Fix Disappearing or Missing Desktop Icons

Can’t find your icons on your desktop? This is a very common issue for Windows users. But don’t worry! To resolve this problem, you can try the fixes below:

1. Show your desktop icons
2. Reset the Windows Explorer process
3. Reset your icon cache

Fix 1: Show your desktop icons

You should make sure your icon settings are enabled. There are two things you need to do:

1. Turn on Show desktop icons

Right click your desktop, select View and make sure Show destop icons is checked.

2. Check Desktop Icon Settings

1. Press the Win and R keys on your keyboard.
2. Type the following command, then press Enter:

   rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL desk.cpl,,0

   

3. Check the icons you want to show on your desktop, and then click OK.

   

Check to see if this shows your desktop icons.

Fix 2: Reset the Windows Explorer process

This helps you reset your desktop. To do so:

1. Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys on your keyboard at the same time to open Task Manager.
2. Right click Windows Explorer and select Restart.

   

This should help you restart your Windows Explorer process. And if this works for you, you should see your desktop icons again.

Fix 3: Reset your icon cache

You can also restore your missing icons by rebuilding your icon cache:

1. Press the Win + R keys on your keyboard.
2. Type “cmd” and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter on your keyboard.

   

3. Enter the following command lines into your Command Prompt:

   cd /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
   attrib –h iconcache_*.db
   del iconcache_*.db
   start explorer

This will rebuild your icon cache. And you can see if this fixes your icon missing issue.