Desktop Shortcut Icons Disappear

[gemss]

Suddenly there is a weird issue on my pc. This morning when I restarted the pc there was no desktop icon on the desktop. There is nothing on it. It was completely blank. I tried to add them via display properties but that is also not working. I am looking for some help here to get them back. There were some files on the desktop which are also not visible. The desktop is just blank. And my antivirus also popped out some virus warning.

[MikeY007]

It looks your user profile is corrupt due to which you are getting the problem. Just create a new account and then check back. Keep the new accounts as admin and then login in that. That will be easy to get rid of problem you are facing. If you are having admin access then you can also open the desktop folder of old account and get your files back. It is a common issue. By new user profile you can restore the issue.

[Andrzejewski]

Check the link below. There are some options available by which you can simply restore the desktop icons back. If the below step does not work then the only option left here is to run system restore. But that might restore the virus also. That is a risk with system restore. Try to scan your system completely in safe mode. Scan multiple time so that there is no detection at all. That will make the system to get stable.


How to Change the Default Icons for Folders in Windows XP

[Chapal]

Can you post the exact error message or some more related information which can help to fix the issue. You can go in Control Panel > Event Viewer. There you can find description on the error you are facing. But still if you are not able to find anything then here are few things you can try. Click on Start > CMD and hit enter. In that type sfc /scannow. It will scan the system for damaged system files. The next thing you have to do is to run chkdks and hit enter. It will check your system for bad sectors.

[Taidje]

I will not recommend system restore. It is a bit risky. As mentioned above it might restore the malicious files in your pc. To access the files which are not vising go in Windows directory and there look for Users. It might be inside Document & Settings. Now look for the folder which has the username that you were using. Open it and then click on Desktop. You will get all your files there. You can copy it. If nothing works well to restore the icons run a repair windows setup and then check back.