Desktop icons disappeared in windows vista

Enter If you are prompted to confirm your approach or enter an administrator password, take the appropriate action. Why are my desktop icons not showing? Make sure the Use Desktop Icon Display option is turned on. Right click on the damping area on the desktop. Select View and you should see the Show Desktop Icons option. Also try turning off Show Desktop Icons a few times, but be sure to turn it on.

Then find the entry named PastIconsStream and right-click it, select Delete from the context menu and click Yes in the corresponding pop-up window.

Find your registry. Additionally, your requests will be redirected to the IconStreams registry entry after the process completes. The PastIconsStream registry entry is in one place and you can delete any of them. Exit the Task Manager. You should see the missing system icons upside down in the right places right now.

How do I restore my desktop icons in Vista? Click the General tab, and click Selective startup. Under Selective startup uncheck Load startup items. Click the Services tab, check the Hide all Microsoft services box, and then click Disable all. Click the Apply , then OK , and then Restart.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No. Sorry this didn't help. Thanks for your feedback. This thread is locked. Question: My Desktop icons have disappeared—every single one. How do I get them back? Answer: Try these things: 1. So click on Show Desktop Icons. It takes several seconds for Windows to reset the Desktop.

If Show Desktop Icons was already checked, first try unchecking it. Then go back in and check it again, which might reset it. My Dad has a load o desktop icons related to the programs that he uses.

These I never us and they were like completely cluttering up my desktop whenever logged on to my User Account, so naturally, I deleted them all.

An emptied the recycling bin just to make sure. Then the next time my Dad logs on to his User Account, he start complaining because somehow all his desktop icons have disappeared.

There are 3 desktop folders. By deleting the icons from my desktop I had cleared up my desktop but had also modified 2 the All Users folder. The icons were no longer i this folder.