Desktop Icons Disappeared!

**mrbenn** · 07-05-2009

All my desktop icons are missing on x64 RC, if i go to Computer/Desktop I can see that there should be several on there but when I return to desktop none of them are displayed. I have gone to Personalization/Change Desktop Icons and turned on Recycle Bin etc but still nothing. Anyone any ideas?

**busydog** · 07-05-2009

Try rebuilding your icon cache. Here is a link to the instructions....

How to Rebuild the Icon Cache in Windows Vista and Windows 7 - The Winhelponline Blog

**mrbenn** · 07-05-2009

Followed the instructions to the letter but made no difference :-(

**busydog** · 07-05-2009

I assume you have rebooted since you discovered the problem. Do you have a system restore point to revert to???

**mrbenn** · 07-05-2009

yes several times. Unfortunately I have no restore points old enough to be before the problem arose

**busydog** · 07-05-2009

Kill explorer, if it's running, and rerun explorer.exe from task manager:

1) Go to Task Manager, processes: explorer.exe. Highlight it, Option, End Task, Confirm.

2) Then under Task Manager, go File New Task, type "explorer.exe" run.

**mrbenn** · 07-05-2009

This is one of the steps in rebuilding the icon cache, but just to be sure I tried it again, no difference

**JessicaD** · 07-07-2009

Mrbenn,
Have you checked with Microsoft directly to read solutions from others who have experienced the same problem?
Microsoft does have an official Windows 7 RC Support Forum located here Windows 7 Category . It is supported by product specialists as well as engineers and support teams. You may want to just check it out for solutions and keep it bookmarked as an extra resource.
Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team

**klarity09** · 10-02-2009

I was having this same issue and since no one posted the resolution, if someone like myself stumbles upon this thread this will probably do the trick. right click on the desktop and go to "view". then make sure "show desktop icons" is checked.

**tblount** · 10-02-2009

Originally Posted by klarity09

I was having this same issue and since no one posted the resolution, if someone like myself stumbles upon this thread this will probably do the trick. right click on the desktop and go to "view". then make sure "show desktop icons" is checked.

And if that doesn't work... click "Start" and enter this: %userprofile%/desktop

If you don't have anything in the folder, nothing CAN show on your deskop... anything
you drop in that folder will show on your desktop.... to test this.. just right click in the folder and select "new" "text document" then click twice. Go to your desktop and you'll see the file shows up.