How to Show Hidden Desktop Icons in Windows 11 Personalization Settings

Customize the default desktop icons

To bring back icons like This PC, the Recycle Bin 🗑️ and Control Panel 🎛️, open Settings ⚙️ and go to Personalization. The checkboxes you need are in the Desktop icon settings window, which Windows 11 still opens as a separate legacy-style panel. This works the same on Home and Pro.

1. Press the Windows key, type Settings, and press Enter. The Settings ⚙️ app opens.
2. Select Personalization from the left sidebar. The personalization options appear on the right.
3. Click Themes.
4. Scroll down to the Related settings area and click Desktop icon settings. A small window called Desktop Icon Settings opens.
5. Under Desktop icons, tick the boxes for the items you want to show. The options are Computer, User’s Files, Network, Recycle Bin 🗑️ and Control Panel 🎛️. The Computer box gives you the icon that appears on the desktop as This PC.
6. Click Apply, then click OK. The icons appear on the desktop straight away. No restart is needed.

To undo this, open the same window and untick the boxes. If you tick everything and still see nothing, the icons may be hidden by the View setting. See the section on showing or hiding all icons below.

Add shortcuts to your desktop

You can put direct links to your favorite apps, folders or web pages on the desktop so you can open them in one click instead of digging through menus. The next few sections show four ways to create them.

Use the desktop context menu

The right-click menu 🖱️ is the quickest way to create a new shortcut from scratch. It opens a wizard where you type or browse to the item you want to link to.

1. Right-click any empty space on your desktop. The context menu opens.
2. Hover over New. A submenu opens.
3. Click Shortcut. The Create Shortcut wizard opens.
4. Type the location of the item, or click Browse to find the file or folder. This works for a web address too.
5. Click Next, type a clear name for the shortcut, and click Finish. The new icon appears on the desktop.

To remove a shortcut, right-click it and choose Delete. This only deletes the shortcut, not the item it points to.

For Applications

You can add an app launcher to the desktop by dragging it out of the Start menu. This is handy for programs you open every day.

1. Open the Start menu and click All apps. A full list of installed apps appears.
2. Scroll to the application you want.
3. Click and hold the app, drag it onto the desktop, and release the mouse button. A shortcut appears on the desktop.

If the drag does not work for a particular app, such as some Store apps, use the right-click method above to create a shortcut instead.

For Files or Folders

File Explorer, the file management app built into Windows, lets you send a shortcut for any file or folder straight to the desktop. Use this for documents and project folders you open often.

1. Open File Explorer from the taskbar, or press the Windows key, type File Explorer, and press Enter.
2. Go to the file or folder you want to reach quickly.
3. Right-click the item. In Windows 11 the short menu does not include Send to, so select Show more options. The classic full menu opens.
4. Hover over Send to and click Desktop (create shortcut). The shortcut appears on the desktop.

For Web Pages

You can drag a web page from your browser to the desktop to make a clickable link to it. Double-clicking it later opens the page in your default browser.

1. Open your web browser and resize the window so part of the desktop is visible underneath. Click the Restore Down button if the window is maximized.
2. Click and hold the small padlock or site icon to the left of the web address in the address bar.
3. Drag the icon out of the browser window and drop it on an empty spot on the desktop. A link icon with the page title appears.

The icon next to the address looks different in each browser, and some recent versions have replaced the padlock with another symbol. If yours will not drag, use the right-click New › Shortcut method and paste the address in.

Resize the desktop icons

You can make desktop icons larger or smaller to suit your screen resolution and eyesight. This is a good fix on high-resolution displays where the default icons look tiny.

1. Right-click any empty space on the desktop.
2. Hover over View at the top of the context menu.
3. Select Large icons, Medium icons or Small icons. The icons resize immediately.

You can also hold Ctrl and scroll the mouse wheel over the desktop to change the icon size in smaller steps.

Show or hide all desktop icons

You can hide every icon on the desktop at once, which is useful during presentations or when you want a clean view of your wallpaper. Nothing is deleted or moved, and the icons come back with the same toggle.

1. Right-click any empty space on the desktop.
2. Hover over View.
3. Click Show desktop icons. The checkmark disappears and all icons vanish from the desktop.
4. To bring them back, repeat the steps and click Show desktop icons again so the checkmark returns.

This is the first thing to check if your desktop is completely empty. The toggle is easy to switch off by accident with a right-click.

Restore missing system icons and files after an update

Sometimes a system update or a cloud sync tool changes your view settings or redirects your user folders. Your files can look as if they have gone, even though they are still safe on your drive. The next two sections cover the usual causes.

Check OneDrive folder backup settings

Cloud tools such as OneDrive can redirect your main folders, including Desktop, to an online storage location. If syncing pauses or the folder is unlinked, what you see on the desktop can change. Checking the backup settings often explains missing items.

1. Click the white or blue cloud icon in the notification area, usually at the bottom right of the screen. You may need to click the up arrow first to show hidden tray icons.
2. Click the Help & Settings gear icon, then select Settings.
3. Go to the Sync and backup tab and click Manage backup.
4. Check whether the Desktop folder is toggled on or has been unlinked from your account. Switch it back on if you want it backed up.

If sync is paused, resume it from the same cloud menu and wait for it to finish before checking the desktop again. Menu names can differ slightly between OneDrive versions.

Unhide items via Registry Editor

Check this only if the other fixes did not work, because Registry Editor changes affect the whole system.

Sign in with an administrator account to be safe. This value sits under your own user profile, so a standard account may also be able to change it.

1. Press the Windows key, type regedit, and press Enter to open Registry Editor. Click Yes if User Account Control asks for permission.
2. Optionally, back up first: click File › Export and save a copy of the registry.
3. Use the left sidebar to go to this location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
4. Look for the value named HideIcons on the right side of the window.
5. Double-click HideIcons, change its Value data to 0 to make your icons visible, and click OK.
6. Restart your computer so the change takes full effect.

If you do not see HideIcons, the registry is probably not the cause. Go back to the Show desktop icons toggle instead. To undo a change, set the value back to what it was, or import the backup you exported.

What to do next

You can now show, hide and resize your desktop icons whenever you like. Next, you can learn how to organize your taskbar or change your system accent colors to match your newly arranged desktop.