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Restore Missing Desktop Icons in Windows 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)

Click the Change Desktop Icons link on the left hand side.

Now you can just re-check the checkboxes for whichever icons you want back on the desktop.

The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 02/9/07 and tagged with: Windows Vista, Desktop Customization

Comments (62)

  1. zak

    Thanks a ton for the reference on restoring the icons. I installed a non-compliant application that wiped a good portion of them out.

  2. aiden

    Thank you so much for the info how to restore ICONS, that was usefull info, THANKS AGAIN

  3. patrick

    thanks a zillion for the clear directions on restoring the icons. it was neat. thanks!

  4. Kara Kittle

    Good info, i deleted mine for a month before i looked here, had it back in 2 seconds.

  5. Jazmin

    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……

  6. ted strong

    extremly helpful very valuble and helpful site

    clear and descriptive

  7. Lardi2007

    Thanks soooooooooooooo much I have been going mad trying to find the RECYCLE BIN icon to restore it to my desktop.

    Thanks again!.

  8. Frazil

    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.

  9. Mike

    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!

  10. Bones

    Thank you… Thank you… Thank you.

  11. pooja

    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?

  12. betaluva

    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.

  13. Alex

    Muchas gracias por la info. Muy util!!!

  14. Wayne

    Many thanks for info on how to restore recycle bin - much appreciated

  15. Dan

    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?

  16. karthik

    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.

  17. Dennis

    THANKS!

  18. Unknown Stranger

    omg u saved my life.. i almost feel like reinstalling os

  19. nikos

    thanks a lot dude!

  20. Mayno

    I need help. I need restore the icon of Internet Explorer (not shortcut)

  21. vinod

    Thanks soooooooooooooo much I have been going mad trying to find the RECYCLE BIN icon to restore it to my desktop.

    Thanks again!.

  22. Beth

    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…

  23. M J Walters

    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.

  24. J C Storey

    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.

  25. J C Storey

    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…

  26. jodie

    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!!

  27. sneka

    Thanks a lot for this useful info. I restored the icon back…

  28. greg

    cool, but my windows vista icons arnt displaying properly still. there is a small black box covering each one on the bottom left side :(

  29. Enrique P

    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

  30. dan mccarty

    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?

  31. June Reich

    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

  32. kerwan mc gowan

    can you help me to restore my missing desk top icon.i am running windows xp.

  33. lisa

    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!

  34. The Geek

    @lisa:

    Thanks for the compliments! We try hard to be as helpful as possible.

  35. Ray

    Thanks a bunch, you the man

  36. Lou

    Thanks, I would have been searching for hours!

  37. Ralph Galardi

    I believe this site is the greatest idea since the wheel!!!!!!!!

  38. Anna

    Thanks a million! I'm not sure how I deleted it in the first place, but now it's back!

  39. Joris voorn

    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

  40. 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.

  41. ANton

    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.

  42. Kim

    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.

  43. Don

    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 .

  44. Marlene

    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!

  45. jay lamoncha

    my icon for yahoo is missing from my desk top how do i get it back on there someone please help

  46. Pat

    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.

  47. whs

    Pat, for the large Icons right click on the desktop, go to VIEW and here you can set the Icons the size you like

  48. Anusman

    Thx for tip its realy useful for alot of people like me who accidently delited recycle bin and are new to vista

  49. Luvlie

    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.

  50. Kay Malm

    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?

  51. David

    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???????????????

  52. Sean the SLUG

    big help Thanks

  53. Don

    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.

  54. Don

    I wasnt able to try what you sead, newbee is perpelxed,Cant even get out of here without unpluging.

  55. Fance

    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

  56. Rebecca

    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.

  57. luckyea

    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!

  58. A Fan

    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…

  59. JAMES

    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

  60. jenn

    Thanks for the easy to follow instructions!

  61. kiten785yahoocom

    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.

  62. Rosalyn Waldron

    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.


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