You want to keep the desktop of your Windows PC well-organized but don’t know how to arrange icons on desktop? Well, nowadays, you could apply changes to the arrangement of desktop icons via Sort by and View. Also, depending on the situation, you could take matters into your hands and arrange the icons manually. Continue reading to learn the way to make your desktop look clean and tidy.
Table of Contents
Arranging Desktop Icons: Instructions
Via Sort By
- Step 1: Right-click an empty space on the desktop.
- Step 2: Hover the mouse cursor over Sort by.
- Step 3: Pick between Name, Size, Item type and Date modified.
Via View
- Step 1: Right-click an empty space on the desktop.
- Step 2: Hover the mouse cursor over View
- Step 3: Pick Auto arrange icon as well as Align icons to grid.
Alternatively,
- Step 1: Press Windows key, type Regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
- Step 2: Make your way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\1\Desktop
- Step 3: Look to the left panel, right-click an empty space, hover the mouse cursor over New and pick DWORD value.
- Step 4: Name the recently created value FFLAGS, right-click it and pick Modify
- Step 5: Set the data as 1075839525, close Registry Editor and restart your computer.
Arrange The Icons Manually
To arrange desktop icons manually, all you need to do is to drag and drop them but remember to disable Auto arrange icons in advance. In the case that you want to move multiple icons, press and hold Ctrl, click the icons one by one then move them to their new position.
Missing Desktop Icons On Windows: Troubleshooting
Show Desktop Icons
- Step 1: Right-click an empty space on the desktop.
- Step 2: Hover the mouse cursor over View
- Step 3: Pick Show desktop icons then press F5 to refresh.
Make Use Of Command Prompt
- Step 1: Press Windows key, type cmd and hit Run as administrator.
- Step 2: In Command Prompt (Admin), run the commands down below:
- taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
- cd /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
- attrib –h IconCache.db
- del IconCache.db
- start explorer.exe
- Step 3: Proceed to run the command exit to close Command Prompt then see how things turn out.
Take A Look At Settings
- Step 1: Press Windows + I to open Settings, select Personalization and choose Themes.
- Step 2: Hit Desktop icons settings.
- Step 3: Check the checkboxes next to all icons, click Apply, pick OK and press F5 to refresh.
Note: On occasions, it’s a good idea to make sure that Tablet Mode is disabled. You should be able to disable Tablet Mode by going to Tablet in System of Settings.
What Must Be Done When Desktop Icons Won’t Work?
Perform SFC And DISM Scans
- Step 1: Open Command Prompt (Admin) then run these commands:
- SFC /scannow
- DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
- DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
- DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
- Step 2: Restart your computer.
- Step 3: When the screen comes back on, determine whether the issue persists.
Check Out The Path (For Shortcuts)
- Step 1: Press Windows key, type the name of the target item of misbehaving shortcut, right-click the top result and pick Open file location.
- Step 2: Click the target item, pick Home and hit Copy path.
- Step 3: Back to the desktop, locate the shortcut that is acting up, right-click it and pick Properties.
- Step 4: Proceed to paste the path into the Target box.
- Step 5: Select Apply, choose OK and test out the shortcut.
