

Some advanced users may even have a different window manager than explorer.exe – but this is unlikely. Among other things, this could affect icons or other desktop items from displaying correctly. Whether there is a conflict or resources are being drained, services may bog down (or even lock up) a computer. Too many applications running – or even the wrong combination – can cause strange behaviors.


Find the service, right-click and choose to Restart. On your keyboard, you’ll want to hit Ctrl + Alt + Del and then select Task Manager. Restarting this service can refresh the desktop. Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) controls the desktop view (icons, taskbar and system tray). If so, there are other scenarios to look into. Dig Deeper into the MysteryĪfter checking some boxes, you may still find desktop icons missing or disappeared. From here, there are several check boxes for items you may want to appear. Go into Themes and select Desktop icon settings. If it’s just the default (system) icons you seek, right-click the desktop and choose Personalize. You can do so by right-clicking on the desktop, selecting View and verify Show desktop icons has a check beside it. To begin, check for desktop icons not showing in Windows 10 (or prior versions) by ensuring that they are turned on to start with. Then there is the issue of desktop icons not showing up – an event that might seem as mysterious but actually has many possible explanations. Though you may theorize some spatial anomaly appeared and whisked one (the left sock) to another realm, the mystery remains mostly unsolved. Imagine a scenario where you put two socks in the clothes dryer and only get one back.
