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Occasionally, Windows' users may find the Show Desktop icon has suddenly disappeared from
its normal position on the Quick Launch toolbar (see Fig. 2). The risk of this happening
is greatest on computers which are accessible to other persons, whether at home or at work.
Although you will obviously not be able to see a disappeared Show Desktop icon, that does not
necessarily mean it isn't still lurking on your computer somewhere. Items 1, 2 & 3
next will establish if that be the case and, if so, explain how to return it back where it belongs.
However, if those checks prove the icon really has gone for good, or you already know that for
a fact, then item 4 contains four different methods A, B, C & D for creating a brand new
replacement icon. Whatever your problem turns out to be, you will find it is, fortunately,
in every case, supremely easy to fix once you know how...
(1) The icon might merely be hiding somewhere. If you can see a double chevron on
the right hand side of the Quick Launch toolbar, that means there are hidden icons on it.
Click the chevron and check if the Show Desktop icon is one of the hidden ones. Icons
can be shunted from their normal, visible position on the toolbar if a newly-installed program
has inserted its own icon on the toolbar, or if a user has moved the icons about. If clicking
the double-chevron revealed the Show Desktop icon, left-click on it and drag it to its historical
position next to the Start button. If the icon is definitely not there, move on to item
2 next.
(2) If the Show Desktop icon was not revealed by clicking the double-chevron, or
there was no chevron anyway, the next possibility is that somebody might have accidentally dragged
it off the Quick Launch toolbar onto the desktop. Look carefully through all the
icons on the desktop. If you see the icon there, right-click on it and drag it back onto
the Quick Launch toolbar, choosing Move Here from the context menu that will appear when you
drop the icon.
(3) If the icon was not hiding, nor residing somewhere on the desktop, the next possibility
is that somebody might have accidentally or maliciously deleted the icon and, with luck, it
may still be in the Recycle Bin. Double-click on the Recycle Bin icon to open the bin
and look through the contents to see if there is a file in there called Show Desktop.
If there isn't, jump down to the next item (4). If there is, right-click on it and click Restore.
This will move the icon back to whichever folder it was in at the time somebody deleted it.
Look to see if it has been restored directly to the Quick Launch toolbar. If you can't
see it there, click the chevrons as it may be hidden. If you see the icon, left-drag it
to its rightful place next to the Start button. If the restored icon is nowhere to be
seen on the Quick Launch toolbar, look on the desktop for it. If it's not there either,
do a normal file search of your computer's C: drive for the file name Show Desktop and, provided
such a file is found, and is in a folder other than the Windows directory, use the right mouse
button to drag it onto the Quick Launch toolbar. N.B. You must choose to unhide system
files for the file search to be effective. If a file was found, but it was inside the
Windows directory, ignore it and jump down to Method B below to continue.
(4) If, after carrying out the above checks, you are still minus the Show Desktop icon, that
means the corresponding command file has somehow been erased from your hard disk. In that situation,
it is impossible to get the icon back until you discover there are special processes for doing
so. It is no use looking in Windows' Help for assistance either, as you have no doubt already
discovered, as there is no mention
in there of how to restore the icon. This inexcusable omission presumably has something to do
with the icon not being an ordinary shortcut file but, in fact, something more technical called a 'Windows
Explorer Command'. Fortunately, you will find the deleted icon is incredibly easy to replace,
by a variety of methods.
We actually know of five different ways to restore a permanently erased Show Desktop
icon and we cover the four most intrinsic ones in this article. The four methods are quite
varied in their means of approach, so we suggest you simply use the first one you come to that
suits the way you personally like to do Windows' things. Only methods A and B will work
for all versions of Windows from Windows 98 thru XP and Vista. Methods C & D are not
available to users of Windows 2K, XP or Vista, only to users of 98 or Me. The reason for
that is because, in the case of NT-based systems like XP, you will have lost the original file,
so it will need to be replaced. But, in the case of DOS-based systems like Win 98,
the original file will not have been erased, only a replica of it, so a replacement replica
is all that is required.
The four different methods are covered in full detail below. Method A involves recreating
the missing file from scratch. But it only needs Windows Notepad to do so, so it is easy
to do. With Method B, we have actually created the said file for you already, as
a zip file - it merely needs downloading from here. Ideal if you like the really
easy life! Method C works by substituting a normal shortcut for the missing Windows
command, but the end result will look and work just the same as if you had used Method A
or B. The 'advantage' of Method C is that it only uses routine Windows' procedures
that anyone except a complete beginner should find familiar. Method C is, therefore,
the one method you would have no real trouble repeating, without the aid of any notes like these
on this page, if you were to lose the icon again in the future. Method D© is
the most interesting because it is unique to this website. It is a super-fast variation
on Method C that will have a substitute shortcut in place on a Win98 or Me m/c in 25 seconds
flat! |
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| Method A - Use Notepad to recreate a 'Show Desktop.scf' file - Windows 98 thru XP & Vista |
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Open Notepad and type or paste in the five command lines shown in Fig. 1.
The text needs to be exactly as shown - except that the capital letters are optional.
If you are using Vista, and prefer to have Vista's new icon design, change the middle line of
text to read...
IconFile=shell32.dll,34 |
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| 2. |
Save the Notepad file to your desktop as Show Desktop.scf. To do so,
click File > Save As... > at 'Save in', choose Desktop > at 'File name', type in Show Desktop.scf
> at 'Save as type', choose 'All Files (*.*)' > Save > close Notepad. |
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N.B. The file has to be named exactly as shown, including the white space and the capital
letters. This is because the file name also has to serve as the hover label (tool tip) for the new icon. |
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| 3. |
After step 2, you will have acquired an icon on your desktop, the same as or
similar to the example in Fig. 2 right. Using the right mouse button, drag
the icon over the Quick Launch bar, release the mouse button and, at the pop-up menu, left-click
on Move Here. Finally, left-drag the icon so it is next to the Start button, and that's
it, finished. |
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N.B. If you use Windows XP or Vista, you may find that adding a new shortcut
to the Quick Launch toolbar causes the Taskbar to double in height. If this happens, right-click
on the Taskbar, untick 'Lock the Taskbar', and then you should be able to drag down its height. If this fails to work, see our related article
titled 'Quick Launch toolbar' for more fixes for a distorted Quick Launch toolbar (there is a link to it at the bottom
of this page). |
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| Method B - Download a 'Show Desktop.scf' file - Windows
98 thru XP & Vista |
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| 1. |
If you have already applied Method A, you cannot use this Method B as well, nor Method C
or D, because Windows will only accept one working Show Desktop icon for the Quick Launch toolbar. |
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To proceed with Method B, click on the appropriate zip file below, download
it to your desktop and extract the content to your desktop. Each zip file contains a slightly
different text file called Show Desktop.scf. When the appropriate file is on your desktop,
right-drag it to the Quick Launch toolbar, as shown in Fig. 2, and choose Move Here. |
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*If you are using Windows Vista, and want to restore Vista's default style of icon, choose
the RH file instead of the LH one. |
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| Method C - Create a shortcut to the parent 'Show Desktop.scf' file |
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| 1. |
Windows 98, 98SE & Me only: Double-click the My Computer icon > View > Details (this changes My Computer's window from an iconic view to a logical list) > View > Folder Options > View tab > at 'Advanced settings' select 'Show all files' > untick 'Hide file extensions for known file types' > OK. Method C cont/. in RH col |
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Untitled - Notepad |
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| File Edit Search Help |
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[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop |
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| Fig. 1 (above) The above screenshot of Notepad is relevant
only if you are using the fix in Method A in the left hand column. If you are, drag
your mouse across the five lines of code to highlight them, press Ctrl+C to copy them to the
clipboard, then return to Method A. |
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| Fig. 2 (above) When you have created your replacement Show Desktop icon on the desktop, as per Method A or B in the LH column, all that remains is to right-drag it from the desktop to the Quick Launch toolbar, as indicated above. Drop the icon when the cursor is next to the Start button and changes to a vertical dark line. |
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Fig. 3 (above) If you have used Method C or D in the
LH column, to get to this stage, right-drag the writing pad icon from the desktop to the Quick Launch toolbar as indicated above.
(If you hover your mouse over some of the icons in Fig. 3, you may see tool tips saying what they are.) |
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Method C cont./ from LH col...
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| 2. |
Click the Start button > Find > Files and Folders > at 'Named', type in the words:
show desktop > at 'Look in', select the C: drive > Find Now button > wait a few
seconds for the full list of files to be generated, then click once on the column heading called
'Name' to put the list in alphabetical order > scroll all the way down to the file named
Show Desktop that is listed as being in the WINDOWS \ SYSTEM folder > right-click on the file
> Create Shortcut > Yes (to place the shortcut on the desktop) > close the Find window. |
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| 3. |
At the desktop, a writing pad icon will have appeared there. Right-drag
the icon to the Quick Launch toolbar (as seen in Fig. 3) > Move Here. |
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| 4. |
Finally, if other people share your PC, consider reversing any Folder Options
that you changed in step 1. |
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| Method D - Use a command line instruction© to create a shortcut to the parent
'Show Desktop.scf' file |
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| 1. |
Windows 98, 98SE & Me only: Drag your mouse across
the following command line so as to highlight it, and press Ctrl+C to copy it to the clipboard:-
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ShowDe~1.scf |
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Right-click on an empty area of the desktop > New > Shortcut > press
Ctrl+V to paste in the command line > Next > Finish. |
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| 3. |
At the desktop, right-drag the writing pad icon, which will have appeared there,
to the Quick Launch toolbar (as shown in Fig. 3) > Move Here. There, a 25-second
fix for Win98 or Me users - exactly as promised earlier! |
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Tips |
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T1. |
Quick Launch toolbar missing
If the entire Quick Launch toolbar is missing on your machine, see our separate article for
instructions on restoring it, on managing the icons that should appear on the toolbar, and for
fixing any problems that might be affecting the correct functioning of the toolbar. There
is a link to that article under 'Related Topics' at the bottom left of this page. |
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T2. |
Save the new settings
Any time you change the shortcuts on your desktop or Taskbar, carry out a normal restart
of your PC so Windows will know to preserve the new settings. If the computer hangs or
crashes before you do that, the new arrangement will be lost. |
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T3. |
Opening a Show Desktop.scf file
The Explorer Command method (Method A) works because, if you open Notepad and use the
File > Open dialog to browse to and open an actual Show Desktop.scf file, you will see the
exact same syntax text that you can see in Fig 1. |
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T4. |
If you copy the icon file instead of moving it
After satisfactorily moving a new Show Desktop icon from the desktop onto the Quick Launch
toolbar, check the desktop to make sure you didn't merely copy the icon to the toolbar instead
of moving it. If you do see a duplicate still on the desktop, right-click on that one
and choose Delete. |
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If there was a copy of the icon on the desktop which needed
deleting, we have heard of instances where this has resulted in the disappearance of the icon
on the QL toolbar after restarting the computer. If that were to happen to you, the solution
is to start all over again (e.g. download the zip file in Method B) and, this time, MOVE it
instead of copying it. |
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About the Show Desktop icon
What the Show Desktop command actually does is cause all open windows to be minimised to
the Taskbar. Clicking the icon again will unminimise the same windows simultaneously.
In Windows 95, you could do this but only with keyboard commands, namely the Windows key+M to
minimise all windows, and the Windows key+Shift key+M to restore all windows. From Windows
98 on, you had those same shortcut keys, also the Windows wave key+D toggle plus, of course,
the Show Desktop icon. The icon saved people from having to remember or use any of those
antiquated keyboard options. In any case, they can be very temperamental on some XP systems,
making the Show Desktop icon all the more important nowadays. |
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