Icon not showing on desktop

A weird thing happened last day on my Windows system. Suddenly all of the icons placed on my computer desktop were disappeared. No suspicious app was installed that could change the visibility of icons. I didn’t right-click on the desktop to hide the icons accidentally. So, what exactly happened?

Let’s Find Out!

Majority of users are considering it as a bug, but it’s not. This can happen to anyone while modifying some settings unknowingly. Not many people know but Windows 10 comes with two built-in modes for user’s facilitation: Desktop & Tablet.

So, there might be a probability that you have activated the Tablet Mode which is leading to Desktop Icons Missing Error. To check whether you have accidentally enabled the Tablet Mode or not: Go to the Start menu > Settings > System > Choose Tablet Mode from the left panel & make sure that the respective mode is toggled off.

If this isn’t the case, you can try some other fixes as well to make Desktop Icons appear again!

How To Fix Desktop Icons Not Showing Issue?

Desktop Icons not showing is quite a common error in Windows 10, 8, 7 PC try some tricks & hacks to fix the issue:

METHOD 1- Run eplorer.exe

This is a temporary patch rather than a solution. Restarting Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) can help you refresh your desktop & get back your icons quickly. However, this is not a permanent fix, but you can always give it a try:

1. On your desktop (no icons screen) > press CTRL + ALT + Delete key altogether to launch Task Manager.
2. In Task Manager Windows, go to the Processes tab & locate Explorer.exe from the list & click on End process.
3. Next, go to the File menu and click on new task (Run) option > In the next box, type explorer.exe & hit Enter.

Your Desktop icons should now pop-up back. If it doesn’t help, then it might be some random software behaving badly on your system.

METHOD 2- Maybe You’re Running A Dubious Software

Think about all the recently downloaded software, maybe a Photo Editor, Antivirus Program or any other software that might have created this absurd issue. If you locate any of the suspicious applications running on your system, uninstall it immediately & observe if this fixes the problem.

You can even try running a PC Virus Scan using a reliable utility, just to check if there’s a malware causing the issue.

METHOD 3- Update Device Drivers

You must already be familiar with the thing that every device on your system has a software driver behind it. When they aren’t optimal, you have to update them. Because a missing, damaged or outdated graphics driver can stop items from appearing properly on your system.

So, make sure every device driver is up-to-date on your PC. Basically, there are two methods to update drivers on Windows: Manually and Automatically.

How To Update Device Drivers Manually?

To update Windows 8, 8.1,10 device drivers, follow the steps below:

1. Head towards Search bar and locate Device Manager.
2. In Device Manager Window, start selecting each item and right-click to Update them.
3. Next click on Browse my Computer for driver software option.
4. Click on ‘Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer’ to let your system find the drivers for you.
   
   
5. If Windows couldn’t detect the best drivers for you, try looking for one on the device manufacturer’s website & follow their instructions to update drivers.

Finding and updating device drivers manually can be a complicated & time-consuming task. Moreover, if by any chance the process is done incorrectly, it could lead to various system issues.

If you don’t have that significant computer skills or time, try to update your drivers using a third-party dedicated tool. For the purpose, you can use Advanced Driver Updater, which would get the job done for you in a few clicks!

How To Update Device Drivers Automatically?

To make the task of updating device drivers straightforward & easy, take the help of Advanced Driver Updater.  The driver utility works efficiently to scan & fix missed, outdated, damaged & faulty drivers in just a few clicks. Features an intuitive interface, Advanced Driver Updater can be used to automatically find and install the most compatible and latest updates for your system.

How To Use Advanced Driver Updater?

Setting & using the driver updater utility is damn simple, just follow the straightforward steps below:

1. Install Advanced Driver Updater.
2. Once installed, click on Start Scan Now button on the main interface.
3. The tool would take just a few moments to list all the faulty drivers on your PC.
4. Once all the missing, damaged and incompatible drivers are categorized, click on Update All button to fix them.
   
   

All the latest drivers would be installed properly, and you can observe a noticeable performance boost on your system.

This method would surely solve your Desktop Icons not showing issue on Windows 10, 8, 7 PC. If you have already tried Advanced Driver Updater software, kindly share your experience in the comment section below!

You Might Like To Watch The Tutorial: How To Update Outdated Device Drivers

My desktop icons are not showing. Most of my programs are also not showing in start menu.

Answer (Solved)

There may be three reasons behind this.

1. Sometimes the desktop settings “show desktop icons” get disabled unusually. See Solution 1 for this.
2. If you can’t see your taskbar along with your desktop icons,  that means the explorer.exe file could not be loaded properly. See Solution 2 to fix this.
3. Might be a possibility that a virus came into your computer and changed the desktop file’s attribute as hidden. Also, change the same settings in the system registry as well. See Solution 3, Solution 4  for this.
   

We are giving you some possible methods to fix this issue, please follow the steps carefully.

How to fix – Desktop icons are not Showing

Below solutions may help you to fix this issue in all the versions of Windows like Windows 7, 8, 8.1, Windows 10, Vista, XP, and Server as well.

4 solutions to fix it

Solution 1 – Enable “Show Desktop Icons” option

1. Right click on the clean area of the desktop
2. Then click on “View” and then go to “show Desktop Icons” and click on it to make it checked.
3. Your desktop icons will start appearing again.

Solution 2 – Reload Explorer.exe (Fix it myself manually)

Note: Apply only if the taskbar does not appear

1. On the desktop (No icons Screen) Press Ctrl+alt+Delete key together to open the Task manager
2. In the Windows task manager, click on the “Processes” tab and here you’ll find Explorer.exe in the list, right-click on it and click on the End Process Tree. The explorer process will be killed, you’ll get a blank screen with task manager.
   
3. Now go to file menu and click on new task (run), A run box will be opened. Type here: explorer.exe and press the enter button.

Solution 3 – Registry Fix

1. Press Windows ‘R’ (to launch Run.exe)
2. In the Run program, type there regedit and hit enter
3. Then in the Registry Editor program. follow this folder path route
   HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / WINDOWS NT / CurrenVersion / Winlogon
4. Now click on  Winlogon and after clicking then look at the right side pane.
5. Here you have to find the Item called “shell” and click on it twice (Double click)
6. In the Value Data Edit box, Type Explorer.exe (The value of this key “Eplorer.exe) then click on OK
7. Now restart your computer. After restarting the problem will be fixed.

After that your desktop should be restored, you will get your desktop back.

If you are still not getting your desktop icons, it means there is no problem with explorer.exe. Now we have to go to solution 4.

Solution 4 – Run Unhide Tool Automatic Fixit

Run this Unhide tool to fix the desktop icon hide issues.

If you still do not see the desktop icons, that means Virus has changed some registry settings, please Download the Unhide tool  and run it to unhide all the desktop of start menu data to solve the “no desktop icons issue“ 

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FAQ:

Q: My taskbar and start menu have also disappeared. Can I use this guide to bring them back?

A: Yes, this tutorial will work to bring back the missing desktop icons,  Start button, Start Menu, Task bar etc.

Q: Desktop icons won’t appear. Is it due to virus attacks or is there any other issue?

A: If you are not using any antivirus software it could be due to the virus otherwise you may try to fix if it is due to some other Windows internal problem. If there is no antivirus in the system, at least  download free antivirus for basic protection.

Q: Desktop icons and taskbar suddenly went. Is it due to malware?

A: Yes it could be, firstly follow the steps above to fix this issue. If that doesn’t help, then scan your computer with a  malware removal tool. And to avoid future occurrences, always keep a free antivirus in your system to protect yourself from basic virus attacks.