An empty desktop usually has one of two causes. Either every icon has been hidden, or only the system icons such as This PC and Recycle Bin have been switched off. A third, less common cause is that Windows is looking at the wrong Desktop folder. Work through the sections below in order and stop when your icons return.
Turn on Show desktop icons
If nothing at all appears on the desktop, the icons are probably hidden. Your files are not deleted, and hiding them does not remove them from the Desktop folder.
- Open the context menu on a blank part of the desktop.
- Select View.
- Make sure Show desktop icons has a check mark. If it does not, click it once.
- If the box is already checked, or the icons vanished after a restart or an update, open Task Manager, find Windows Explorer, open the shortcut menu on it and pick Restart, then look at the desktop again.
Restore This PC, Recycle Bin and other system icons
When your own shortcuts show up but the system icons do not, they are switched off in the theme settings. The Allow themes to change desktop icons box in the same window controls whether installing a new theme may swap the pictures used for This PC, Recycle Bin and the others.
- Open Settings, then go to Personalization > Themes.
- Under Related settings, select Desktop icon settings.
- Tick the icons you want: Computer, User's Files, Network, Recycle Bin or Control Panel.
- Click Apply, then OK.
Open the Desktop folder in File Explorer while icons are hidden
Open File Explorer and select Desktop in the navigation list. Everything stored on the desktop is listed there, even while the icons are turned off. If a system icon is the one you no longer want, clear its box in Desktop icon settings.
Fix a Desktop folder that points to the wrong place
If your icons are missing and OneDrive backs up your folders, Windows may be using a Desktop folder in the wrong location. Try this:
- Open File Explorer and unfold the OneDrive entry.
- Right-click the Desktop folder inside it and select Properties.
- Look for a Location tab. When that tab is absent, you are looking at a Desktop folder that is not the OneDrive one, or one that belongs to a work or school account, so check the other Desktop folders.
- On the Location tab, select Move, browse to the folder that holds the icons you want, click Select Folder, then Apply, and answer Yes when Windows offers to move the files across.
Put an app, file or website back on the desktop
If a single shortcut is gone, you can make it again. The shortcuts below are built the same way for any app, file or web page.
- Any item: open the context menu on a blank spot and choose New > Shortcut, and use Browse to point to the file or program.
- An app: open Start, select All, find the app and drag it onto the desktop. To keep it one click away, pin it to the taskbar instead.
- A file or folder: use the context menu: Show more options > Send to > Desktop (create shortcut). Some installs show every option at once, so you go straight to Send to.
- A web page: open it in your browser and drag the padlock or site information icon next to the address to the desktop.
Change icon size and spacing
- Size: right-click the desktop, choose View, then Large icons, Medium icons or Small icons. You can also hold Ctrl and turn the mouse wheel over the desktop.
- Arrangement: in the same View menu, Auto arrange icons snaps icons to the left side, but then you cannot drag them around freely, so switch it off to place icons yourself. Align icons to grid keeps them lined up.
- Spacing: Windows 11 offers no setting for the gap between icons.
- Display scale can change how icons are laid out: right-click the desktop, choose Display settings, and look at Scale and layout.