Windows No Longer Persists Desktop Icon Layout in Registry, Confirmed on Windows 10 Pro 22H2 (Build 19045.6216)
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(185.6, 60%, 27%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EAB%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
andre boi
30
Reputation points
Details:
After exhaustive testing on Windows 10 Pro, version 22H2 (build 19045.6216), I’ve confirmed that desktop icon layout is no longer stored in any visible registry location. This breaks long-standing behavior and removes user control over icon persistence.
Symptoms:
Desktop icon positions reset or scramble after reboot, resolution change, or Explorer restart.
Registry keys that previously held layout data (Streams, Bags\1\Desktop) are either missing or contain only view settings.
Even after saving layout with DesktopOK, no REG_BINARY blob appears in the registry.
What I’ve Verified:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop contains only icon size, sort mode, and view settings — no coordinates.
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Streams is completely absent.
Full HKCU and mounted UsrClass.dat hive searches for “Icon” return only shell decorations (DefaultIcon, IconPath, etc.).
No layout blob appears even after moving icons, restarting Explorer, or saving with DesktopOK.
Workarounds:
DesktopOK with auto-restore at logon is the most reliable workaround.
Backing up UsrClass.dat after arranging icons and restoring it manually can work, but requires logoff and admin access.
No known way to lock layout natively via registry permissions anymore.
Conclusion:
Microsoft appears to have moved icon layout persistence to an undocumented internal structure, possibly inside UsrClass.dat in a format Regedit can’t parse, or into a shell cache inaccessible to users. This breaks registry-based layout locking and leaves users dependent on third-party tools.
If anyone has found a way to extract or lock layout data from Windows 10 Pro build 19045.6216, I’d love to hear it. Details:
After exhaustive testing on Windows 10 Pro, version 22H2 (build 19045.6216), I’ve confirmed that desktop icon layout is no longer stored in any visible registry location. This breaks long-standing behavior and removes user control over icon persistence.
Symptoms:
Desktop icon positions reset or scramble after reboot, resolution change, or Explorer restart.
Registry keys that previously held layout data (Streams, Bags\1\Desktop) are either missing or contain only view settings.
Even after saving layout with DesktopOK, no REG_BINARY blob appears in the registry.
What I’ve Verified:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop contains only icon size, sort mode, and view settings — no coordinates.
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Streams is completely absent.
Full HKCU and mounted UsrClass.dat hive searches for “Icon” return only shell decorations (DefaultIcon, IconPath, etc.).
No layout blob appears even after moving icons, restarting Explorer, or saving with DesktopOK.
Workarounds:
DesktopOK with auto-restore at logon is the most reliable workaround.
Backing up UsrClass.dat after arranging icons and restoring it manually can work, but requires logoff and admin access.
No known way to lock layout natively via registry permissions anymore.
Conclusion:
Microsoft appears to have moved icon layout persistence to an undocumented internal structure, possibly inside UsrClass.dat in a format Regedit can’t parse, or into a shell cache inaccessible to users. This breaks registry-based layout locking and leaves users dependent on third-party tools.
If anyone has found a way to extract or lock layout data from Windows 10 Pro build 19045.6216, I’d love to hear it.
Windows for home | Windows 10 | Desktop, Start, and personalization | Desktop
-
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(310.4, 9%, 40%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EWS%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
William S Kohut 0 Reputation points2026-09-10T12:14:45.44+00:00 I also opened regedit32 and under Shell there wasn't a key for Bags or BagMRU. I tried other websites looking for answers to saving the layout and cam across a website titled 'How to Save Desktop Icon Layout'. I followed there instructions of finding a open space on the desktop, right click, and selecting Refresh. When I did it created BagMRU and Bags under Shell in the Registry. Selecting Bags/1/Desktop showed entries that included IconLayouts. Selecting Desktop, right click and selecting Export will save your entire desktop Icon Layout in a .reg file (all of them). Apparently MS reconfigured how they are stored. You can no longer see the coordinates of each icon. They are stored digitally in Hex values rather than x-y coordinates. This will make it more efficient. I tried this out by rearranging some icons then selecting the saved .reg file, right click, and selecting Merge and it worked. It put back the icons to where they were. Doing all this manual stuff is not as easy as bringing up Desktop OK and clicking on save and restore. Perhaps .bat files can be created, one to Save and one to Restore. I have not tested how long the registry entries will be saved in the registry.
Sign in to comment
Sign in to answer