Where Did My Desktop Icons Go in Windows 7?

Are you accustomed to navigating your computer and its files largely from the desktop? This is a convenient location where you may save your important files, and where you might access your favorite programs via shortcut icons.

But it’s possible for these icons to become hidden, which could make your typical computer using experience a little difficult.

Fortunately, hidden desktop icons typically occur because a view setting has been changed. Our tutorial below will show you where to find this setting so that you can restore your desktop icons to view.

How to Restore Windows 7 Desktop Items to View

The steps in this article were performed in Microsoft Windows 7. This guide assumes that you are currently unable to see the desktop icons that are typically there. You should still be able to see the taskbar (the horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen), the Start button, and the time and tray icons. if you don’t see those items, then the explorer.exe process may not be running, and you will need to restore it from the task manager.

Step 1: Right-click in an empty space on your desktop, which will bring up a shortcut menu.

where did windows 7 desktop icons go

Step 2: Select the View option, then click Show desktop icons.

how to restore windows 7 desktop icons to view

Now that you know how to find desktop icons that have disappeared in Windows 7, you can use this option to access those icons again if they become hidden.

Would you like to add or remove some of the default desktop icons that can appear? Find out how to add a My Computer icon to the desktop, among others, if there are certain items that you would like to be able to access from the Windows 7 desktop.

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