Windows 11 Desktop icons rearrange and re-sort themselves

Anonymous
2023-07-21T01:09:08+00:00

Lately, my Windows desktop icons have periodically and at random rearranged and re-sorted themselves.

It looks like at arbitrary times, This PC and the Recycle Bin, which are traditionally at the top left hand corner of the desktop now shift downwards. The icons re-sort themselves into alphabetical name order. It usually happens after a boot or reboot.

I also have icons spread out randomly over a two-screen desktop. At an arbitrary moment, again associated with a reboot, all icons suddenly snap to the left hand side of the left-hand screen.

There are many posts on the web about the "Autoarrange Icons" and "Align Icons" settings. Changing those settings do not resolve this problem.

This may have something with the ""Sort By" setting. If that is it, the setting does not stay that way for long.

I don't know if this is a new bug that has appeared in a recent build. I use Windows 11 Home, and the current Version is 22H2, and the Build is 22621.1992.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Settings

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-05-21T19:28:56+00:00

    Unfortunately, I don't have Microsoft 3D viewer. Nothing has been installed except Microsoft updates since I got this laptop in June. It's done it since day one.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-04-27T22:38:26+00:00

    I am running Windows 11 and have been seeing this issue on and off for years now. With the latest update (KB5036980), I am seeing the re-arrangement about every third power-up. The IconCache deletion / restart workaround has a 100% success rate restoring the original arrangement.

    If anyone is interested, I have saved two IconCache.db files: one that existed after observing the re-arrangement, and one created after the delete/restart workaround.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-03-24T05:01:59+00:00

    I have a similar problem except my icons get rearranged after every reboot.
    It has been happening since the last Windows update.

    I have not installed any new software, and my desktop icon arrangement has been working fine for years until the update.
    2024-03 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 23H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5035853) seems to be the last update that caused the problem.

    If for some reason my system has become corrupted, then Windows update did it.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-03-13T15:27:51+00:00

    Really? You want me to do all of that just so that I can keep my desktop icons from moving? How about you fix it on your end. This has been going on for me for about 6 years, windows 10 and 11, different laptops. Fix your damn software!

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    60+ people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2024-03-05T16:37:12+00:00

    Thank you. To me, this was the best answer.

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