Restore Missing Desktop Icons in Windows 7 or Vista
If you’ve removed your recycle bin icon, or you previously added the some of the “special” icons like Computer, User or Control Panel to the desktop and they are now missing, you might want to know how to add them back.
Go to Control Panel \ Personalize (or right-click on the desktop and select Personalize), and then choose the link for “Change Desktop Icons” on the left-hand side.
Now you can chose the icons you want back on the desktop by checking the box next to the name:
Click the Apply button, and you should see the icon show up on the desktop immediately.
This article was originally written on 02/9/07
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Thanks a ton for the reference on restoring the icons. I installed a non-compliant application that wiped a good portion of them out.
Thank you so much for the info how to restore ICONS, that was usefull info, THANKS AGAIN
thanks a zillion for the clear directions on restoring the icons. it was neat. thanks!
Good info, i deleted mine for a month before i looked here, had it back in 2 seconds.
Thank you very much, you have no idea how much you helped me out, I thought my aunt was going to kill me because I had accidently deleted the recycle bin from her brand new computer……
extremly helpful very valuble and helpful site
clear and descriptive
Thanks soooooooooooooo much I have been going mad trying to find the RECYCLE BIN icon to restore it to my desktop.
Thanks again!.
hey do you how to activate and put up the shortcut for IE as it was for XP, with advanced functions like that of going to properties of IE through it and all.
COOL!! I deleted my recycle bin twice. I used system restore to get it back. This is much easier. I knew there had to be a simpler way. Thanks!
Thank you… Thank you… Thank you.
Need help. Although this has nothing to do wid d tip u provided. Somehow my desktop shortcut icons and desktop files have got deleted mysteriously. Its a hp vista. Plzzzzz help me recover my files. Can u tell me wat could have caused tht?
this arrticle was a lifesaver for me,i lost the recycle bin icon (i still dont know why it dissappeared) and now i have it back thanks to you.
Muchas gracias por la info. Muy util!!!
Many thanks for info on how to restore recycle bin – much appreciated
It ain’t helping. Logging into my other accounts will show the desktop icons, but my main account still has the icons missing from my desktop, no matter if i check/uncheck them in the “Personalize>Change desktop icons>” setting. Help?
Try going to start > type command prompt in the search box > And then
Type regsvr /u shell32.dll
The icons should start working fine after that.
THANKS!
omg u saved my life.. i almost feel like reinstalling os
thanks a lot dude!
I need help. I need restore the icon of Internet Explorer (not shortcut)
Thanks soooooooooooooo much I have been going mad trying to find the RECYCLE BIN icon to restore it to my desktop.
Thanks again!.
Thanks had been looking for my recycle bin for weeks…. any idea on how to get Windows mail back? it disappeared and I have to go to search>mail> open any message> help> open windows mail…
I need to configur a Microsoft Exchange type email account, and it requires the use of the Mail icon in the Control Panel. Except that on all of these stupi HP Pav notebooks it doesn’t appear, and nobody at HP has a clue about it.
Any ideas? I have ran out of aptions doing what I knew or could think of. thank you guys in advance. I am in a real pickel here, as I am beginning to travel tomorrow, and I need my notebook to access that particular email acount from the read.
My recycle bin icon picture is still missing along with going through the start menu all of my programs pictures for the icons are missing. crazy weird. any help with this. hopefully i was able to discribe it correctly.
Thanks.
Well my recycle bin icon picture is missing…but my buddy told me that it is the folder’s displays? that are missing. I so hate vista…
hi recently has windows xp on my pc and have now updated to windows vsta ultimate but i have no start menu or desktop icons its driving me crazy can anyone please please help ive been trying for days lol!!
Thanks a lot for this useful info. I restored the icon back…
cool, but my windows vista icons arnt displaying properly still. there is a small black box covering each one on the bottom left side
thank you so much!
oh my gosh
i freaked out for a minute because i thought i too had deleted my bin
you are a lifesaver
and thank you for being straight to the point about figuring out what to do
usually info sites take you on about 7 or 8 or 9 links
before you can actually find the info that you need
thank you again so very much
hey your way did not work i am still missing my entire background…and i cannot use my “right click” all the icons are missing as well as my toolbar and start button….help?
My desktop icons are all missing. I tried your suggestion above. I tried:
“C:\Windows\system32\rundll32.exe” Shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL desk.cpl,,@Web
from Run.
Nothing works. Help
can you help me to restore my missing desk top icon.i am running windows xp.
wow. this is exactly what I was looking for.
thank you for making the world a little bit brighter by being not only helpful (apparently for no personal gain either – way to go!!!) but also doing it in a clear and easy to follow way. you just made my day, computer geek!
@lisa:
Thanks for the compliments! We try hard to be as helpful as possible.
Thanks a bunch, you the man
Thanks, I would have been searching for hours!
I believe this site is the greatest idea since the wheel!!!!!!!!
Thanks a million! I’m not sure how I deleted it in the first place, but now it’s back!
any idea how it should work, when my computer doesn’t show up if I check or uncheck box, no changes at all ! Help plz to restore, it disturbs me in a lot of ways when i go to browse folders from some programs i can’t see My computer icon, no matter WHAT, i can send you a screenshot if you colud help me?
Thanks in advance
If you see no desktop icons at all, try right-clicking on the desktop, then selecting View, and making sure Show Desktop Icons is checked.
Yes, this is a deeply stupid option.
Yes, it’s doubly stupid to bury it in a submenu.
hi im anton my computers icons go missing a few minutes after i log into my main profile on the computer there is no start, no icons, the only way i can log off or shut down the computer is to press ctrl alt delete……pliz i need help.
Thank u so very much. I lost my desktop months ago and had no idea how to find it until i found this. And it worked. Thanks again.
Thanks lots for the simple fix . I lost my recycle bin (dont know how) and didnt know how to get it back.
Losing the bin wasnt a real pain but each time I deleted something the files were just sitting in the invisible bin.
Now the bin is back I am able to delete the 4000+ files in it which were wasting disk space .
My Internet Explorer was deleted from my desktop and anywhere else it was at. I cant find it on Start or when I search My Computer or all the programs on the computer. When I tried to re-download it from the website, a message showed up saying that I already had Internet Explorer7 so it wouldn’t let me download it again. What can I do to get it back? Now, there’s Internet Explorer ( No add-ons) but i searched the add ons and they were all enabled. What can I do? Thanks!
my icon for yahoo is missing from my desk top how do i get it back on there someone please help
A friend of mine has just got a Laptop with Vista Premium installed,he had a little play?? and now the Desktop Icons have gone very large, the screen resolution is correct at 1440X900, the DPI is OK, the icons in any application are OK it,s just the Desktop Icons??. Any Ideas please.
Pat, for the large Icons right click on the desktop, go to VIEW and here you can set the Icons the size you like
Thx for tip its realy useful for alot of people like me who accidently delited recycle bin and are new to vista
Thank you so much for the info how to restore my recycle bin, i dont know where dat thing went, it was driving me crazy, that was usefull informantion, THANKS.
My email was not working correctly. I reinstalled Outlook 2007 and now I cannot get the Mail icon in Control Panel to open. Outlook says I need to setup a profile. How do I get the Mail icon back?
I get to those steps, but when i get to the personalization part I hit the Cahnge desktop Icon and I get this message Your system administrator has disabled launching of the Display Settings Control Panel. Can you help me in how to enable this please???????????????
big help Thanks
Thanks Mr (G) ,I need lots of help.Cant belive I found you,newbee and dont know anything, hope what I read works.I will be back.
I wasnt able to try what you sead, newbee is perpelxed,Cant even get out of here without unpluging.
thank you so much for your help,i could’t find recycle bin in my vista,so you help me,thank you for your help.Fani
If you cannot see your ‘mail’ icon, you likely have 64bit vista ultimate…or other 64 bit and I am truly sorry and feel your pain
If so, Under the X64 version of Vista, you need to first look under an icon called
32 bit control panel items. There’s the mail icon.
Nothing but trouble connecting to anything, vpn, etc with 64 bit.
Quote:
flabdablet
If you see no desktop icons at all, try right-clicking on the desktop, then selecting View, and making sure Show Desktop Icons is checked.
Yes, this is a deeply stupid option.
Yes, it’s doubly stupid to bury it in a submenu.
Thanks man. I knew right away that it must be some new dumb arss option. Of course I couldn’t find that sucker. Thanks!
Rebecca, you lifesaver! Took me a minute or two to find it, since it’s called ‘View 32-bit Control Panel Items’, but that did the trick! Can’t believe such basic things are hidden away like that…
I removed everything about YAHOO and now I want it back. I don’t know how to get to the control panel to restore it and the icon
just got this computer and don’ know how to use it
Thanks for the easy to follow instructions!
hi,i hope u can help me,my icons in my desktop are missing and no right click in my mouse,i hope u can help me on how to restore my missing icons immediately.thank you.
Missing the system icon for network activity on the lower right taskbar in Vista. The selection box for that icon is grayed out on the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties”, “Notification” tab.
OMG! Thank you SO MUCH! I stupidly deleted my trash and then couldn’t get it back, I thought I’d never find that icon again. YAY!
Cherie
Thank you for making that so easy.Other suggestions I got were all so complicated. Keep up the great work!
Works gr8, thx
THANK YOU SO MUCH
That made it so easy. Thankyou
that was so easy, thanks so much
thank soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much
i dont have admin rights to change the desktop icons, can u tell me how to restore it using the registry interface…
OMG 1 billion thanks
Thankie thankie again 
omg, thank-you, SO MUCH! on how to restore icons, my roommate accidentally deleted the recycle bin when he meant to empty it, and this happened the first day I’ve bought my laptop, and I’ve just been deleting and not emptying the recycle bin for around 8 months now!, again, thank you so much!
Thanks very much, I couldn’t find anywhere else to learn how to recover the Computer icon on my Vista desktop. VERY useful!
Thanks very much, mine was deleted and now that i know how to get it back I can show friends who lost theirs
Hi, nice tip, do you happen to know of a way to have the documents folder on the desktop other than as an actual shortcut(.lnk)?
I wrote a post similar to this, but when all your desktop icons disappear along with your taskbar or Start Menu also!
http://www.online-tech-tips.co.....sappeared/
my recycle bin icon disappeared too. I cannot choose the change desktop icons option because it as well as almost every other desktop icon gives the error “not a valid win32 application”. one minute they worked and the next they didn’t any suggestions?
Thanks for this. (New to Vista. Wanted to empty Recycle Bin. Deleted it instead!)
OH MY GOD!
YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH YOU’VE SAVED ME!!!!!
THANKYOU SO MUCH!
YOU ARE A GOD!
Thanks for the quick and informative howto article!
Ayt, thanks. People need these kind of stuff. Hopefully more people start searching the web for answers, it really helps.
Thanks worked perfect !!
HI
Hope you can help me out.Im trying to add my icons and taskbar back on my dell 1521.When i turn pc on icons show up for a few mins then they disappear the funny thing is my gadget or still on the desktop.I tried adding icons back in control panel with no luck please help Joe thanks
So, I’ve tried that and my desktop icons (while visible in the desktop folder in the toolbar thing) are still missing. Is there anything else I can try?
@Abbie: It sounds like you have all your desktop icons hidden.
Try this to enable them:
Right click on the desktop.
Move over View and if unchecked check Show Desktop Icons.
Thank you for the clear and direct instructions. Restored my Recycle Bin icon in a few seconds.
I bought a new comp it has windows Vista I have tried to set up my IM expressions my Icon nd such,I can’t see it if it has been added –one message ws that my color is not capatable? or something what do I do?
Thanks flabdablet, for NO reason my icons disappeared and even in the submenu “Show desktop icons” was ticked. I unticked it, then reticked it again and they came back. Vista you are STILL flakey after 18 months!
Thank you sooo much Rebecca (March 29). I have Windows Vista and have been pulling my hair out trying to find the mail icon in order to setup my Outlook.
THANKYOU~!
so much for the images how to rextore the recycle bin it was really hard to find it this help really helped me thanks again!!:D….
The volume mixer icon disappeared from my toolbar [I'm using Vista] and I’ve followed various recommendations without success. One problem is the areas are greyed out but there are others. I’m a silver surfer and need all the help I can get – simply explpained please!!!
Many thanks for whatever. Margie
thank you! was wondering how to get my Recycling bin back! YAY!
Thanks man your post saved the day
Oh God thank you for the how to Geek people or i be still at my computer trying to figue how restore my recycle bin… Thank you And God Bless you all in your Staff..
I could not find answer to my missing desktop Icons. I lost the somehow and found them when I typed in desktop in the search area ( I have window vista) and clicked on it and the Icons showed up on desktop in a window that had all Icons and said it was file D, tried to make a short cut and it came up and said the source and destination file are the same–Please getting too old for these problems (82) and tried hard to find out myself but NO luck !! glad to pay you for help if you can solve this
problem
@Colin: Have you tried right clicking on the Desktop, moving over view and clicking “Show Desktop Icons” (Note: Only helps if “Show Desktop Icons” is unchecked, if it’s checked then there is a different problem and this won’t help)?
The right click –> Show desktop icons worked for me… Thanks a bunch!
I have no icons on desktop, have no icons on taskbar, can not right click on desktop, tried the step you have suggested for others, no luck with me, can you help?
@John: Is there a taskbar at all? If there is no taskbar, no desktop icons and you can’t right click then that means the Windows Explorer shell is not loading.
If that is the case then the fix will not be simple thing. There are many causes for Windows Explorer not loading and some are not easy to fix.
I would suggest posting on the forums, as posts there do not need approval before they are posted so it’s a lot faster to work out problems like this there instead of in the comments.
I have lost all my desk top icons and have tried the right mouse click, view and show desk top items are clicked, I have also tried the command prompt solution and that did not work, any other ideas?
You may have also un checked the Show Desktop Icons selection on the right mouse menu of the desktop.
Thanx I found the solution for my problem
Perfect!!!! Just what I needed, and done.
wonderful!!!!!
i have get back my recycle bin!
happy now!!!!!
When I choose the link for “Change Desktop Icons”, I get the window: “You system administrator has disabled launching of the Display Settings Control Panel’. How do I fix it?
Thanks! This worked even when CCleaner made the icon (image, not presence) of my Recycle Bin go invisible. I just deleted my Recycle Bin and restored it from Preferences!
cheers pal you’re the man
I have deleted by mistake my “recycle bin” icon. I have restored but now it don’t indicate when I dump files in there…
or one thing you can do is right click on your desktop pic and under view it will have the option just click show desktop icons
Thanks a lot!!
I had tried everything to get my icons back. I followed the steps you had and still nothing. I just glanced up and saw Matts comment so I tried that. It worked. Thanks Matt. I have been trying for two days to get them back. Something as simple as that.
Thanks for having this website. You are a life saver.
hi i just got mine back thanks now sure how it went missing but thanks. now for some reason i got it back but when i out stuff in it the icon don’t show me how i fix that.
After trying almost every single suggestion on this webpage to bring back my icons……flabdablet finally hit the solution on the head for me. Turns out the simplest solution of them all worked out best. Thanks a million for this invaluable information. Even though the other suggestions weren’t the right ones for me, it still gave me a number of options to try that i would never have thought of. Most of all, THANK YOU FLABDABLET for solving my problem.
How my icons disappeared is still a mystery, however. Must be a Vista gliche cause i didnt touch my computer until todays bootup, and hey presto, the icons were gone. Thought it may have been a virus but now i know that it wasn’t. Thanks again.
Thanks! It worked great!
This is great advice!! Thxx very muchh..It works very well! xx
Guys! try this for resolving no icons on desktop……
right-click an open area of the Windows Desktop, click View , and make sure Show Desktop Icons is selected…….try this
Thanksss heapss !! i accidently deleted my recycle bin and i was panicing so much
u helped soooo much !
hi, i have ticked the boxes in desktop icon settings, but still the icons dont appear on my desktop. is there anything else that i can do?
Unfortunately I was deleted the desktop recycle icon. It is so much supportive.
Thank you very much
yea… i did wat u said…. anout the icon but… my icon is still not showing up… please help….
Thank you for the help it was so easy…
Amazing… I set the icons back, changed the theme from windows classic to vista and back again, and poof, all icons restored.
Thank-you so much!
Thank you this was very helpful indeed…
Thank you for your helping. I hope you still do like this.
Hifriends..
just help.. I havewindows vista and my desktop is completely blank. If i creat any shortcut , nothing comes and shortcut is created only on desktop folder….
plz suggest me ..
thanks
ben
Ben apparently the last windows update has guffed something up. Same thing happened to me. After the update I had no internet, then I reboot and internet is back. Next reboot and same as you poof no desktop or task manager. I went into windows system update and restore to prior to the most recent windows updates and everything was back to normal. That is totally shoddy of MS. Someone is going to get their ass chewed out for that.
Thanx so much for this info. I’ve been trying to recover my recycle bin icon ever since a long night of work left me so groggy that I deleted instead of emptying. Never thought it would be so easy to restore
flabdablet thank you so much..I know a bit about comps and had tried all the other suggestions and virus searchs..My daughter had played with the comp while i was asleep and must have unchecked it..I didnt even think to look for show desktop icons under view with a right click
I have lost all the icons on my vista desktop
Unfortunately this trick didn’t work for me. I think that the problem occurred when I switched monitors. I believe that Win7 thinks the icons are in view but actually they seem to be off the screen somewhere.
lost mi folders on my desktop (vista Comp) it gives me an error message that reads as follows:
C:\windows\desktop refers to a location that is unavailable.
This happens every time I turn on my computer. all files and shorcuts I had on desktop are gone.
Please help me!
thnx…. its very Esy na///////