Fix: Desktop Icons are Missing in Windows 10

Windows 10 was launched months ago and it was a major change in UI over time. In Windows 10, Microsoft eliminated a number of GUI bugs present in Windows 8. The start menu was a major change that was desperately requested by the users. Keeping the start menu aside, there were also a bunch of modifications in GUI as well as performance. This major change in GUI confused a lot of users as it took a while for them to understand what was going on.

Some of the users have experienced a problem i.e. Desktop icons are missing in Windows 10. It is pretty annoying for the users who have a lot of stuff on their desktop and suddenly, they find it disappeared. Keeping that frustration in mind, I am going to try in order to fix this issue.

Reasons Behind the “Desktop Icons are Missing in Windows 10” Problem:

A majority of people are considering it a bug inside Windows 10 but it is not. It can happen accidentally and you may have modified some settings unknowingly. Windows 10 has two types of Modes built-in for the users’ facilitation i.e. Desktop and Tablet. Somehow, you might have enabled the Tablet mode leading towards the disappearing of Desktop icons.

Solutions to Fix the “Desktop Icons are Missing in Windows 10” Problem:

There are a number of solutions based on the type of issue you are experiencing with your Desktop icons. You can try these methods to check which one works for you. Before you go ahead with the methods below, Download and run Restoro to scan for corrupt files from here, if files are found to be corrupt and missing repair them and then see if the icons are now back, if not then proceed with Manual steps below.

Method # 1: Checking for Visibility of Desktop Icons

If all of your Desktop icons are missing, then you might have triggered an option to hide desktop icons. You can enable this option to get your Desktop icons back. Follow the steps below.

1. Right-click inside an empty space on your desktop and navigate to View tab at the top.
2. Inside the View tab, check for the Show desktop icons at the bottom. In your case, it might be unmarked. So, mark it as checked by clicking over it. See the image below for illustration.

Method # 2: Enabling the Desktop icons Visibility

If your default desktop icons are missing, you can make them visible inside the Settings. Follow the steps below.

1. Search for Settings window using Cortana and open it from the search results.
2. Inside Settings, click on Personalization. From the next window, select the Themes tab from the left pane.
3. On the right pane of the Themes tab, click on Desktop icon settings to open the settings in order to enable the Desktop icon visibility.
4. Select the icons you want to show on the desktop and click on Apply and OK buttons afterward.

Method # 3: Disabling the Tablet Mode

As tablet mode is integrated inside Windows 10 to have a better touch experience for the Windows Tablet users, you might have accidentally enabled that mode resulting in the disappearing of icons.

1. Open the Settings again and click on the System to open the system settings. On the left pane, click on Tablet mode and turn-off the tablet mode (if it is turned on) from the right pane.
2. Close the Settings window and check if your desktop icons are visible or not.

Method # 4: Initiating SFC scan

An SFC scan checks your whole computer for bad drivers or corrupted files and automatically fixes the issues. Therefore, in this step, we will be initiating an SFC scan. For that:

1. Press “Windows” + “R” keys simultaneously to open the RUN prompt.
2. Type in “cmd” and press “Shift” + “ctrl” + “Enter” keys simultaneously. Typing cmd in the Run Prompt and pressing Shift + Alt + Enter to open an elevated Command Prompt
3. Click on “yes” in the prompt to provide administrative privileges.
4. Type in “SFC /scannow” and press “Enter“. Typing “sfc/scannow” in the command prompt.

Method #5: Recovering icons from OneDrive

In some cases, Windows might try to tidy up your desktop and move the files into a folder named “Desktop!” in One Drive. Therefore, you can copy the files from that folder and paste them onto your desktop to get rid of this issue.

1. Launch Onedrive and look for a folder named “Dekstop”.Desktop folder Onedrive
2. Open the folder and copy all the icons present inside it.
3. Paste these icons on your desktop.

Method #6: Using a Workaround

In some cases, the situation can be remedied by employing a workaround that was discovered by a user. Basically, you initiate the “Auto Arrange Icons” function on the desktop and the icons are returned. For that:

1. Right-click anywhere on your desktop.
2. Click on the “View” button and select the “Auto Arrange Icons” option. Selecting “Auto Arrange Icons” option
3. Check to see if the issue is fixed.

How to Fix Broken or Missing Icons and Thumbnails in Windows 10

One of the common “it’s still Windows” chores we have to do every now and then is reset the icon and thumbnail cache. If your icons are corrupted in some way—blank, taken over by another app or not displaying as they normally do—then resetting the icon cache can fix the problem.

The same goes for the thumbnail cache, which keeps a preview of images, videos, and documents. There are several ways to do this. The most common involves using the command line. Or you can use a free third party utility. We’ll look at both options.

Reset the Icon and Thumbnail Caches

If your icons are corrupted or not displaying properly, you can reset the Windows 10 icon cache to fix them.

The easiest way to do it is by using the free Winaero Tweaker utility. This free utility provides an assortment of options for fixing common problems users will experience in Windows 10 from time to time. It’s just a 2 MB download, too. After downloading, extract the winaerotweaker.zip file, then launch the Winaero Tweaker setup file, click Next, choose Normal mode and accept the license agreement.

After completing setup, launch Winaero Tweaker, scroll down to Tools group, select Reset Icon Cache then click Reset Icon Cache. That’s it; your icons should return to normal.

Fix Icons and Thumbnails from Run or Command Prompt

If you don’t want to go through a third-party app, you can try resetting a number of ways. From the run command, type: ie4uinit -show then hit Enter.

Still not seeing those icons? Then let’s jump into the command line and get our hands dirty. First, you will need to disable Explorer.exe. Press Windows key + X then click Task Manager (or press Control + Shift + Esc). FRom the Processes tab, select Windows Explorer, right-click it then click End task.

Click File > Run new task, type: CMD, hold down the Shift key then click OK. This will open the command prompt with administrator privileges.

Type each command then hit Enter.

Type explorer.exe to restart Windows Explorer.

Exit the command prompt then verify your icons are working again.

Reset Your Thumbnail Cache

A similar issue can happen when your thumbnail previews. Instead of seeing a preview of your actual image, video or document, you may only see a generic icon.

Fixing this one should be a lot easier. Press Windows key + R, type: cleanmgr.exe then hit Enter. Scroll down then check the box next to Thumbnails then click OK.

So, those are your options if your icons ever start misbehaving. Let us know which method you prefer using.

8 Ways to Fix Windows 10 Desktop Icons Missing and Recover Data [MiniTool Tips]

By Alisa | Follow | Last Updated March 02, 2021

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Summary :

If you are experiencing the “Windows 10 desktop icons missing/disappeared” issue and don’t know what causes this, you can check the 8 ways in this post to fix Windows 10 desktop icons missing problem and recover the possible lost data and files for free.

Quick Navigation :

Some of you may encounter “Windows 10 desktop icons missing” issue like below.

• Why did my icons disappear from my desktop Windows 10?
• How do I get my desktop icons back on Windows 10?
• Why did my desktop icons disappear?
• Why are my desktop icons not showing up?

If you start your Windows 10 computer and find all desktop icons in your Windows 10 computer are disappeared, and don’t know how to fix it, check these 8 ways below to restore desktop icons Windows 10 and show desktop Windows 10 icons. An ultimate data recovery guide is also attached to help you recover possible lost files on Windows 10 PC for free.

How to Fix Windows 10 Desktop Icons Missing/Disappeared

1. Unhide All Desktop Icons Windows 10
2. Check Desktop Icon Settings
3. Turn off the Tablet Mode
4. Run SFC Scannow
5. Run CHKDSK
6. Rebuild Icon Cache
7. Reset this PC
8. Perform a System Restore

Quick Video Guide:

Way 1. Turn on Show Desktop Icons to Unhide All Desktop Icons Windows 10

Windows 10 desktop icons missing issue may be caused by accidentally hiding desktop icons. You can restore desktop icons Windows 10 by enabling Show desktop icons.

Step 1. Right-click the empty space on Windows 10 computer screen and click View option.

Step 2. After you click View tab, you can see several options for managing desktop icons. Navigate and check if the option Show desktop icons are ticked, if not, make it ticked. Then check if you get all missing desktop icons back.

If you even can’t right-click the desktop, you can continue to check other ways below.

Way 2. Fix Windows Desktop Icons Missing by Checking Desktop Icon Settings

Your Windows 10 icons may be hidden, the second step you can take is to show desktop icons in Windows 10 through Settings.

Step 1. You can right-click the computer screen and click Personalize. If you can’t right-click the desktop screen, you can click Start -> Settings -> Personalization.

Step 2. Then choose Themes, and click Desktop icon settings.

Step 3. Then you can select which kinds of desktop icons you’d like to show on Windows computer, and click Apply and OK.

Check if Windows 10 desktop icons are shown now, it not, continue to try other ways.

Way 3. Turn off the Tablet Mode to Show Desktop Icons

If you have a touch screen, the computer may have two screen modes: Desktop Mode and Tablet Mode. If your Windows 10 computer is in Tablet mode, the desktop icons may not be shown properly. You can turn off Tablet mode to see if “Windows 10 desktop icons disappeared” problem can be solved.

Step 1. You can click Start and Settings to open Windows 10 settings.

Step 2. Click System to open system settings window, and select Tablet mode in the left panel.

Step 3. Make sure the status of Table mode is Off, to turn off tablet mode.

Way 4. Run SFC Scannow to Fix Windows 10 Desktop Icons Missing Issue

SFC (System File Checker) is a Windows built-in command line tool mainly designed for helping users to scan and repair corrupted system files. If the Windows 10 icons missing issue is caused by system corruption, you can try SFC Scannow to show desktop Windows 10.

Step 1. Open Windows Command Prompt. You can press Windows logo and R keys on the keyboard at the same time. Then type cmd in the box, and hit Enter. When a window pops up asking you if you want to run it as Administrator, click Yes. You can also press Ctrl + Shift + Enter at the same time after typing cmd, to run Command Prompt as Administrator.

Step 2. Then in the Command Prompt window, you can type this command line: sfc /scannow, and hit Enter.

Wait patiently to let the SFC Scan process finish. After that, you can check if the “desktop not showing in Windows 10” issue is fixed.

How to Recover Missing Desktop Files in Windows 10

If you Windows 10 desktop icons are disappeared, some of files you stored in computer may also get lost. Don’t worry, you can easily recover lost data and files with the help of the professional best data recovery software.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a clean and free data recovery program, helping you to recover any deleted/lost files from computer hard drive, external hard drive, SSD, USB flash drive, SD card and more.

You can use this tool to recover lost data from almost any data loss situations, incl. system crash, virus attack, hard drive error, etc.

Free download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery on your Windows 10 computer, and follow the 3 simple steps below to recover lost data on PC.

Step 1 – Launch the Windows 10 File Recovery Software

Open MiniTool Power Data Recovery software to enter into its main UI. And click This PC in the left column. Then you can choose a PC drive or partition, and click Scan button to start scanning the chosen partition for lost and deleted files.

Step 2 – Preview and Find Lost Files

When the scan process is finished, you can browse, preview and find the lost files and folder in the scan result window.

You can click Find to search the lost file or folder by name, or click Filter to find the files by file extension, file size range, create date, etc. You can also click Show Lost Files icon to only show lost files in the scan result, to quickly find needed files.

Step 3 – Recover Lost Files and Folders in Windows 10 PC

Check all you needed files and click Save button to choose a destination folder to store the recovered lost files. Please remember to choose a different partition to save the recovered files to prevent data overwriting.

With this free file undelete software for Windows 10, you can easily restore lost desktop files or any other lost or deleted files in your Windows 10 computer.

Way 5. Run CHKDSK to Fix Windows 10 Desktop Icons Missing

Another Windows built-in command line utility CHKDSK can also help diagnose and fix some computer issues. It can verify the file system integrity of a partition and repair hard disk logical file system errors.

Since your Windows 10 desktop icons are disappeared, you can also try CHKDSK to see if it can get back lost Windows 10 icons.

Step 1. Press Windows + R key on the keyboard, type cmd, and hit Enter to open Command Prompt.

Step 2. Then you can type this command line: chkdsk c: /f /r, and hit Enter. You can replace “c” with the drive letter of another partition or volume, to check and repair errors on other partitions or drives.

Way 6. Rebuild Icon Cache Windows 10

If nothing helps with the above methods, you can continue to try to rebuild icon cache in Windows 10 to fix Windows 10 desktop icons disappeared error. Check below for how to rebuild icon cache in Windows 10.

Step 1. Still, you should open Command Prompt window. You can press Windows and R key on the keyboard, type cmd, hit Enter and run command prompt as administrator.

Step 2. Then you can type the commands below to rebuild icon cache. Please hit Enter to execute the operation after typing each command line.

• taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
• cd /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
• attrib –h IconCache.db
• del IconCache.db
• start explorer.exe

Way 7. Reset this PC to Fix Windows 10 Icons Missing

You can also try to reset your Windows 10 PC to see if the Windows 10 desktop icons missing problem can be fixed.

Step 1. You can also click Start and click Settings. Then click Update & Security and choose Recovery option.

Step 2. Next you can click Get started under Reset this PC to carry out the resetting process.

Step 3. In the pop-up window, you can choose Keep my files and proceed to reinstall Windows while keeping all your personal files.

Way 8. Perform a System Restore to Show Desktop Windows 10

You can also try to conduct a System Restore to see if it can restore desktop icons in Windows 10.

Step 1. Click Start -> Settings -> Update & Security -> Recovery -> Restart now, to enter into Windows recovery environment.

Step 2. Next you can click Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> System Restore.

Step 3. Then you can click your computer account and enter the password, and select a restore point to restore your Windows 10 computer to a previous state.

If the 8 ways introduced in this post don’t help you fix Windows 10 desktop icons missing issue, then you may try the last draw: reinstall Windows 10.

As for how to reinstall Windows 10 without losing data and without CD, you can check the details in this post: How to Reinstall Windows 10 without CD/USB Easily (3 Skills)

Icons Disappeared from Taskbar Windows 10 Solved

If icons are missing from Taskbar in Windows 10, you can try to use SFC or DISM to fix this issue.

• At first, you can press Windows + R key on the keyboard, type cmd in the Run box, open and run command prompt as administrator. Then type sfc /scannow and hit Enter to let the File System Checker scan and fix Windows 10 issues.
• If SFC doesn’t fix “Icons Disappeared from Taskbar Windows 10” issue, you can type this command: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, and hit Enter.

After that, you can reboot your Windows 10 PC to see if Windows 10 taskbar icons invisible problem has been fixed. (Windows 10 Taskbar Not Working? 6 Fast Fixes)

Fix “Can’t Move Desktop Icons on Windows 10”

Still, if some of you encounter this issue: can’t move desktop icons on Windows 10, you may try these methods below to fix this problem.

• Press Esc key on the keyboard three times.
• Change icons arrangement configuration. You can right-click the blank space on desktop and click View -> uncheck Auto arrange icons.
• You can also change icon size after you right-click the desktop and click View
• You can follow the guide above to turn off Tablet mode
• You can also follow the guide above to go to Troubleshoot and perform a system restore, etc.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, you can try the 8 methods in this post to fix Windows 10 desktop icons missing problem. If you also suffer some data loss because of this error or any other errors on Windows 10 computer, you can also follow the data recovery guide in this post to easily recover lost data and files in Windows 10 with MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

Still have issues about how to fix Windows 10 desktop icons missing problem or how to recover data from Windows 10? Please contact [email protected] .