All icons have disappeared from the screen. My desktop shortcuts are gone, what should I do? How do I recover shortcuts from the desktop? Starting the Desktop Restore Process

Some users are accustomed to keeping their own desktop (exactly like partitions on a hard drive) "clean", structuring its contents, or even completely indulging in the spirit of minimalism, leaving up to 5-10 shortcuts in sight. Such organization in work is sometimes overshadowed by failures, after which it is found that all the shortcuts from the desktop have disappeared.

This can happen due to incorrect settings or system problems. In any case, there is no reason for panic. We will explain why the shortcuts disappeared and consider in detail the most effective ways out of the situation.

Display icons

1. While on the desktop, you need to apply RMB to an empty area, initiating the appearance of the context menu. In the list, select the "View" section, and then click on the option Show Desktop Icons.

1. After the performed actions, a "birdie" should be displayed next to this option, and the shortcuts themselves should appear at their previous location.

Accidental deletion

The reasons due to which the shortcuts on the desktop disappeared may not be associated with critical failures and malfunctions of individual elements of the system, but with the banal carelessness of the person who mistakenly deleted the shortcut (s). The latter can be checked quite easily, simply.

To do this, click on the working area of \u200b\u200bthe RMB table, select the "Create" parameter in the drop-down menu, and click on "Shortcut" in it.

The "New shortcut" element should appear in place of the cursor. In addition, a wizard for creating new shortcuts will open. In it, you need to specify the location of the file to which we want to configure quick access.

But you do not need to choose anything, we check! Just move this window with the mouse. If a shortcut is displayed on your desktop, but there are no familiar shortcuts, then you have enabled the display of icons, which was discussed in the first paragraph, but you still deleted your icons. This could have been done through negligence, or someone just joked about you.

After you find out everything, you can close the window for creating a shortcut using the "Cancel" button. And immediately start creating new icons.

Showing hidden items

An option is also possible because of which all the shortcuts have not disappeared at all, but just received the hidden status. You can change everything back in the "Explorer" service.

1. We start the service. To do this, just press the Win + E key combination on the keyboard.
2. Go to the "Desktop" directory.
3. Click on the "View" option.
4. Selecting a section Show or Hide.
5. We put a tick on the parameter "Hidden Elements".

Launching Explorer

Few people know, but the system file explorer.exe is responsible for the appearance of all elements (shortcuts, taskbar, start menu) on the desktop during OS boot. If its work fails and it stops showing in the list of active tasks, then everything from the desktop will disappear. You can fix this as follows:

1. First, we call "Task Manager" (by pressing the Alt + Ctrl + Del key combination, or via the Taskbar).

1. In the menu, select the "File" section, and in it click on the option "Start new task".

1. In the window for creating tasks, in an empty column, enter the name of the file explorer.exe.

After completing the above steps, you initiate the correct appearance of items on the desktop.

Replacing a damaged explorer.exe file

If during the diagnostics you find a malfunction of the explorer.exe executable application, we recommend replacing it with a working copy. You can download a working file on the Internet (both in a separate form and as part of an installation theme for Windows 7, 8, 10), or move a copy of explorer.exe from a working system (the file location is indicated below).

1. If there is a new file, let's replace it. The damaged file is located in the C: / Windows / folder. Having previously copied the new version (with the command Ctrl + C), paste it into the specified folder (Ctrl + V), with the replacement value.

1. Now we need to restart the file. This can be done in the task manager (ALT + CTRL + DEL). Go to the "Details" tab and find "explorer.exe" in the list presented. Select it, and then select the "End task" option (the success of the process should be confirmed by the missing items on the desktop).

1. Now let's run the replaced executable file (see paragraphs 2 and 3 of the section "Launching Explorer").

System Restore

If you do not know for what reason the icons disappeared, and the methods described above did not give results, most likely the work of viruses is to blame and you need to restore the system.

Using the AVZ utility

For our task, the ideal assistant will be an anti-virus utility that removes the consequences of spyware and AdWare software.

1. You can download the program on our website (via the link above), or on the developer's website. Launch AVZ.
2. In the menu, select the "File" section, and in it we find the parameter "System Restore".

1. In the settings window, select parameters 1; five; 8-11; sixteen; 17. And then click "Perform marked operations".

1. The program will start working, upon completion of which (after restarting the system) you will find the required shortcuts in their places.

Return to checkpoint

If, in addition to the missing shortcuts on your system, serious failures are observed, we advise you to "roll back" your OS to the last stable save point. This will allow you to "go back in time" to the moment an unpleasant situation arises and prevent exposure to the malware that caused the problem. On our website you can find detailed materials describing how to carry out a similar procedure:

Changing parameters in the registry

The last of the solutions considered today is related to the editing of parameters in the Windows registry. This process should be resorted to last, since the slightest oversights made when changing the registry can affect the operation of the entire system so much that you have to install "clean" Windows.

1. First, we need to call the standard Run service. This can be done by simultaneously pressing the Win + R keys.
2. In the column for input, insert the regedit command. Press the "OK" button.

1. In the opened registry editor, follow the path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - SOFTWARE - Microsoft - Windows NT - CurrentVersion - Winlogon.
2. In the Winlogon directory we are interested in two keys:

• Shell should be set to explorer.exe
• Userinit must contain the path to the userinit.exe file that looks like this - C: \\ Windows \\ system32 \\ userinit.exe.

If the values \u200b\u200bin the above points are distinct, correct them.

1. We pass along the path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\ SOFTWARE \\ Microsoft \\ Windows NT \\ CurrentVersion \\ Image File Execution Options.
2. In the left part of the window (navigation section), look for the explorer.exe / iexplorer.exe subsections. If available, delete them by applying to the subsection of the RMB and selecting the "Delete" option.

1. Restart your computer to save the changes.

Regardless of which method of solving the problem helped you, you need to make sure that you eliminate the root cause of the problem. It is recommended to scan your PC for malware, because otherwise, after restarting the system, it is quite possible that you will again face a situation where the icons from the desktop have disappeared again.

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Missing all your desktop shortcuts? The article is dedicated to those who have not yet encountered this problem. Congratulations, you still have everything ahead of you. Do not be alarmed - this problem may never affect you. But since you are reading this article, then, most likely, it touched and not sickly. You probably went online from a friend's computer or something else. The fact is, you couldn't read this article from your computer. We are all like that. We do not learn anything in advance, but we start rushing about in search of a solution to the problem only when it’s already pinned. I'm from the same category, so I understand you well.

I will try to help you. The main thing is to calm down and do not despair - this is not the worst thing in life.

The shortcuts from the Desktop are missing, what should I do?

When working on a computer, not only shortcuts from the desktop often disappear, but also the sound icon, and itself, and the icon, and, and everything, and sometimes even.

Let's start with the easiest one - missing your Desktop shortcuts.

Displaying Desktop Icons

Right-click on the now completely empty Desktop, and select Arrange icons, check if the item is checked Display desktop icons .

If this is all that matters, then in a couple of seconds all your shortcuts will return to the Desktop.

The first step is to check your computer for viruses, otherwise your further steps will be useless.

System Restore

This method will work for you only if you have the mode enabled.

• Press the keys on the keyboard at the same time Ctrl +Alt +Delete ;
• In the opened window Task ManagerWindows , go to the tab Applications and press the button New challenge ... ;

In the window Create a new task in the field near the button Overview , type the command % SystemRoot% \\system32 \\restore \\rstrui.exe and press the button OK ... The same file rstrui.exe you can find the button Overview .

Select the disk first FROM: , then the folder with the system (I have this folder WINDOWS , then go to the folder system32 , then to the folder restore , and find the file rstrui.exe .

A window will open System Restore.

• Without changing anything, press the button Further ;
• Select an earlier date and press the button again Further ;

• In the next window, press the button again Further ;

The computer will reboot and restore everything on the day the point was created. Be patient and don't touch anything.

Starting the Desktop Restore Process

This is a very necessary file for us. explorer.exe do not confuse it with InternetExplorer ... Although their names are similar, their functions are completely different.

• Press again the three saving keys: Ctrl +Alt +Delete ;
• In the opened window Task ManagerWindows , go to the tab Applications and press the button New challenge ... ;
• In the window Create a new task in the field near the button Overview , type the command explorer.exe and press the button OK ... You can find the same file with the button Overview .
• Reboot your computer.

If it doesn't help again, then try another method.

The Windows operating system is not devoid of its small bugs, which sometimes cause serious inconvenience to the user. So for example, with "Desktop" and / or "Taskbars" all icons may suddenly disappear. Let's figure out how to act in this situation.

Customizing Icon Display

There could be many reasons why "Desktop suddenly" icons have ceased to be displayed. For example, a virus could get on the computer that hid / removed these icons. The explorer.exe system process may also crash. If this happens, then you should understand that recovery can only be done using standard Windows tools.

Let's move on to the options for action.

Option 1: The icons were deliberately removed by someone

To begin with, it is worth considering that option if the icons on "Desktop" deleted by someone or yourself. This is especially true if the computer is used by several people. Sometimes this happens through the negligence of one of the users.

Note: if you have just removed one or more icons on "Desktop", then immediately use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Z... This should help to revert the changes immediately.

If the icons were removed by someone in advance, then use the following instructions to restore them:

1. First, you need to be sure of your suspicions. Click on empty space on "Desktop" right-click and from the context menu select "Create".
2. In the submenu, specify "Label".




3. A shortcut creation window will open. Click the button "Overview".




4. Another one will open, where you need to bind this shortcut to any object on the computer. Choose any program, document or disc. Click "OK".




5. In the shortcut settings shell click on "Further".




6. You can give some name for the shortcut. Click "Done".




7. If on "Desktop" the created shortcut did not appear, this means that no one has deleted your icons and the problem lies elsewhere, therefore, to solve it you need to look for something else (additional options are discussed below). If the newly created shortcut is displayed normally, proceed to the next instruction.

Instructions for restoring physically deleted icons on "Desktop":

If everything goes well, the selected icons will be displayed again on "Desktop"... However, there is a certain possibility that "Basket" will be completely empty or there will be no necessary icons in it. What to do in this case? This means that the icons have been completely deleted and cannot be restored. We'll have to re-create.

In theory, you can use special utilities to recover completely deleted data, it will take too much time and effort, plus, it is not a fact that this enterprise will turn out to be a success.

Option 2: Enable icon display

Also, another user or you may have turned off the display of icons on "Desktop"... Sometimes disconnection can also occur due to a system error. Fortunately, you can fix this situation in a couple of mouse clicks:

Option 3: Enabling the explorer.exe process

Explorer.exe is an important system process responsible for the correct display and operation of the graphical shell of the operating system. To understand that this process is not running in the system or is not started correctly, you can by the absence "Taskbars" and wallpaper. Most likely you will just have a black screen with the mouse cursor, or instead of a black screen, the wallpaper will also load "Desktop", but not more.

There can be a whole variety of reasons for disabling this process. Among the most basic ones are the penetration of virus software into the computer, conflict with other programs, and system failure.

As part of this option, consider how you can get this process to work again:

1. First, call "Task Manager"... Most Windows operating systems use the keyboard shortcut for this purpose Ctrl + Shift + Esc... Sometimes this key combination may not work. In this case, use Ctrl + Alt + Del... This combination will bring up a special menu where you need to select the item "Task Manager".
2. In the opened "Task Manager" select tab "Processes"... Find the process here explorer.exe... If you manage to find it, but everything indicates that the icons with "Desktop" disappeared precisely because of him, then most likely it does not work correctly.




3. It needs to be restarted. Select it with a mouse click and press the button "End process".




4. Windows will ask for confirmation of your actions. Click "End process".




5. Now you can proceed to launch explorer.exe again. To do this, click on the item "File" in the top horizontal menu "Task Manager"... From the drop-down menu, select "New task (Run) ...".




6. In the line that opens, you need to write: explorer

   And click on "OK" or Enter for application.




7. Explorer.exe should be visible again in "Task Manager"... Along with this, all the icons and icons on "Desktop".

Option 4: fix registry problems

The problem with missing icons on the computer may come from the registry. In this case, the explorer.exe process will disappear again after restarting or will not start correctly. When making any changes to the system registry, you need to be careful, as any wrong action can only add problems.

The instructions for this option are as follows:

1. Open the line "Run"... Use the keyboard shortcut for this Win + R.
2. In the line that opens, enter the command: Regedit

   Click "OK" or key Enter for application.




3. A window will appear "Registry Editor"... Here you need to go to a specific folder using the tree menu on the left side of the window. If this menu is not displayed, then click the computer icon.
4. Now expand the folder "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE".
5. In it, open "SOFTWARE".




6. Here you will see a large list of folders where you need to expand the section Microsoft.




7. Again, a large list of sections will be revealed where you need to expand the name "CurrentVersion".
8. In it, open Image File Execution Options.




9. In the tree that opens, find the section "Explorer" or Iexplorer... These sections should not be in this directory, so they must be deleted if found. To do this, right-click on the folder with the desired name. From the context menu, select "Delete".




10. A dialog box will appear asking you to confirm your actions. Click "Yes".




11. After deleting one or two unwanted folders, you need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Provided that the above instruction did not help or you could not find any suspicious elements, use this instruction as well:

1. Go to section "CurrentVersion"... How to get to it was described in the instructions above.
2. In it, open the folder "Winlogon".
3. Now pay attention to the right side of the window. The parameter should be located here Shell... If it is not there, then you will have to create it manually to fix the problem with displaying icons on "Desktop" on Windows. Right-click and select the item from the context menu "Create"... In the secondary context menu, select the option "String parameter".




4. The newly created parameter will initially be named "New parameter"... You need to rename it to Shell.




5. This parameter also needs to be changed. To do this, double-click on it with the left mouse button.
6. The window for setting the parameters of the selected file will open. Here in the field write down "Explorer"... Click Enter or "OK" for application.




7. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Option 5: Reboot

Some Windows operating system behavior problems can be resolved by using the system restart function. The thing is that when you turn it on again, some of the internal system parameters will be reset and updated, which can help restore the system to full performance.

Option 6: Infection with viruses

Malware that constantly changes Windows settings or otherwise interferes with the normal operation of the system could have entered the computer. In most cases, getting rid of malware is easy, just run an antivirus scan.

Since there are many antivirus programs, it is difficult to give universal instructions for each, so the whole process will be considered using the example of the standard Windows Defender:

1. Start Windows Defender. This can be done from the Windows 10 search bar interface, or "Control panels"... Also, do not forget that in the new versions of Tens, the standard Windows Defender has been renamed to "Security Center".



2. In the opened Defender's interface, you need to go to configuring the system scan parameters. To do this, click on the shield icon in the central window or in the left menu.




3. To continue further configuration, click on the text link "Extended check".




4. Put a marker opposite Full Scan and run it by clicking on the button Scan Now.




5. A thorough scan of your computer can take a long time, so expect to wait several hours. Upon completion of the scan, you will be able to see all detected threats and take any actions in relation to them, for example, quarantine or delete them altogether.

After you finish cleaning your computer from viruses, you can try to restore the icons on "Desktop" one of the suggested methods above. Sometimes it happens that immediately after removing the virus, the icons are restored by themselves.

Option 7: Roll back the system

This option is recommended to be used only in extreme cases, when all the others have not given any tangible result. For this you will need Recovery points on a computer or a bootable USB flash drive with an image of the system that is currently installed on the computer.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to give universal instructions for restoring / rolling back the system, since there are several ways to perform this procedure and they may differ for each operating system. To make it easier to understand the essence of the process, consider an example of a Windows 7 system recovery instruction:

1. Open the menu "Start" and select option "All programs".




2. Here expand the directory "Standard".




3. Now go to the folder "Service".




4. Click on an item "System Restore".




5. A window will open giving a brief excursion about the possibilities of the system recovery procedure. Here you need to click on "Further"... This procedure does not pose a threat to user data on the computer, however, if possible, it is recommended to back up important documents.




6. In the next window you can see the available Recovery pointsthat can be used to roll back the operating system. If there are no “dots”, then check the box next to Show other restore points... After selecting the "point" click on "Further".




7. To start the operation, click on "Done" and wait for the process to complete. When it finishes, the computer will restart.

As an even more radical solution, you can reinstall the OS, but it is recommended to do this only in completely hopeless situations.

Within the framework of this article, all the main ways to solve the problem with disappeared icons on "Desktop"... In certain situations, to solve a problem, you will have to combine several of the described solutions.

At one "perfect" moment it may happen like this: you turn on the computer, the operating system boots, and immediately realize that something is wrong, namely, the shortcuts from the desktop have disappeared. This could happen for various reasons, this article will describe the most likely of them, and also tell you how to cope with this problem.

Below we will consider three reasons why shortcuts from the desktop could disappear. Two of them are completely banal, and are solved in a couple of seconds, while the third is more serious, and it will take much longer to solve it.

Reason # 1

First, let's look at the most commonplace reason for the disappearance of shortcuts from the desktop. Perhaps they were simply deleted by someone (if several people are working at the computer, then this option is very much the case). It is very easy to check this, create some element on the desktop, for example, a folder, shortcut, blank document, etc. If the object is successfully created, and it is displayed on the desktop, then the question is closed, someone just deleted all the shortcuts.

If the object was created, but it did not appear on the desktop, then the reason is different.

Reason # 2

Let's move on to the second commonplace reason. Perhaps someone (accidentally or on purpose) set an option in the settings, thanks to which the icons from the desktop disappeared (in fact, they are, they are simply not displayed).

You need to check the following:

For Windows XP

1. Click on the desktop with the right mouse button (on an empty space, although in this situation this specification is very irrelevant :)).
2. Move your cursor over Arrange Icons.
3. Pay attention to the item "Display desktop icons", if the checkbox is not checked, check it.

For Windows 7

If at this point there was already a check mark, then this is not your case, we move on to the next reason.

Reason # 3

And finally, we turn to the third reason for the disappearance of shortcuts from the desktop, and as a rule, it is associated with the activities of malicious software.

For greater accuracy, we will label this reason with a new subtitle.

Missing desktop and start menu

This is a very important point, earlier we talked only about the desktop, and about the icons that disappear from it, but not a word about the taskbar and start menu.

If your taskbar also disappeared along with the desktop, and accordingly there is no access to the Start menu, then most likely this is due to the explorer.exe process (it is not running). Since the explorer.exe process is responsible for Windows Explorer (including the taskbar, start menu, and desktop icons).

To solve this problem, we do the following:

1) First, let's try to manually start the explorer.exe process, for this we do the following:

and) Launch the task manager using:

• For Windows XP - “Ctrl + Alt + Del”.
• For Windows 7 - “Ctrl + Shift + Esc”.

b) In the task manager menu, select the "File" item, and then "New task (Run ...)".

in) In the window that opens, write explorer.exe, and click Ok.

If Explorer starts, and the taskbar and desktop icons appear, then the explorer.exe file is still present on your computer. If, after the above operations, there is no result, perhaps the explorer.exe file is damaged, and it will have to be restored. Alternatively, it can be copied from a computer on which the exact same OS is installed, in most cases it helps. But, of course, it is better to use your own, native, from the installation disk.

2) You need to check your computer for viruses. After all, if the cause of what happened is precisely the virus, then it is useless to do anything until it is found and destroyed.

4) If, after rolling back the system, the problem is not resolved, you can look into. If you have not previously had to work with the system registry, I advise you to follow the link that was given above and familiarize yourself with the basics of security when editing the system registry.

and) Start Task Manager, go to the menu: File \\ Run, write “regedit”, and click OK.

b) Go to the following address:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\ SOFTWARE \\ Microsoft \\ Windows NT \\ CurrentVersion \\ Winlogon

Check the following parameters:

Shell - should be “explorer.exe”.

Userinit - must be “C: \\ Windows \\ system32 \\ userinit.exe,”.

If your values \u200b\u200bdiffer from the above, correct them.

in) Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \\ SOFTWARE \\ Microsoft \\ Windows NT \\ CurrentVersion \\ Image File Execution Options

If you see a subsection “explorer.exe” or “iexplorer.exe” here, delete them.

P.S. The subsection is the one in the left column, in this case under the Image File Execution Options attachment.

After the above operations, the computer must be rebooted.

After that, the desktop and taskbar should start normally.

Sometimes users of the operating system of the Windows family find themselves in a rather unpleasant situation in which all the contents of the desktop, including the “” and “” icons, disappear somewhere. At the same time, it becomes extremely inconvenient to work on a computer.

Now we'll show you how you can try to return all the contents of the desktop to its place.

Method one - enabling the display of icons

This method is the simplest and most common. Very often, the user accidentally disables the display of desktop icons in the context menu. The display is turned on in the same way. how it turns off, namely:

On any free space on the desktop, right-click, select the very first item of the "View" menu that opens and check that the "Show desktop icons" checkbox is ticked. If it is not, we put it.

Enabling the display of desktop icons

Method two - restarting the Explorer.exe process

To do this, call the task manager by pressing the CTRL + ALT + Delete key combination on the keyboard and select “Task Manager”.

Then go to the "Processes" tab and find "Explorer" or "Explorer.exe" there.

Ending explorer process in task manager

Click on it with the right mouse button and select “End Process”.

Starting the Explorer Process

Method three - recovery with AVZ

But first, you need to check your computer, which is downloaded from the official Dr. Web.

Only after that, unpack it and run it as administrator.

Downloading the AVZ utility from the official site

In it, click "File" -\u003e "System Restore".

Launching System Restore in AVZ

In the window that opens, tick the following operations:

• Restoring desktop settings;
• Restore Explorer settings;
• Removing debuggers of system processes;
• Unlocking the task manager;
• Explorer launch key recovery.

And click "Perform marked operations".

Turn on what you want to do to restore desktop icons

When finished, restart the computer.

If all else fails

In this case, it is possible that someone or a virus deleted all the contents of the desktop and it is possible a few days ago before the problem with the missing desktop icons appears.