TO THE OTHER POSITION....

    AND MY DESKTOP ICONS REAPPEARED!

    In my case, I was AT WORK where the 2nd monitor appears to the *right*,

    so I dragged the icon for the 2nd monitor to be *above*, which is its position AT HOME,

    and that made the desktop icons appear on the primary monitor.

    ((As much as I'm glad to report this new fix... can anybody else see this is a BUG?  Why would anything related to the 2nd monitor affect the position of icons on the PRIMARY monitor?

    And everytime it happens, all the desktop icons are rearranged...))

    Good luck.

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